Riders on the Washington, D.C., Metro navigated a brutal commute Monday after police activity, broken trains and SafeTrack repairs caused widespread delays along five lines.
The orange, silver, blue, yellow and green lines experienced delays due to a litany of issues, including a station power outage, a medical emergency and multiple trains suffering mechanical failures. Unspecified police activity at the L’Enfant Plaza station early Monday morning temporarily delayed the orange, blue and silver lines. Yellow and green line trains were held for 10 minutes and officials warned of residual delays on both lines after a partial power outage at the Shaw-Howard station forced unscheduled repairs, according to The Washington Post.
GR/YL: trains held approx 10 min for crews to repair component in a local power room at Shaw. Trains moving, residual delays. 10:40a #wmata
— Metrorail Info (@Metrorailinfo) July 25, 2016
A yellow line train offloaded passengers in a separate incident at the Archives station after a break problem at 8:56 p.m. A disabled train forced passengers to offload in the area of current SafeTrack repairs at the East Falls Chruch station along the orange and silver lines at 7:20 a.m. A medical emergency forced another train to stop at the East Falls Church station at 7:40 a.m., causing further delays and sparking frustration among riders. (RELATED: The AC Is Broken On The New DC Metro Trains, Temps Of 90 Degrees)
@Metrorailinfo Now people are getting sick of your system. Literally. See OR line at East Falls
— Fazli Erdem (@fazli12345) July 25, 2016
@Metrorailinfo I have not a single text alert. And yes I am singed up for them. #wmata@unsuckdcmetro
— (@notanotherday2) July 25, 2016
Riders also complained about trains without air conditioning on a day when record breaking temperatures are expected. Metro’s new 7000 series train cars, which come equipped with interactive screens mapping the tunnels, have malfunctioning air conditioning systems.
sweating through all my clothes: a dc metro story
— taryn daniels (@gypsy_camera) July 25, 2016
About to have hernia surgery. Feel safe in the knowledge that I had a much better chance of dying on DC Metro this morning then surgery.
— Shon Hopwood (@shonhopwood) July 25, 2016
Repairs between the Ballston and East Falls Church stations also experienced expected delays due to single tracking from SafeTrack maintenance. Metro officials began “around-the-clock” single-tracking for trains running between the Ballston and East Falls Chruch stations to engage in repairs similar to the maintenance work conducted during the first SafeTrack surge. Surge 5 repairs will last 12 days, ending July 31.
Officials are dealing with fresh criticisms of the safety culture at the D.C. Metro after federal inspectors overseeing the plagued system found 109 safety issues and violations of worker policy during the first two rounds of SafeTrack repairs.
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