Metro problems

Transit Alert: Metro Delays Due to Person on Tracks

By Katie Pyzyk

Update at 3:10 p.m. — WMATA reports the Foggy Bottom station has reopened.

Earlier: Metro riders should expect to experience delays on the Orange and Blue lines due to a person struck by a train at Foggy Bottom.

The Foggy Bottom station is currently closed. Orange lines are single tracking between Clarendon and Foggy Bottom. Blue lines are single tracking between Arlington Cemetery and Foggy Bottom.

Delays are expected to continue during the police investigation into the incident.

If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, help is a phone call away. Call CrisisLink at 703-527-4077.

Metro Single-Tracking Due to Cracked Rail at Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

Update at 1:00 p.m. — Metro says via Twitter that crews have completed repair work on the cracked rail.

Blue and Orange Line Metro trains are single-tracking through parts of Arlington due to a cracked rail at Rosslyn. As of 11:55 a.m., Metro crews were reported to have repaired 50 percent of the crack.

From WMATA:

Blue and Orange line trains are experiencing delays due to a cracked rail at Rosslyn.  At this time, Orange Line trains are single tracking between Ballston and Foggy Bottom, and Blue Line trains are single tracking between Arlington Cemetery and Foggy Bottom.

An estimated time of repair will be provided when known.

Customers traveling on the Blue or Orange line during today’s midday hours should allow 15 minutes of additional travel time.

WMATA also said via the agency’s Twitter account that every other Orange Line train heading toward Arlington from D.C. will “turn at Foggy Bottom back to New Carrollton.”

This is the third cracked rail that Metro has reported in as many weeks.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Metro Apologizes for Thursday Night Delays — WMATA has apologized for leaving riders stranded for up to an hour on Thursday night. A power failure at Metro’s command center in Landover, Md. caused a communications breakdown that disrupted service between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. late Thursday night/early Friday morning. [TBD]

Arlington Student Honored for Essay — An Arlington high school student has won an essay contest sponsored by Dominion. Sam Bosley, of the Langston High School Continuation Program, wrote an essay for Dominion’s Strong Men Strong Women program — which seeks “essays about African American leaders who make an impact on students today.” Bosley’s essay on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was named the winner for Northern Virginia. As a winner, Bosley will receive a laptop computer from Dominion and Langston will receive a grant for $1,000. [Dominion]

W-L Gymnastics Champs Chow Down on Donuts — After winning a third straight National District championship, the Washington-Lee High School girls gymnastics team indulged in a bit of a tradition for Arlington’s gymnastics squads: stopping for donuts at a Krispy Kreme store on Route 1 south of Alexandria. [Sun Gazette]

Morning Poll: ‘Nightmare’ Orange Line Commute ‘Handled Well?’

By ARLnow.com

Just before 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11, a man was struck by an outbound train at the Clarendon Metro station, throwing the evening commute into chaos.

As rescuers worked to free the man from underneath the train, power was shut off to the third rail and trains were stopped around the station. With almost nowhere else to go, Orange Line trains started offloading passengers at Rosslyn. Soon, the Rosslyn station started filling up with people — so many people that the escalators were shut down so they wouldn’t become overloaded.

Shortly after that, police were called in to help with crowd control. Via police radio, officers expressed concern that the crowds were so heavy on the platforms that people might start falling onto the tracks. Later, a mass casualty medical response was dispatched to the station as people started getting ill while trying to walk up the long escalators.

Many riders that night expressed complaints about a lack of communication and direction from Metro personnel at the Rosslyn station. After a two-week review, however, Metro has concluded that while some mistakes were made, the shutdown was, in fact, handled well.

How would you grade Metro’s overall response on Oct. 11?

Flooding Splits Blue/Yellow Line at Potomac Yard

By ARLnow.com

Update at 9:40 a.m. — Normal service has been restored between Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport. That will likely result in a couple of crowded trains running through Arlington stations, as residual crowds of stranded riders at Braddock Road clear out.

Thanks to flooding near Potomac Yard, the Blue and Yellow Lines have been split in two between Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport this morning.

But while riders were treated to disaster movie-like scenes at the Braddock Road Metro station, where a crush of humanity lined up for shuttle buses to Reagan National, Yellow and Blue Line riders in Arlington said the morning commute was pretty average.

“Pentagon City crowded but not terrible,” Twitter user @smmccue told us. “No trains listed on arrivals board.”

“Not too bad. Slightly crowded, but nothing out of the ordinary,” said @nemesisgal. “Yellow Line train seemed a bit empty, but I just thought it was the August Effect.”

WMATA says it is pumping water in the flooded area.

“Service will be restored as quickly and safely as possible,” the transit agency said.