If your morning commute involved the Orange or Blue lines through Virginia, odds are good you’ve sat down at your desk rather late this morning. A smoking light fixture at the Clarendon Metro stop shut down service throughout Arlington around 9 a.m. this morning.

Service returned to normal about 45 minutes later, but not before passengers were forced to exit the affected Orange Line stations and stand outside in the cold waiting for shuttle buses to take them to Rosslyn. Communication between Metro officials and the stranded passengers was scarce, leading to some very frustrated Metro riders. As the morning wore on, it became every person for themselves whenever an empty shuttle bus appeared. Many of the stranded commuters packed into the nearest coffee shop waiting for the crowds to die down as delays rippled back all along the two lines. WMATA doesn’t currently have any service alerts up on their web site, but you should expect residual delays for the rest of the morning.

The light fixture in question was located between the rails in the Clarendon station. The Post reports that the origin of the smoke was not immediately clear.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson. More after the jump.