This normal-sized train has nothing on its elongated counterpart. Photo by Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post
POP QUIZ: What's the maximum number of cars a Metrorail train can span?
Six? Nah, bigger.
Eight? Sure, if you're the kind of boringly practical thinker who's hemmed in by spacial relations, since eight is the maximum number of cars that can service a station platform. But this is America, hoss. Super-size it.
Twelve. Or at least that's how many cars Train 409 stretched when it chugged along the Blue Line on Sunday morning. According to The Post's Lena H. Sun, 409 giddy-upped from Largo all the way to Eastern Market before Metro employees noticed:
A preliminary investigation suggests that the mix-up occurred as the train was preparing to leave the Largo rail yard at 7:27 a.m. to begin its run to Franconia-Springfield. Metro officials think the regular six-car train might have rolled backward on an incline and hooked up with a six-car train behind it, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel.Since only eight cars could serve the platform, of course, those last four cars' doors likely opened into the yawning darkness of a Metro tunnel.
No injuries were reported, but the train operator is on administrative leave pending an investigation.
» "12 Cars Make Way Too Much Train" [WaPo]
REMEMBER THAT BIG PROJECT to fix a sagging platform at the busy Metro Center station? It's ramping up again this President's Day weekend, which means riders should prepare for half-hour delays on the Red, Blue and Orange lines, the transit agency says.
The rehabilitation work, which Metro says is aimed to stabilize the platform that carries Red Line trains over the area that serves the Blue and Orange lines inside the Metro Center station, will begin at 10 p.m. on Friday and last until midnight on Monday. Crews will be making structural concrete repairs as well as replacing bearing pads that help support the bridge, among other things.
Here's how the construction will affect riders:
RED LINE:
» During the day, Red Line trains will start their journeys from Glenmont and Shady Grove every nine minutes. Trains will share a track between Farragut North and Judiciary Square, operating through that area every 18 minutes. Two trains traveling one direction, spaced two minutes apart, will move through the work zone, then two trains will be allowed to travel in the opposite direction.
» After 10 p.m. on Friday and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Red Line trains will leave the terminal stations 20 minutes apart.
Continue Reading "Get Ready for Delays: Metro Center Work to Resume" »
WHILE THE IDEA to re-route some rush-hour Blue Line trains between the Franconia-Springfield station and the District via the Yellow Line has been stewing in recent years, Metro officials will formally propose such a service pattern at this week's board meeting.
The goal of the re-routing?
To relieve the bottleneck at Rosslyn, where trains on the packed Orange Line merge with those on the Blue Line before heading into their shared tunnel into the District.
As The Post's Get There blog reports today:
While the transit authority staff points out in a report to the board that ridership is growing more quickly at the stations on the eastern side of downtown, this proposal is almost certain to be controversial among riders. The concept has been discussed before as a way of creating more room in the Rosslyn tunnel. It factors into planning for the Metrorail line to Dulles, which would send even more trains through the tunnel.Don't expect the proposal to go into effect in the immediate future. Although the plan will be presented to Metro's Customer Services, Operations and Safety Committee, there won't be a formal board recommendation until June.
» "Blue Line Diversion Proposed" [Get There/WaPo]
» EARLIER: "An Inevitable Metro Marriage: Blue and Yellow?" [Free Ride/Express]
Image courtesy WMATA
IF YOU STAND ON the Red Line's Shady Grove-bound platform at the busy Metro Center station, you'll notice a section of the platform that's slightly depressed and marked off with striped warning tape. The area in question sits at a point where the Red Line track and platform cross over the Blue and Orange lines on the lower level — and it's a bridge that's slowly sagging.
There's no immediate cause for alarm, Metro says, but this weekend, the transit agency will start $1.3 million worth of structural improvements to correct the problem. And as The Post's Get There blog reports, the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend will be a slow go for many Metrorail riders starting Friday at 10 p.m.
Trains on the Red Line will share the same track between the Farragut North and Judiciary Square stations, while trains on the Blue and Orange lines will share a track between the Smithsonian and Farragut West stations. Trains will run through the work zone every 18 minutes, and chances are, you'll wait at least six minutes for trains coming in the opposite direction to clear the Metro Center work zone. Overall, there will be fewer trains in service on the Red, Blue and Orange lines, so expect delays and crowded trains.
Continue Reading "Metro Center Work to Cause Big Weekend Delays" »
ONE ADULT and four juveniles have been arrested and charged with assaulting and robbing a Metrorail passenger earlier this year, the transit agency said today.
According to Metro Transit Police, who made the arrest, the group accosted and robbed a 25-year-old D.C. resident aboard a Blue Line train at around 2 a.m. on Dec. 9.
"If someone commits a crime in our system, especially a violent crime such as this, our detectives will do everything possible to track down the assailants and bring them to justice," Acting Transit Police Chief Michael Daly said in a press release.
IF YOU PLAN TO USE THE BLUE AND YELLOW LINES this afternoon, beware: The Pentagon station is currently closed because of a suspicious package. Trains are turning back and are not servicing the station. Shuttle buses have been requested to ferry passengers around the Pentagon station, but those are not expected to arrive until 3:30 p.m.
» UPDATE, 4:15 p.m.: The situation has been resolved but expect residual delays.
» "Pentagon Metrorail Station Temporarily Closed" [WMATA]
BLUE AND YELLOW LINE commuters now have extra room during rush hours. The recent introduction of 18 new rail cars into the Metrorail system has eliminated the need run four-car trains on the Blue and Yellow lines. This morning, Metro announced that the conversion of seven four-car Blue Line trains and one four-car Yellow Line train into six-car trains is now complete.
The new rail cars are from Metro's new 6000 series, which have modified interiors including fewer windscreens and more handrails. One hundred sixteen of those rail cars are currently in service, and by early 2008, all 184 of the 6000 series cars ordered will be deployed across the system.
» EARLIER: "Coming Soon: No More 4-Car Trains During Rush" [Free Ride/Express]
THE ADDITION OF 18 NEW RAIL CARS to the Metrorail system will eliminate a regular annoyance for those on the Blue and Yellow lines: Four-car trains during the morning and afternoon rush.
According to Metro's announcement:
Metro will convert seven, four-car Blue Line trains and one four-car Yellow Line train into six-car trains during regular rush hours. ...Expect crowded four-car trains to be extinct by the end of the month. And crowded six-car trains? Well, that's something you'll have to live with.Metro will have 800 rail cars operating during the morning and afternoon rush hours each weekday. It’s the first time in the agency's 31-year history that 800 cars are available for service. ...
The placement of 18 rail cars to the fleet is possible due to the addition of Metro's newest rail cars, the 6000 series rail cars. Metro has 106 of these new rail cars in service, and continues to test new cars each weekday. The new 6000 series rail cars have a slightly modified look, including additional overhead and seat back-to-ceiling
handrails and fewer windscreens. The floor to ceiling poles were removed to eliminate obstructions in the doorways and allow improved passenger flow down the aisles.
AFTER ANOTHER SERIES of smoky eruptions shut down another batch of Metrorail stations during Monday's evening rush, Metro officials are considering the possibility that the incidents could have been caused intentionally.
"This is not normal," Metro General Manager John Catoe said, according to The Post's Lena H. Sun and Martin Weil. "This is highly, highly irregular."
Report Sun and Weil:
Asked whether he thought the incidents might be intentional, [Catoe] said: "Could it be something else [other than an accident]? Everything now is suspicious."Monday's delays began at around 7 p.m. after several trains lost power between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations on the Blue and Yellow lines, according to a Metro press statement. A track fire was reported at the Pentagon City station. A fire was also reported at the U Street-Cardozo station, which shut down both that station and the stop at Columbia Heights from 7:20 p.m. to 8:40 p.m., the statement said.A spokesman for the D.C. fire department said that the department was "very concerned" about the large number of incidents in a brief period and that the department would try to assist Metro in determining whether they were more than accidental.
Shuttle buses ferried passengers between L'Enfant Plaza and Huntington and also between the Georgia Avenue-Petworth and Shaw-Howard University stations.
Continue Reading "Smoke, Fire Cause Another Messy Metro Commute" »
HOPEFULLY, MORNING COMMUTES on Metrorail ran pretty normally, because after Sunday night's massive disruptions on all five lines, Metro could probably use a breather.
It all started at 5:30 p.m. when there was a report of smoke at the Mount Vernon Square-7th St.-Convention Center station. Following that were four separate incidents involving smoke or fire that ushered in "a series of disruptions that appeared to be without precedent in the system's 30-year history," The Post's Martin Weil and Elissa Silverman report.
Fortunately, these events didn't take place during a weekday rush hour. But try telling that to anyone who was caught in yesterday's misery.
» "Outbreaks of Fire, Smoke Shut Down Metro Stations" [WaPo]
» "Smoke and Fire Incidents Impact Metrorail Service on Sunday" [WMATA]
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