By brownpau
The photo above is not of the door in question, but the Washington Post and NBC Washington tell us “the left panel in the middle door of a middle car came open and that the door closed as soon as the operator hit the brakes” on the Orange Line at rush hour yesterday, while the train was moving between stations. Fortunately no one fell out, and Metro is “investigating.” (Hat tip to UnsuckDCMetro Twitter.)
By shannon
‘Woodley Park Metro Station’
courtesy of ‘Mieko Yamaguchi’
Well, this sounds like my worst nightmare. The Washington Post is reporting that ten people were trapped inside the Woodley Park Metro station elevator for about an hour and a half this afternoon. NBC reports that six adults and four children were on board, and one baby suffered respiratory problems.
Anyway, the good news is that everyone was rescued around 4 PM, and everyone is expected to be fine. I’m going to try to pretend this never happened, as I already have an irrational fear of getting trapped in an elevator, and getting stuck in a super-deep one in a Metro station sounds terrifying.
By brownpau
Orange and Blue Line riders heading for work this morning probably had a heck of a time thanks to the smoke incident at McPherson Square, caused by a collector shoe (which conducts electricity from the third rail to power the train) falling off, sparking a fire under the train. (Thanks to The Post’s Get There blog for the info.)
My wife was on Metro at the time, and had a heck of a trip with all WMATA had to offer, with trains AND buses providing much in the way of epic, continuous fail all through the journey. After the jump, a bulleted list of stuff she ran into along the way:
By shannon
‘”Delays Continue.” on WMATA (U Street)’
courtesy of ‘technotheory’
Prepare yourselves for lots of waiting around this weekend if you’re taking Metro, no matter where you’re headed. WMATA tells us that there will be track work on ALL LINES this weekend. Fabulous.
On the Red Line (as if you weren’t already used to delays), there will be delays between Medical Center and Friendship Heights while some tracks are repaired. On Saturday and Sunday, every other train will terminate at Friendship Heights and turn around towards Glenmont, and trains will operate every 20 minutes between Shady Grove and Medical Center. Give yourself an additional 30 minutes.
On the Blue and Orange Lines, bridge maintenance will cause delays between Eastern Market and Stadium-Armory because trains will be sharing one track. Give yourself an additional 30 minutes.
On the Green and Yellow Lines, rail replacement will cause delays between Georgia Avenue and U Street stations because trains will be sharing one track. Give yourself an additional 30 minutes.
And finally, on the Blue and Yellow Lines, track maintenance will cause delays between Braddock Road and Van Dorn Street and Huntington stations because trains will be sharing one track. The Blue Line in particular will be operating only at certain stations, so part at Huntington if you want to avoid delays. Give yourself at least an additional 30 minutes to get where you’re going.
This might be a good weekend to take the bus instead. Check out the bus map for routes, and find out when the next bus is coming to your stop via iPhone app, internet, or phone. The Circulator has bus tracking, too!
By Tom Bridge
‘No Tresspassing by Order of Metro Transit’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’
DCist pointed out this afternoon that WMATA buried the lede in their latest press release, which states:
In the most recent incident, a Metrobus operator refused to allow a customer to exit the bus after a verbal dispute. He was arrested by Metro Transit Police on Saturday, July 25, and charged with kidnapping. The bus operator is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation. Metro officials will determine an appropriate level of discipline once the investigation is complete.
First it was sleeping on the job, or reading a book, or texting, and now we’ve seen WMATA employees go from light misdemeanors straight into felony charges. I was sitting here thinking just now that what we really need to see from WMATA drivers, in order to pine for reading, texting and sleeping, is something along the line of kidnapping, or assaulting an off-duty police officer or maybe even light bank robbery. Perhaps what we’re missing is an appreciation for the difficulty of light rule-breaking?
By Tom Bridge
‘Metro – Vault – 12-15-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’
A man was hit and injured by a Red Line train at the Van Ness-UDC Metro station this afternoon after he put himself on the tracks intentionally, according to WMATA. DC Fire & EMS retrieved the man from under the first car of the train and transported him to an area hospital. Until the incident scene is formally documented, the Red Line will be single-tracking from Cleveland Park to Friendship Heights, resulting in (yet more) delays.
Is this Metro’s worst year? It’s look like it.
Update: Metro says that “normal” (degraded) service has returned after the accident.
By Ben H. Rome
‘tunnel’ courtesy of ‘volcanojw’
According to Dr. Gridlock today, the track circuit behind last month’s crash has apparently been failing to detect trains since a key component was replaced back in December of 2007. The NTSB also said that this component – a part of the WEE-Z bond – is the other end of the paired impedance bonds. The board had said previously it may have been the impedance bond at the other end of the circuit, the one that was replaced five days before the crash.
This new finding now begs the question of Metro: just how bad is their maintenance and trouble-shooting of the train protection system? And what, pray tell, will John “Baghdad Bob” Catoe, Jr. say next?
It’d better include the words “I’m sorry, DC.”
By Ben H. Rome
‘Where To Set One’s Eyes’ courtesy of ‘Bogotron’
It’s been a month since the fatal Red Line crash outside of Fort Totten. You’d think a deadly event like that would force some changes over at Metro at how they do things, right? More accountability, more transparency, better oversight, more concern for public safety..
Initially, I was impressed on the fact that they were at least trying. Despite some hard questions. Now, however, I’m not so sure.
Everyone by now has heard about the Post’s pretty damning report regarding Metro and the continual widespread failure of track circuits on four of the five lines. Incredibly scary stuff; those circuits are used to keep track of trains, their speed and location. The failure of such a circuit seems to be the cause of last month’s accident – though the NTSB has not officially announced the actual cause. Metro rail chief Dave Kubicek has downplayed the Post’s report, saying that none of the problems detected are anything close to the track circuit problem at the crash site. He insisted again that “the rail system is safe” and that it’s “a gross exaggeration” to suggest it’s widespread.
What is troubling isn’t just the technology failure; it’s how Metro’s handling it and other issues that have popped up lately.
By Tom Bridge
‘Outside, Looking In’
courtesy of ‘Bogotron’
Metro has reorganized all of the hierarchy for Metro bus drivers. They started with just three garages, but have now deployed this system to all of the area garages, and they’ve collapsed some of the management bureaucracy and turned to their midline managers to help address customer service complaints. What’s this mean? Well, instead of each garage superintendent handling all the complaints for several hundred drivers, this is now a task for someone who might manage 20-30 drivers. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s cut down on complaints over the first quarter of 2009, and helped address some safety issues that might have gotten missed before. Well done, Metro.
By Tom Bridge
‘don’t panic’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’
WTOP had the news this morning that the union of Metrobus and Metrorail employees would really prefer it if you didn’t video them not doing their jobs. While I can understand a bit of their frustration, in that they’ve been in the news lately for napping at the controls of a train, texting while driving a metro train, and reading a book while driving a bus, instead of for their largely accident-free existence, it’s a bit tough to agree with the Union President Jackie Jeter. Jeter said, “Being watched 24/7 is a problem. I don’t think any of us would like that. And I ask (riders) to respect the operators and the jobs that they do.”
So, maybe let them off next time they catch someone asleep at the wheel, or reading while driving the bus. I mean, we’ve all done that, right?
Right?
<Crickets>
By brownpau
Foggy Bottom Platform Escalator Fail
Originally uploaded by brownpau
So you know how the Foggy Bottom Station escalators are actually a two-layered system of bottlenecks? Today the platform-to-mezzanine bottleneck was made worse by one of the two up escalators being blocked off (at rush hour with no work being done on it at the time, natch) so that hordes of work-bound Metro riders had to cram on to one single escalator. Good thing there wasn’t a fire. Thanks, Metro!
By Ben H. Rome
‘Eleanor Holmes Norton Schools Union Station Management’
courtesy of ‘lightboxdc’
Dr. Gridlock over at WaPo is liveblogging the congressional subcommittee hearing over the recent WMATA crash. We had a chance to submit some questions; hopefully we’ll see those brought up. So far, DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a subcommittee member, has said that today’s hearing will make public all that is known now, allowing the public to separate urban legend from authoritative testimony.
Catch the latest updates over on Dr. Gridlock’s column.
By Tom Bridge
‘DC Metro in black and white’
courtesy of ‘pilgrimscrybe’
Thanks much to the guys at Echo Ditto, the iPhone-optimized Metro Train site is back in action. If you’ve got an iPhone, you can now get live train locations through the website, which is great news for above-ground folks. Just wait until October when AT&T comes to the Metro. That’ll be a great day.
By Tom Bridge
‘Pink Croc & Subway Rail’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’
If you’re working for Metro, you’d best leave your cellphone in your locker. Starting Monday, if you get caught doing anything with your phone while operating a train, you will be fired, with prejudice. While Metro used to have a three strikes policy, with the uproar in the community after a driver was caught texting this week, the previous 5-day and 10-day suspensions are now gone, and have been replaced with simple termination.
No word yet if this applies to drivers who fall asleep while driving the train.
By brownpau
MyFoxDC has details on this HD video of a train operator seeming to fall asleep at the controls between stations on the Green Line, taken by Metro rider Gregory Thomas — bigblockz8 on YouTube.
Continue reading
By Kirk
‘June 22 2009 – Red Line Delay’
courtesy of ‘Anything!’
According to a WMATA press release, customers on the Red Line should continue to expect slower service and more crowded trains for the next ten days. They expect the NTSB investigation of the June 22 metro crash to wrap up on July 19, after which service should return to normal. Until then, the situation on the Red Line will remain as is.
By Ben H. Rome
‘Typical Beltway traffic’ courtesy of ‘brianmka’
Just like death and taxes, transportation woes never seem to go away around here.
The annual Texas Transportation Institute traffic study released today shows that while traffic is lighter in every other major metro area, it’s only increased our misery here. The DC area continues to rank second to LA in congestion, wasting about 62 hours a year as we crawl along our major routes. That’s an increase of 3 hours over the previous year, by the way.
Sitting in traffic around here has cost us nearly $2.8 billion and 90 million gallons of gas. The data is from 2007, by the way, so next year’s study may (hopefully) show a decline due to increased focus on transit options after soaring gas prices last year.
By Katie
‘Metro Center’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’
I’ve been around these parts for a while now, and in all my Metro riding experience, nothing has ever been *quite* as hot underground as the sweatbox otherwise known as Metro Center. I hop off my train to transfer there twice a day and walking out of the air conditioned car I’m hit with a wall of hot, humid grossness. And with the red line trains running much slower and farther apart, I’m left sweating on the platform for a very uncomfortable amount of time.
UnsuckDCMetro has been reporting that the “chiller” is broken at Metro Center and last week was supposed to be fixed “in a couple days”, whatever the heck that means. Ughhhh, nothing says professional like mopping sweat when you get to work, right?
But Metro Center can’t be the only sauna in the system right now, no way. So I ask you, dear readers, what’s the hottest Metro Station you’ve been to recently?
By Kirk
‘Metro, Orange Line train to Vienna’
courtesy of ‘GogonaÅ?’
The Business Journal reports that riders on Saturday set a new record for July 4th commuting. Metro reported 631,206 trips on their system, an increase of over 32,000 from 2008 ridership. If the masses of humanity that I saw are any indication, every last one of these trips went through L’Enfant Plaza station. What a mess.
By Liam Darmody
‘All quiet on the western front…’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’
I first moved to the United States from a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the summer of 1997. My first foray into the country brought me to Los Angeles/Beverly Hills, which was a culture shock and half. After only a year, I moved to Boston, where I, Liam Michael Patrick Darmody, fit in quite nicely for 3 years. In 2001, upon graduating high school, I was deciding between UMass Amherst and American University and decided to go with the latter almost entirely BECAUSE of the DC location. To me, going to school in a world class city, even one with a crime rate higher than any other place I’d ever lived, appealed to me. And so in August 2001, I made my way to the District and have called it “home” ever since. Continue reading