File this one under, it’s probably their fault: A DCist reader based in Ballston amuses us with this story of problems on the Orange Line from this morning.
… the Orange Line had a serious snafu this morning. While waiting at Ballston around 7:50, we witnessed a train approach at full speed, whizz by us, and then stop with the majority of the front end of the train stuck in the tunnel to Virginia Square. Just two or three cars were left dangling in the Ballston station. The driver seemed dumbfounded — he just sat there for a few minutes and decided to move on, preventing passengers from boarding and, more importantly, disembarking. I think the driver may have been daydreaming. He simply missed the station.
Most disconcerting was the speed at which he raced by. Usually the trains honk their horns if they are skipping a station so that platform patrons can step back — but in this case, the event caught everyone by surprise.
Ooops! WMATA made a whoops-a-daisy on this one. Assuming the train was under automatic control versus manual, the automated stopping mechanism that controls where trains stop along the platform probably failed, which has been a nagging problem for the metrorail system for the past few years.
