When WMATA pondered random bag searches on the metro, we generally thought the process would be a waste of time. More important to deal with, we thought: what about being prepared to deal with the aftermath of an attack? You know, little stuff, like evacuation procedures, response guidelines, etc? Seems officials are thinking along those lines, too: Montgomery County officials will be conducting an explosion simulation in the Metro training tunnel in Landover today. The drill will also simulate a “chemical release,” and instructors from the Hazardous Incident Response Team in Montgomery County will be handling it all. This shouldn’t affect service, as WMATA’s training tunnel is (obviously) non-operational. More info about Metro safety procedures can be found in this press release that was put out in the aftermath of the London bombings.

In lighter Metro news, we thank Gawker for pointing out one of the many handy new tech applications available for your downloading pleasure: the iPod subway map. If you’ve got an iPod Photo, you can download the .zip file of the Metro map, unzip it, and upload the .jpg. Nifty! Maybe those tourists (the rookies of the rail system, as the Post article calls them) who find the stations’ decor difficult to comprehend could use one of these to help them get around.