Washington region tackles unprecedented workday shutdown of Metrorail
Metro will resume rail service at 5 a.m. Thursday
(about 5 hours later)
The hundreds of thousands of people who normally take Metro to school and work turned to cars, bicycles and buses Wednesday as the rail system shut down for an emergency safety inspection, two days after an electrical fire in a tunnel crippled three lines of the system.
Washington’s Metro system will resume rail service at 5 a.m. Thursday after an emergency one-day shutdown that caused chaos throughout the region.
The transit agency sent 22 crews out to inspect 600 electrical cables identical to the one that caught fire Monday. By noon, Metro said they had examined about 50 percent of them and replaced a half dozen.
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said that as of 5 p.m., crews had completed inspections of 80 percent of the 600 “jumper cables” identical to the one that caught fire Monday and crippled service on three rail lines.
When Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld announced plans to shut down the entire subway system late Tuesday, he anticipated service could resume on Thursday.
Crews inspecting 22 zones, identified 26 areas with defects and completed repairs to 18 of those. It was hoped the remaining could be completed overnight. If that was not possible, or if other problems were found, it’s possible Thursday’s opening might include single-tracking or other service modifications, Wiedefeld said.
Officials said Wednesday they hope to announce plans for Thursday by late afternoon.
Meeting with reporters, Wiedefeld showed a video of one exposed jumper cable that looked like a jumble of wires, its insulation peeled away.
As the Wednesday morning commute reached its peak between 8 and 9 a.m. there were backups in all the usual places — among them I-395, inbound I-66 and the Capital Beltway approaching I-270 — but gridlock had not materialized and traffic flowed normally on many streets and highways.
“Today presented a hardship for the region,” Wiedefeld acknowledged, thanking the public for its patience.
The District’s taxis were out in force, but many drivers said that fares were not as plentiful as they had hoped. Some Metrobuses were crowded during the height of rush hour, but there were seats to be found on many others. Putting regular Metro riders behind the wheel added to confusion on the roadways as some of them realized they didn’t know where they were going.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it plans to launch a safety inspection blitz of the Metro rail system beginning next week to review red-light running by train operators, imperfections in tracks and misuse of hand brakes.
The turmoil caused by shutting down the country’s second-busiest rail system was unlike any other. In the past, when heavy snow or hurricane remnants have slowed or halted subway service, everything else in Washington was at a standstill. On Wednesday, however, federal and other offices were open for business and most schools planned a normal day.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) would redirect millions of dollars in money unspent by Metro to address safety concerns.
[With Metrorail closed, here are some options for getting around Wednesday]
The unprecedented one-day shutdown of the 100-mile rail system, on which passengers take 712,800 trips on an average weekday, came two days after electrical fire that was eerily reminiscent of one last year that resulted in one death and sent scores more to the hospital.
The decision to shut down Metro’s six rail lines came from transit officials who said they acted because they feared for the safety of passengers.
The region lurched through the first day since 1976 in which Metro was shut down for something other blizzard or hurricane passing through. Unlike those rare instances, the federal government, schools and offices were fully open for business.
Wiedefeld and the Metro board decided to suspend operations, raising new alarms about the beleaguered 40-year-old rail system’s ability to deliver safe, reliable service.
But much has changed in 40 years, perhaps foremost among them the ability to telecommute rather than journey to a workplace. Thousands of people clearly did just that.
Metrorail’s 40th anniversary is a week from Sunday. On March 27, 1976, a 4.6-mile, fishhook-shaped stretch of the embryonic Red Line opened, between the Farragut North and Rhode Island Avenue stations. Since that day, when tens of thousands of inaugural riders crowded aboard Washington’s newest public transportation marvel, the system has spread across the city and into the suburbs, with six rail lines, 91 stations and 100-plus route miles of tracks.
During both morning and evening rush hour, traffic was not much heavier than normal on a Wednesday, and some drivers found it lighter than average. Some buses were more crowded than usual at peak hours, but riders reported that often there were seats or room to crowd in.
Metro said passengers take about 712,800 rail trips on an average weekday.
The District’s taxis were out in force, but many drivers said that fares were not as plentiful as they had hoped.
[Questions on cables’ safety demand 24-hour Metro shutdown]
Bicycles were out in numbers on pleasant spring day, and some riders said they had dusted them off after winter in the basement. More than twice as many bicyclists and pedestrians crossed the Key Bridge between Rosslyn and Georgetown this morning as normal, numbers from Arlington County’s automated counters show.
Adding only a thousand cars to any Washington rush hour threatens to turn the normal chaos into catastrophe, but it became apparent that a great many people simply surrendered, opting to work from home or simply take a holiday.
Traffic experts said it would be days before clear conclusions can be drawn about how badly – or gently – the absence of Metro hit the region during peak periods Wednesday.
David Dillard, a Voice of America worker, normally arrives at the West Hyattsville Metro station by 6 a.m.
“I don’t have a definite picture. From just rough estimates, I don’t think it was as bad as it could have been. Nothing too crazy,” said one Washington area traffic data analyst, who preferred not to be quoted without a pile of clear data in hand.
But Wednesday he chose not to deal with the Metro shutdown and the need to seek an alternative way to get to work.
Metro management and the leadership of the three jurisdictions the system serves — D.C., Maryland and Virginia — came under scathing attack on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as the Senate Appropriations Committee considered a transportation bill.
“He is still sleeping,” Ann Dillard whispered over the phone as she quietly prepared for her day as a public school teacher. “He took the day off.”
[Tracking Metro’s biggest meltdowns]
As she opened her doors near McPherson Square, a D.C. Circulator driver warned passengers it would be a tight squeeze. The bus was packed with riders.
The hearing brought together Foxx and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who took turns lambasting the failings of the system that led to the shutdown.
“Everybody’s not gonna fit,” the driver said. “The bus is full.”
“It was drastic. It was disruptive. And yet I believe was necessary,” Mikulski said. “We have called for years now for a culture of safety, but what we get is a culture of resistance to making changes for safety.”
She was nervous.
Mikulski ran through a litany of steps that had been taken to revive the Metro system without appreciable success.
“This is bad,” she said as she started driving.
“My constituents and those in the District of Columbia and Virginia say, ‘Well, we’ll tough it out for one day, but is this change going to be reliable, is it going to be sustainable, is it going to stick?’” she asked Foxx.
“Don’t worry about the fare,” she told passengers lined up at the farebox.
Foxx agreed that “the culture down there has to change.”
Moments later the issue became clear. The bus began sputtering at 16th and K streets, then the engine cut out entirely.
He said the FTA would begin a safety inspection “blitz” next week in three key areas, red signal overruns, use of hand brakes and track integrity
“Oh Jesus,” a woman said in exasperation.
He reiterated his frustration with the failure of the region’s leaders to create a new safety oversight body for Metro. The FTA took over that function last year after concluding that the current body — the Tri-State Oversight Committee — was a failure.
It was the third D.C. Circulator to break down in a single day for commuter Sara Singha, 39, who lives in Baltimore. Two others broke down before she could leave Union Station, she said.
The three jurisdictions have agreed to set up a more powerful body, to be called a Metro Safety Commission. But that process has been delayed by as much as a year because neither Virginia nor Maryland moved to obtain necessary approval from their general assemblies during this year’s legislative sessions.
She had left Baltimore at 7:30 a.m. Two hours later, she still hadn’t made it to Georgetown University.
Foxx said that Metro had received millions of dollars in federal funding for various purposes over the years that remained unspent. He said the FTA was scrutinizing that money with the intent to instruct WMATA to divert the money to address safety concerns.
“This is the third one I waited for and this is now down,” said Singha, who had ridden MARC into the District.
“We have the authority to direct that they use those moneys to focus on their safety priorities,” Foxx said. “Rest assured that we’re going to make sure that resources are not the issue. But I think that the point is that I don’t think it is just resources. I think it is culture and I think it is a deliberate decision that is needed from everyone involved in this to focus relentlessly on safety.”
“The MARC train is never a problem,” she said. “It’s always a problem when you get into D.C.”
[Metro delays caused by cable problem similar to last year’s fatal smoke incident]
Passengers assembled on the sidewalk, waiting for a replacement bus. But many let out a sigh of relief when, five minutes later, the bus roared back to life. Singha hurried back on board.
Experiencing a commute in the D.C. region without a working Metro system revealed two drastically different experiences, much of it depending on what people did for a living and, to some extent, how much money they make.
Circulator riders elsewhere complained that operators were charging fares in spite of a DDOT announcement that rides would be free Wednesday.
That’s why, experts say, many drivers, particularly on roads leading into the city from some suburbs and beyond, actually found noticeably lighter traffic than usual while some bus riders spent several hours navigating bus routes that were so jammed that buses occasionally couldn’t pick up new passengers.
Circulator officials said riders could contract the agency for a free ride pass good for a future trip.
“It shows the economic divide that exists in every city,” said Tom Murphy, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute.
Quentin Liggins was taking it all in stride, listening to his music and drinking coffee, from a decidedly less crowded Metrobus than on a typical weekday morning commute. There were back-to-back buses shuttling down Connecticut Avenue, meaning more empty seats than usual. Liggins, 27, who works for a non-profit education organization near Dupont Circle, said he didn’t mind the extra time it would take him to get to the office because it’s for a good cause.
The many workers– most likely in white-collar jobs– who could have driven but had the option of working from home and did so, freed up space on the roads, particularly those leading from more the region’s affluent suburbs. Meanwhile, many workers in lower-wage service jobs, particularly those who can’t afford a car or did not have the option of tele-working, were left packed on buses.
“I know a lot of people’s lives are being affected today and I feel for them,” he said of the impact from the shutdown. “But this is something we need to fix even if it takes six months to a year. Everybody needs to be safe.”
Murphy said he noticed that Rock Creek Parkway in Northwest D.C. had significantly lighter traffic than usual – “It was almost like a holiday,” he said.
Sitting nearby, Senate staffer Mary Thomas was checking emails on her phone, resigned to the hour-long, two-bus commute -- about twice as long as her usual straight-shot-ride on the Red Line. But she wasn’t worried about showing up late on the Hill.
But he also heard stories of people jammed on buses in other parts of the city.
“My boss knows and understands, so I’m grateful,” said Thomas, 28.
“I was shocked at how little traffic there was,” said Murphy, a frequent Metro rider who was able to walk to work Wednesday.
Commuter Nicole Eubanks had a plan.
But many people, he noted, had no other option but to find a way to get to work.
She usually takes Metro from the Anacostia Metro station to Farragut West. But with the shutdown, she tried to get ahead of the madness. She went online to book an Enterprise CarShare parked in her neighborhood, then left the house 30 minutes earlier than normal.
“People who work in restaurants need to be there,” Murphy said. “There’s no way to tele-commute as a waiter or waitress. I think people don’t always remember that for an important part of the population, transit is their means of movement, and they don’t have other options.”
The lights of the Nissan Sentra near the Big Chair public art installation in Anacostia went on, but the engine wouldn’t start. So, she rebooked another car over by Navy Yard. To get there meant walking to the bus stop, and waiting.
Murphy noted that half of his office worked from home Wednesday, while the building’s maintenance worker, who usually takes Metro, rode his bike 2-1/2 hours to get to work.
“We’ve just got to pack a lot of patience. I thought I brought mine,” said Eubanks, 40, who works as administrative assistant. She said the manager of the non-profit where she works understands what’s happening. They do job training for people on public assistance.
“These are people who are making sure the elevators run and the food is cooked and served in restaurants,” said Murphy, who was mayor of Pittsburgh from 1994 to 2006. “It’s a whole infrastructure that makes everything else work in Washington, and a very big percentage of those people depend on transit.”
“It might be a little empty, because a lot of them do rely on Metro,” she said.
One of them was Kuing Hu, who stepped off the 26 bus and walked into the Largo Town Center Metro station on Wednesday. She saw it was deserted and realized something was amiss.
Wendy Hancock stood on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street in her green coat and sunglasses, her right hand in the air to hail a cab.
It was about 8:10 a.m. and she had to be in Rosslyn by 9.
“If I’m late, there’s not much I can do,” she said.
She said she was normally a Metro or bus rider.
“I’m not frustrated,” she said. “Yet.”
She waited for about 15 minutes before a cab slowed and stopped.
“Sweet, “she said.
[LIVE updates on the Metro shutdown]
Amy Kister was flustered.
“Where is the shuttle bus?” she wondered aloud.
Kister usually takes the Orange Line to her office downtown, but her normal routine was upended by the Metro shutdown.
“Usually I’m at work by 6 a.m.” Kister said. She likes to sit at her desk and read the newspaper with her coffee to relax and prepare mentally for the day.
“To be calm and collected,” she said.
But not Wednesday.
“Now I don’t know how long it will take” to get in, she said. “This is a burden. This is bad for me.”
Megan McDonald is a poet. Her daily commute on the Orange Line from Vienna usually provides her plenty of fodder and time to compose her musings. On Wednesday, though, the records department staffer at a District architecture association will not be writing one of her daily poems.
“I’ve done enough commuting poems,” she said.
At her office Tuesday night her bosses had told employees to telecommute if possible.
“They said, ‘Take your laptops! Take your laptops!’” McDonald said. “I could have taken liberal leave, but I’ve got a big vacation in October and I’m not wasting leave.”
After a futile 50 minutes, Grant Tinney, a home inspector in northeast, gave up waiting on a bus. He called up an UberPool ride, sharing a ride to his appointment on Rhode Island Avenue.
“Usually the bus is like clockwork here,” Tinney said climbing into the silver Nissan. “That’s the shutdown. It’s causing stuff all over the place.”
“It could be worse, it could be raining,” said Jeremy Hunt as he set out to bike to work for the first time Wednesday. He was without a helmet, he said because he didn’t have time to buy or borrow one after learning of the Metro shutdown.
“I told my boss id be coming in wearing jeans, and those were my terms of coming to work,” said Hunt, as he left his Bloomingdale home to fetch a bike from the nearly-empty Capital Bikeshare station. He was headed to his office in Crystal City.
Scott Harris, 50, of Chevy Chase, was on the Capital Crescent Trail riding toward Capitol Hill with a satchel on his 21-speed REI road bike. Sometimes he bikes, sometimes he drives, sometimes he rides the Metro.
“It’s a good excuse to get back on the bike,” he said.
Surveying the cycling traffic on he trail, he said, “This looks kind of heavy to me.”
Lobbyist Patrick Wilson said he had a scheduled breakfast with House Speaker Paul Ryan Wednesday morning.
He didn’t want to risk traffic on the road, so Wilson, 43, hopped on a Capital Bikeshare bike near his Logan Circle home to ride to Capitol Hill in his suit and tie.
“I’m improvising today,” he said. “I have napkins so I can wipe my brow if I get too sweaty.”
After Uber told its drivers they would be guaranteed $30 an hour between 6 and 9 a.m., Ben Shafa, 55, hopped in his Nissan Pathfinder at 5:25 a.m. with plans to drive for six hours.
“Remember, with Uber, there’s a constant job coming up and they don’t want you to refuse a job,” he said. “So for the next six hours I am going to be busy, busy, busy.”
News of the planned shutdown — which was announced at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday — hadn’t reached everyone
At 5 a.m. at the Vienna Metro station on the Orange Line, the platform stood empty. Station manager Shawn Hall said that one lone commuter had attempted to enter the fare gates before realizing, in a moment of despair, that the system had shut down for the day.
“He walked right past,” Hall said.
Khaled Orebur looked despondent and confused. He normally only takes Metro once a month. On Wednesday, he arrived at the Vienna station at 6 a.m. and was turned away at the fare gates by the station manager.
He had planned to take Metro to Union Station and had already purchased a bus ticket to New York to visit friends.
“I won’t be able to catch the bus,” he said. “I’ll have to cancel the trip.”
Kuing Hu stepped off the 26 bus and walked into the Largo Town Center Metro station, as she does most days to catch a train to the D.C. hotel where she works. She saw it was deserted and realized something was amiss.
“Oh my god,” she muttered.
“Oh my god,” she muttered.
A station official stepped out to explain that the system was closed and offer alternatives. Hu, who doesn’t speak English well, hadn’t watched news or noticed messages on her commute home Tuesday.
A station official stepped out to explain that the system was closed and offer alternatives. Hu hadn’t watched news or noticed messages on her commute home Tuesday.
“If I need to pay more money, I cannot go to work,” Hu responded when presented with options for multiple bus transfers or hailing a cab. “It’s just today?”
“If I need to pay more money, I cannot go to work,” Hu responded when presented with options for multiple bus transfers or hailing a cab. “It’s just today?”
No major school systems closed because of the shutdown, but some officials expressed concern over how teachers and other employees might get to work. Some charter schools are closed.
Mantill Williams, a spokesman for the American Public Transportation Association, noted another wrinkle– namely the Washington region’s uniqueness in having so many workers who are considered “essential.” CIA agents and cyber-security experts likely can’t work from home, he noted.
The paralysis of the core of Washington’s transportation network, announced Tuesday afternoon just half a day before it was to take effect, sent a shudder through the region and sparked angry complaints about Metro’s inadequacies.
Certain types of only-in-Washington jobs, more than income level, required some people to suffer through a jammed bus ride or ride a bike or walk, he said.
But Wiedefeld said that it was too risky to delay the safety checks after an electrical fire erupted early Monday and poured smoke into a Metro tunnel downtown.
Traffic getting into the city from Virginia likely was worse because the relatively few Potomac River crossings quickly become bottlenecks, even on a typical day, Williams said.
The incident, caused by malfunctioning electric cables, was eerily reminiscent of the fatal Yellow Line smoke incident 14 months ago that resulted in the death of one passenger and sent scores to the hospital.
Taran Hutchinson kept a bird’s eye view on the region’s traffic from College Park, starting at 4 a.m., in his job as facilitator for the Metropolitan Area
[Metro delays caused by cable problem similar to last year’s fatal smoke incident]
Transportation Operations Coordination (MATOC) program. MATOC was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to monitor and coordinate the region’s traffic, particularly during major events and emergencies.
“While the risk to the public is very low, I cannot rule out a potential life-safety issue here, and that is why we must take this action immediately,” said Wiedefeld, who started in November. “When I say safety is our highest priority, I mean it. That sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions, and this is one of those, for sure. I fully recognize the hardship this will cause.”
Hutchinson said he couldn’t comment on the socio-economics of who was driving where Wednesday morning, but he noticed that highways on the southern side of the District — particularly I-295 and I-395 — were more congested than I-270 to the north and I-66 and the Dulles Toll Road to the west. He suspected that much of the I-395 traffic might have been heading to the Pentagon, which serves as a major bus hub.
Metrorail has closed because of bad weather — including during January’s blizzard — but never for safety reasons. During the shutdown, crews will inspect all 600 of a type of power line, called “jumper cables,” in tunnels throughout the system to ensure that they are sufficiently insulated and are otherwise reliable.
“Some [commuting] stories were absolutely horrible,” Hutchinson said, “and in other areas, people had a fine commute.”
A memo from a top Metro engineer, circulated Tuesday night among the transit agency’s senior officials, laid out some of the logistics for Wednesday’s jumper-cable inspections.
Overall, he said, the morning was “relatively normal” for a mid-week commute. The key, he said, was the federal government allowing workers to tele-work or take unscheduled leave, and many other major employers following the government’s lead.
The work was set to begin at midnight, when the subway closed, with three inspection crews of unspecified size, soon to be joined by others.
“I think a lot of folks took advantage of that,” Hutchinson said of the traffic mayhem that was feared but never arrived. “For folks who had to go in [to work], they had challenges. But I think we got through the morning pretty well, considering what we were up against.”
The rail system has more than 100 “route miles,” meaning 200-plus miles of tracks running in two directions. There are approximately 600 jumper cables throughout the system, Metro said. In addition to the three early crews, “we will have another 19 (for a total of 22) on the ground by 4:45 a.m.,” the memo said, adding that outside engineering consultants also would be taking part in the effort.
Metrorail’s 40th anniversary is a week from Sunday. On March 27, 1976, a 4.6-mile, fishhook-shaped stretch of the embryonic Red Line opened, between the Farragut North and Rhode Island Avenue stations. Since that day, when tens of thousands of inaugural riders crowded aboard Washington’s newest public transportation marvel, the system has spread across the city and into the suburbs, with six rail lines, 91 stations and 100-plus route miles of tracks.
Referring to large rail cars that carry workers and equipment, the memo said: “We’ll have 14 prime movers co-located with most of the inspection crews to transport personnel through long stretches” of the subway where there are no jumper cables to inspect. The prime movers also will “carry food/water/materials.”
“We’ll have 4 cable construction crews in the field on equipment prepared to deploy as needed,” where jumper cables are found to be faulty and have to be replaced, the memo said. “We’ll be walking the track with power up and will put power down when needed.”
The hope is that no problems will be found in the inspections so the system can reopen at 5 a.m. Thursday. But if problems are identified, individual Metro lines or stations could remain closed Thursday and beyond.
The surprise announcement sent the federal government and local school districts scrambling to adjust.
At schools in the District, all tardies and absences will automatically count as excused. Because a good portion of D.C. students do not attend a neighborhood school, they rely on Metro to commute.
The shutdown acted almost as an exclamation point after years of deterioration, mismanagement and safety lapses that have tarnished a subway system that once was an emblem of efficiency and source of regional pride.
Still, longtime critics of Metro’s shortcomings generally defended the decision on the grounds that riders’ safety was the top concern.
Metro “has a long, well-documented list of safety issues and needs to work aggressively to fix them,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Tuesday. “While this shutdown is inconvenient, they are doing the right thing by putting the safety of their passengers and workers first.”
Foxx also used the occasion to urge the District, Maryland and Virginia to step up their efforts to exert safety oversight of Metro. In October, Foxx gave the Federal Transit Administration responsibility for safety oversight of the rail system. He said the body previously in charge of it, the Tri-State Oversight Committee, composed of representatives of the three jurisdictions, had failed to do its job.
The three jurisdictions have agreed to set up a more powerful body, to be called a Metro Safety Commission. But that process has been delayed by as much as a year because neither Virginia nor Maryland moved to obtain necessary approval from their general assemblies during this year’s legislative sessions.
“I’ve said it before,” Foxx said, “and I’ll keep saying it until the region takes real ownership of its safety-oversight responsibilities: D.C., Maryland and Virginia need to stand up a permanent Metro safety office with real teeth.
“What are folks waiting for?”
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) called the decision “an incredible disruption to everyone who uses Metrorail” but added, “ ‘Safety first’ must be a mandate.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she was not privy to the information that led Metro leaders to close the rail system and wouldn’t second-guess the decision until she knew more. But she said that eventually, she wants to know how Metro arrived at the point of needing a sudden and complete shutdown.
“Do we want to understand their decision-making to get to this point? Of course, and we will get to those answers,” Bowser said Tuesday. “Some of the questions I will have have to do with what options did they look at to do this? Is a 24-hour or 29-hour closure the only option?”
The shutdown was decided in an hour-long conference call starting at 2 p.m. with most Metro board members, during which Wiedefeld recommended the immediate, one-day shutdown as the best option, officials said.
Board members raised concerns and discussed other possibilities but ended up endorsing the general manager’s view with little dissent.
The safety checks could have been delayed until the weekend or conducted at night over about six days, officials said. But if the system were kept open, a public announcement about the risk would have to be made. That would have put passengers, and Metro, in the awkward position of publicly acknowledging that it was operating despite being aware of a potentially deadly safety problem.
Metro also would have been liable in the case of any crashes or calamities.
Metro officials offered no new details Tuesday about the location or seriousness of Monday’s early-morning tunnel fire that snarled service on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines.
“The investigation into yesterday’s cable fire at McPherson Square is ongoing,” Wiedefeld said Tuesday. “As a preliminary matter, the conditions appear disturbingly similar to those in the L’Enfant incident of a year ago, and our focus is squarely on mitigating any risk of a fire elsewhere on the system.”
The cable fires have “happened twice in a year,” Wiedefeld said, adding that he couldn’t risk “a third time.”
In an especially unnerving revelation, Wiedefeld confirmed that the cable that caught fire Monday had been inspected as part of a systemwide cable inspection after the Yellow Line fire — and passed. He said he had concerns about the results of that inspection.
Wiedefeld said 125 cables were replaced after the inspections.
A Metro official who spoke on the condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly said the earlier cable inspections were not conducted properly or missed the problem that caused the fires.
[What happened on Monday and the havoc it caused]
Pressure has been growing for fixes to myriad problems that have plagued Metro since the January 2015 incident. That fatal calamity came six years after Metro pledged to put safety first following a deadly 2009 Red Line crash that killed nine people, including a train operator. It only raised concerns that the system had made little progress.
A series of other service breakdowns, including an August derailment on a stretch of track that Metro officials knew for a month was problematic, as well as other management failures further raised questions about the agency’s ability to provide safe, reliable service.
Even as many riders have turned away from the Metro system, blaming almost weekly service disruptions, many thousands still depend on it to get to work. And with Wednesday’s shutdown, they will be confronted with the unimaginable.
“Tomorrow we will get a glimpse of what our nation’s capital will look like without this essential system,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va) said Tuesday.
Other members of the region’s congressional delegation were also frustrated by the news.
“Today’s decision by General Manager Wiedefeld to shut down the Metrorail system for 24 hours is a gut punch to the hundreds of thousands of commuters who depend on the system,” Rep. Gerry E. Connolly (D-Va.) said Tuesday. “While I am extremely frustrated with this news, safety must be our number one priority. This dramatic action highlights the need for long-term safety and reliability improvements throughout the system.”
[Tracking Metro’s biggest meltdowns]
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), head of the council’s transportation committee, said she received no official warning and learned of the news from the Internet when it leaked before the official announcement.
“The problem sounds mysterious, and maybe this is a fairly dramatic step, but maybe it’s the kind of step that we need to get things right,” Cheh said Tuesday. “I told the people in my office, ‘Break out your bikes.’ ”
The Metro board’s chairman, Jack Evans, who took the post in January, supported Wiedefeld’s action.
“The most prudent thing is to close down the system and find out what we’re dealing with,” said Evans, who also is a D.C. Council member. “I am not willing to take a chance.”
Peter Herman, Arelis Hernandez, Dana Hedgpeth, Paul Duggan, Hamil Harris, Luz Lazo, Michael Laris, Michael Rosenwald, Katherine Shaver, Perry Stein, Antonio Olivo, Fenit Nirappil and Michael E. Ruane and contributed to this report.
Peter Herman, Arelis Hernandez, Dana Hedgpeth, Paul Duggan, Hamil Harris, Luz Lazo, Michael Laris, Michael Rosenwald, Katherine Shaver, Perry Stein, Antonio Olivo, Fenit Nirappil and Michael E. Ruane and contributed to this report.
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D.C.’s Metro is the No. 1 transit system. Yes, you read that right.
How people reacted to the Metro shutdown news on Twitter
How people reacted to the Metro shutdown news on Twitter
The closure is a ‘gut punch’ to Maryland and Virginia lawmakers
The closure is a ‘gut punch’ to Maryland and Virginia lawmakers
All D.C. public schools absenses will count as excused on Wednesday
All D.C. public schools absenses will count as excused on Wednesday
The biggest Metro meltdowns in the past four years
The biggest Metro meltdowns in the past four years
