June 11, 2008
Orange Line Passengers Treated to More Problems
If you're sitting near a regular Orange line passenger in your office right now, consider bringing them a paper bag to prevent impending hyperventilation. There's a new WMATA alert posted just after 4:30 p.m. that indicates some as yet undefined track problem outside the Ballston station, and that customers should expect delays in both directions.
Metro says they're running shuttle bus service between the Ballston and Vienna stations. But Orange line riders who have dealt with downed power lines on the tracks and then a train derailment in the last week alone by now likely have little patience for shuttle buses. We're sorry, Virginia residents. You can crash on our couch if you want.
UPDATE 5:06 p.m.: WMATA has issued a release:
Metro riders can expect major delays on the Orange Line this afternoon and evening due to a heat “kink” in the rails that was discovered between the East Falls Church and Ballston-MU Metrorail stations at 3:15 p.m., today, Wednesday, July 11. A heat kink is a bend in the rails due to high temperatures.None of that's comforting, we realize.Orange Line service was suspended between the East Falls Church and Ballston-MU Metrorail stations after a rail operator noticed an irregularity on the tracks. The train was headed to New Carrollton. Currently, Orange Line trains are running between Vienna and East Falls Church, and also between New Carrollton and Ballston.
Free Metro shuttle buses are running between the Ballston and Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail stations to help passengers get around the incident. The buses are stopping at Ballston-MU, East Falls Church, West Falls Church-VT/UVA, Dunn Loring-Merrifield and Vienna.
Passengers can expect long waits of at least 30 minutes for buses, as buses carry about 60 passengers, compared to 800 on a six-car Metrorail train. In addition, the buses are traveling through rush hour traffic along busy roads.
Photo by AlbinoFlea
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Orange/Blue was also pretty badly backed up from a mechanical issue yesterday around this time, so we're looking to go 3 for 3 for the week.
I've just let out a string of curses through my office due to this.
Jesus Christ, it's like NoVa is absolutely cursed. I can't tell if we've offended God, or just didn't worship the correct God. If this we were polytheistic, this would be so much simpler.
Do Catholics have a saint for public transportation?
this is where i would normally have some snarky comment about how living in nova is a big mistake—but i just can't seem to come up with anything right now.
red and green lines FTW!
Apparently, St. Christopher is the patron saint of transportation.
I'll have to set up a shrine next time I come in to work and expect to use metro to get me home at a reasonable time.
Why has Monkey not chimed in with any commentary at all about something called a "heat kink"? I mean, seriously.
And, also, it's not like it ever really gets all that hot in DC, usually. Metro really can't plan for anything like this, you know.
(rolls eyes sarcastically)
Man, I'm really glad I'm in Chile right now. I also get to miss the heat wave.
There is one thing you can count on from Metro: When reliability matters most (heat, rain, cold), Metro will let you down.
That is 3/3 for the week. Good thing I'm working from home tomorrow.
And I can't believe the gall of Cato saying that a) he knows what the problem on Monday was but doesn't want to say, and b) that he thought taking almost two hours to evacuate people was a good response. It's almost like those emergency exit posters are there just for laughs.
My wife is out of town this week and boy, could I sure go for some heat kink right about now.
In other news, the Amtrak funding bill passed the House with an veto-proof majority, plus the $1,500,000,000 which was promised to Metro (and Coburn snagged) has been tacked back on.
heat kinks? WTF, yesterday was a billion degrees hotter then today, why didn't it happen yesterday?
Unless they are cold crevices.. as in, its so much cooler the tracks shrank and separated from each other.
I tried to complain on the metro website... What do you know, the 'comments' section isn't working. Where the F is our money going? I think walking from Herndon to Chinatown is faster than taking a train. At one point, the 'driver' said "We'll get you home... sometime this evening." When this crap happens, we should atleast be charged non-prime fare... I know I'm not saying anything new here, but something has got to give.
I was on a train earlier, and when we got to Clarendon, the operator basically said that the train was unloading there, and then was turning around and heading back to New Carrolton. That means everyone that was forced to get off there from that already packed-to-the-brim train had to wait even longer for ANOTHER packed-to-the-brim train.
I got out of the system at that point, called my fiance, and asked her to drive towards me on Fairfax Blvd., and we'd meet somewhere between Clarendon and Ballston.
Jesus Christ, I understand that the trains were packed in the tunnels, but asking a full train to unload and wait for other full, behind trains is just shitty. I'm sorry, there has to be a better way to do this. Not everyone heading out to West Falls Church and beyond has a nice fiance that's willing to come grab them from this shitty public transport nightmare.
Fuck you, Metro. You're 3/3 on the Orange Line this week. Even dealing with traffic and finding parking near Union Station, I'd rather drive than deal with nightmares like that.
Does Metro run shuttle buses that make stops at each station or do they run different buses to different stations? Seems like the latter would make sense and allow buses to, say, Vienna avoid the local traffic getting to the intermediate stations.
Why can't Arlingtonians learn to take the 38B in these cases? Granted, that does not help those out in Vienna, but it can be much faster than dealing with Virginia-bound train delays in D.C. Stop the bellyaching and understand all your transportation options.
@mgrassdc: I walked home from downtown to Court House, and during my well over an hour amble, I saw one 38B bus. On a good day they run about once every 40 minutes.
mgrassdc makes a very good point, and so does samer. people need to learn their options (bus routes, etc.) in case there is a problem with their primary method of getting home. that said, when something like this happens, wmata should pump a TON of buses into the mix and try to help with at least some of the congestion.
Is it me or has Metro gotten substantially worse over the past few years?
The operator of the Orange Line train I was on last night announced at each station after Metro Center that we would hold for two minutes. At Foggy Bottom he announced there was a train at the platform at Rosslyn, so we were waited about 10 minutes for the signal. I should have jumped out then, but I only had one more station to go. We started to move under the river, then waited 10 minutes in the tunnel for the train to clear Rosslyn. I'm not sure why Metro thinks being trapped in a dark tunnel under the river is better than at a station with the doors open.
And I'm still waiting to hear from Metro about the refund of my bus fare on Monday's Code Red day.
St. Christopher's Feast Day is July 25. Hold onto your gab bar, Virginia Orange Liners.
@ mgrassdc: where does it pick up? also, remember the ratio of passengers per bus compared to passengers per train. if they only have one bus every 40 minutes, i'd be more likely to get home at the same time on the train than on the bus.
c'mon, metro. i'm headed for a low-car summer . . . don't crap out on us now.
when something like this happens, wmata should pump a TON of buses into the mix and try to help with at least some of the congestion.
Arent just about all the other bus routes running at or near capacity right now? Bus ridership is way up since gas prices became so high. Do they even have a large fleet or unused busses in storage? If so, the need lots of drivers,which they probably dont have. We know that drivers cant drive more than one bus at a time, they struggle with the one they've got!
hey ces12, this whole thing is speculation and pie-in-the-sky thinking, so i figured why not shoot for the moon? of course that idea won't come to fruition. wmata never accomplishes much that is substantial these days.