A lot of unexpected things can happen on Metro: delays, fires, impromptu dance performances. But earlier this month, a passenger had an unexpected delivery on a New Carrollton-bound Orange Line train — a baby boy.

According to Metro officials, the baby arrived at about 1:40 p.m. on July 13. Workers who clean the trains found the woman in labor and alerted the station manager and emergency medical services.

At Thursday’s Metro board meeting, officials honored workers who helped deliver the child: rail car cleaners Thomas Adams, Latasha Bostic, and José Flores, and rail operations supervisor Mildred Wood.

“We were going about cleaning out trains and then somebody came up to me and said, ‘Um, excuse me, do you have a cart… or a crate?'” Bostic told the media. She said she was confused by this request. “‘Well, it’s a lady on the train. She’s about to give birth.’

“So my first instinct was to make sure the train didn’t leave while she was on the train.”

Towels and personal protective equipment were gathered for the woman giving birth and those helping her. The baby was almost out by then, Bostic said.

Mother and baby, whose identities are unknown by Metro, appeared to be fine before being taken away by a Prince George’s County ambulance.

“When it first came out, we were nervous then because the baby was quiet at first, but then he started crying,” Bostic said.

All three workers said it was their most interesting day on the job. Flores had worked at Metro for 13 years, Bostic for 17 years, and Adams for 18 years.

“My first word when I got home from work, ‘You would not believe what happened today,'” Adams said.

The last time a baby was born on the system was about a decade ago, according to news reports. A mother gave birth to her fourth child on the platform at L’Enfant Plaza.

https://twitter.com/MetroTransitPD/status/362947920498130944

At the time, Twitter users suggested naming the child after a Metro station, including L’Enfant, which is French for “the child.”

Several people have gone into labor on Metro, but have not delivered their baby on board.

Across the world, babies have been delivered in unusual locations involving modes of transportation: trains in Ireland (the baby got 25 years of free trips), Kenya, Italy, and a Kyiv Metro station during the Russian bombing in 2022. Locally, babies have been born on I-66, I-270, and even on board a New York to Orlando flight that had to be diverted to Dulles International Airport in 1994.