Metro will resume rail service at 5 a.m. Thursday
Washington’s Metro system will resume rail service at 5 a.m. Thursday after an emergency one-day shutdown that caused disruption and anxiety throughout the region.
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said inspectors had identified 26 areas where electrical cables or the boots that connect them to the third rails were damaged or frayed, and that with some of the system still to be inspected overnight, the number could rise.
He said three of the problems — near the McPherson Square, Farragut North and Potomac Avenue stations in the heart of downtown Washington— were “show stoppers” that would have caused a shutdown of train service in those areas if discovered in the course of routine inspections. Though they would not necessarily have caused a fire, he said they needed immediate repair.
“The shutdown today was necessary,” he said. But he acknowledged that “today presented a hardship for the region.”
Wiedefeld said if they are not able to complete all the repairs by his 5 a.m. deadline, trains would single-track around problem areas or shuttle bus service would be offered between Metro stations.
Meeting with reporters, Wiedefeld showed a video of one exposed jumper cable that looked like a jumble of wires, its insulation peeled away.
Riders were relieved that the fixes were being made and that the system would reopen Thursday. “I hope everything is straight,” said Bruce Milles, 28, who sat waiting for a bus home at a busy I street stop. His commute Wednesday was too difficult, he said. It took three buses to get from his Brookland home in Northeast Washington the Pentagon City restaurant where he works.
“Thank God they are opening,” he said.
The emphasis on safety would continue. 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.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) would redirect hundreds of millions of dollars in money unspent by Metro to address safety concerns.
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