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Snowmaggedon 1.0 in Time Lapse
Reports of smoke on the tracks at Metro Center starting at about 9:20 a.m. caused major delays on the Red Line this morning, with trains sharing the same track between Judiciary Square and Farragut North. WMATA says the situation had been resolved by about 9:40 a.m., but delays persist in both directions on the Red Line. UPDATE 11:09 a.m.: Metro says the cause of the smoke at Metro Center this morning was a fire that broke out after one of the train's collector shoes, which are attached to the third rail, fell off. WMATA is investigating what could have caused such a piece of equipment to disconnect from the train. Each train has four collector shoes.
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from all the first-person recounts, it sounds like a mechanical issue, but using the term "explosion" sounds like the wapo and some others want to scare people a bit with the 'terror' spectre. good job, that.
Having been on the train in question, it looked and sounded very much like an explosion - or more appropriately a lightning strike (electrical short). The Post's description on the Get There blog is pretty accurate to what I witnessed. Having seen one of the explosions and smoke it certainly seemed more serious then what Metro is saying about smoke on the tracks.
Thanks for your first-hand account, Phil. Interesting ... and probably scary!
I was also on the train in question - I'm almost certain that we *started* leaving Chinatown station around 8:50 am. There was smoke and a thud. Train stopped, WMATA dude in the yellow vest ran up and down the platform, and seemed to urge us to move forward.
Once we were in the tunnel, it was definitely an explosion. BOOM and massive sparks out from the side of the train, the whole thing rocked a little and the lights flickered. Happened twice, I think. Scary enough, but we were in a tunnel, not near any platforms anymore. Had to wait until we creeped down to Metro Center before we could get off. Train slowly filling with smoke the whole time, sardine-packed train pasengers definitely REALLY freaked out (woman next to me was mumbling "let us out let us out let us out...")
I'm just sayin'.
I was on the train behind. We heard a couple "sick person" and "medical emergency" explanations before "fire on the tracks." What's up with that?
That is odd. Usually, first you get the "fire on the tracks" then you get the "medical emergency" then you get the "sick people" then you get the "power" then you get the "women." And I put women in quotes because they used to be men. You gotta squeeze every penny, see? You see this tux? I got it cheap cause Roy Cohn died in it. That fancy yacht? A bargain cause it smells like cat pee. And those beautiful women? They used to be men.
There actually was a sick person as well. They were let off at Judiciary Square prior to the incident.
Thanks to metro I had a lovely walk from Union Station to Logan circle this morning...
You were probably better off walking. No chance in hell this was an isolated incident. WMATA is like armageddon- you know the end is coming, you just don't know when.
I thought that I would hop on a Circulator, but there were none to be seen anywhere along my route (and if there had been, it would have been packed like a can of sardines).
Easiest way to catch the Circulator on that route is to go to the stop at/behind Union Station. That's where they stop and start routes, so it's easy to find one. Though that route up Mass and K is pretty slow during rush hour.
Funny, I couldn't wait until the end of Armageddon. Oh, you weren't talking about the movie?
This definitely started a lot earlier than 9:20. I was on a train that stopped halfway into Gallery Place station when all this nonsense occurred, and we sat there in the dark for quite a while after they shut down the power to the line. I looked at my phone just after we were evacuated from the front cars of the train and it said 9:13. My guess is that the "explosions" or whatever they were happened a little bit before 9.
Most frustrating thing about the whole experience: after they shut down the power, they either couldn't or didn't make any further announcements. We all trooped off the train just following the people in front of us, not because anyone had actually told us what to do, and they weren't making any announcements or telling us what to do in the station either.
DC clearly needs to step up enforcement of the smoking ban. You can bet the police didn't issue the tracks any tickets for smoking indoors.
It definitely started earlier than 9:20, and while the situation may have been "resolved", the backed up trains were still a major delay until at least 10:15.
Nothing I like better than burning my vacation time by sitting in the tunnels.
METRO SUCKS!!!! As much as people complain about Dan Snyder, why aren't more people up in arms about our transit system, ya 'know something that affects many more people on a daily basis? Sirens have been going non-stop between Metro Center and Fed Triangle since 9 am this morning, are we sure this thing is resolved?
Metro's new slogan should be "Metro opens doors to the afterlife."
Metro's new slogan should be "Metro opens doors to the afterlife."
+1
Metro: every trip is like a junkpunch from Hitler.
Metro: Worse than Hitler donkeypunching Molly in the taint!®
Metro: You'll burn to death in a darkened tunnel and like it!®
Metro Opens the Gates of Hell. Late. But we won't tell you why.®
Metro: Next stop...Dachau!®
Taking notes, DPR? I'd like a graphic tee with Save Molly's Taint superimposed over Hitler's face. Extra $$ in it for you if the words are over his mustache and there's a taint à la Where's Waldo hidden somewhere on his face.
why aren't more people up in arms about our transit system
Are you joking? I can't think of any local institution that has more the target of public rage than WMATA during/since Metro's Summer of Doom.
I was on the green line and got off at Gallery Place. The smoke was very bad, and I was coughing on and off for almost an hour afterwards.
It was clearly the gates of Hell opening beneath Metro Center so that angry demons could drag Catoe down into the abyss.
I was on a Red Line train towards Glenmont just before 9am and we were stopped just before Metro Center. Our driver definitely told us there was a FIRE under a train on the opposite side of the tracks. Not smoke. FIRE.
I believe that is the time to panic. Start cracking open each others' heads and feast on the goo inside.
+1 for the brains-eating, -1 for the starving that would ensue if you only had wmata leadership brains to eat.
The same day they announce ridership is down and rates are going up too! Coincidence? Anybody got any good conspiracy theories?
It's all part of "the plan" to push white people out of DC and replace them with nothing. Wait, what?
If the time of a morning rush hour metro incident is going to be incorrectly reported (I know it's not your fault DCist) let's go with 20 minutes earlier and save those of us who may have already been running a little late from feeling the need to explain to co-workers, "No-o! It was waaay earlier than that! I swear!" K, thanks.
I was on the train. It definitely sounded like an explosion one big and then a smaller one a few seconds later. There were definitely big flames and smoke. It happened a few minutes before nine. The train first was held up at Union because of an ill passenger got going again started having issues at Gallery at they had loaded the Gallery passengers, closed the doors and then said that they were having and trying to trying to resolve an issue but said we were going to go on to Metro Center. Right after they pulled away from Gallery is when the explosions happened. We were still for a bit and then they said they were going to keep going to Metro - when the train started moving agin you could hear that there was definitely something wrong with the train. Most people were nervous but calm but some screamed and some were a little hysterical. We made to Metro Center and people quickly off loaded, but on my car were letting the really hysterical people go first. It was very civil. I think everybody was ready to get out of the station and walk to wherever they were headed at that point.
They could totally fix this problem by moving the explosions to the middle of the train.
alright, it was an explosion. my apologies. of course, i guess what i should have said was that the word "explosion" with no context sounds like a synonym for "terror." guess that's just how it has to be...
I was on the train too. I actually was on the 2nd car at Union Station when someone got sick and was taken off the train, so I moved to the very front of the first car, which is where the other problem occurred. It was just a loud pop like a car backfiring, and a small spray of sparks, as we were leaving Gallery Place. The driver stopped the train and radioed for someone to check the outside of the train while we sat there. After inspection, the driver proceeded to Metro Center, and there were a few more bumps and spark showers (probably as we ran over the broken brake shoe). I could hear someone from one of the back cars intercom the driver that they smelled smoke, but I saw no smoke in the first car. At Metro Center, after the train was completely empty, I could see a smallish fire forming under the first car (flames about the size of a basketball). I saw no one panicking or freaking out, but people definitely seemed a little nervous. Everyone seemed pretty calm and civil to me, even people joking and laughing nervously as we left the first car. I agree with whoever posted that they should have opened the doors at Gallery Place and offloaded the train after the first bumps/sparks. When the problem occurred, only the very first door on the very first car was in the tunnel -- all other doors would have opened to the Gallery Place platform.
I was also on the train. From what other riders have posted and from what the train conductor said at the time, it seems to me that the explosion-sounding noises must have been much quieter at the front of the train. When the conductor announced that we were going to press on to Metro Center and offload there, she only mentioned that she had noticed some bumps and some smoke. Meanwhile, those of us who were farther back had just heard a couple of "BOOM"s (accompanied by fiery-looking flashes) loud enough to scare us half to death. People were trying to duck and move away from the windows on that side of the train -- which was pretty much impossible, given how crowded it was. I didn't see anyone in hysterics, but people were definitely very frightened.
And yes, it happened a little before 9:00. I believe it was exactly 9:00 when I stepped off the escalator coming out of Metro Center and started walking the 15 or so remaining blocks to work.
I was also on the affected train and confirm the earlier posters' reports--this happened at about 8:50 a.m. After the sick passenger was offloaded at Gallery Place, we started to pull away from the platform and we felt the first bump and head a loud popping noise. The driver stopped and said over the intercom that they were "trying to figure out what that was." After a few minutes, we began moving slowly into the tunnel, and then heard and felt another, larger bump, with an explosion sound. There was a flash of light over out the left-hand windows of the train, and people on the left side (I was on the right) said they saw sparks. As we kept moving forward, there was a third and then a fourth bump/bang and more flashes of light. At this point, everyone was yelling "STOP!" (trying to indicate that the driver should not keep going) and people were calling for the passengers near the emergency box to pull the handle. The driver came back over the intercom and said we were going to try to limp to Metro Center. After that, we moved along slowly with no more explosions. A little bit of smoke filtered into the back of my car (I believe I was in the third or fourth car from the front)but not too much. After arriving in Metro Center, they offloaded the train with just the announcement that it was out of service. I caught a bus to Dupont Circle after that.
PoP has some smoke-ariffic pics from Metro Center.
Someone made a C.H.U.D. comment there.
i was on the metro last night btwn woodley park and shady grove, and it def. smelled like something was burning..
this is going to become one of those things where, years hence, even though there were at most 300 people on this train, 5,000 will claim to have been there...
A few years? I'm guessing no later than happy hour on the hill w/ coworkers later tonight...
mnomena: i forgot how much the 24-hour news cycle can speed things up...
Clearly you haven't been on a train during rush hour in a while . . .
Metro train cars have between 64 and 81 seats, and during Red Line rush hour they are all full and there are inevitably another 20 or more people standing near the doors or in the aisles. As someone who was on a crowded train right behind the exploding train, I'd estimate there were a minimum of 600 people on board (assuming it was a 6-car rather than an 8-car train).
Given the 600-800 (or more!) people on the exploding train, on my train, and on the trains that were passing in the other direction while the incident developed, there probably were thousands of people who were in pretty close proximity to this situation. That said, the idea that anyone would exaggerate their involvement/presence in this, for any reason other than to get away with workplace tardiness, strikes me as pretty implausible.
nate: you're right, i haven't taken metrorail to work for years now (woo hoo for cycling!) and i just was taking a stab in the dark at the number of people on a train. guess i should have done more research.
I was on the train in question, too, and I actually thought today was my last. I thank God that we're all alright. It sounded horrible. At least two or more explosions. It was bad.
Having decided to simply wait for the next train, I was standing on the platform at gallery place (red line to shady grove) and watched the whole thing go down. the train started to pull away and stopped after 30 feet. It started moving and thats when i hear the first of several noticeable flashes and pops (enough for me to take of the earbuds). the train continued to pull away from the platform and once it was fully in the tunnel i saw and 2-3 very large 'explosions'. that is the only thing i can call them. They appeared to be coming from the opposite tunnel but could have easily come from the back left side of the train headed from gallery to metro center which happened to light up the other tunnel through the tunnel partition. The passenger control guards and police on both platforms did nothing as the explosions continued to happen and smoke started to pour into gallery place. At that point i knew that even if another train was coming my commute wasn't going anywhere, so i walked the remaining 20 blocks to work.