Red Line commuters to face more delays
By: Maria Schmitt
Special to the Examiner
July 9, 2009
Commuters on the Red Line will face delays until at least July 19, Metro said Tuesday.
The transit agency also said trains may be emptied of riders to free up trains when backups occur during morning and afternoon rush hours.
"It's at the discretion of the train controllers," spokesman Steven Taubenkibel told The Examiner. "If the decision is made, those customers would be told to exit and wait for the next train."
Several trains offloaded passengers on Monday, Taubenkibel said.
The backups on the Red Line, which are doubling many riders' commutes, are being caused by a "domino effect" from trains having to go slowly and one at a time between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, where a train slammed into a stopped one in front of it on June 22, killing nine people and injuring more than 70. Metro and federal investigators are still investigating the crash scene.
The slower trains are causing the number of waiting ones to build up, Taubenkibel said.
When trains back up, fewer are available for use in the opposite direction, Taubenkibel said, which is why the system may need to empty the trains.
He said Metro officials know the offloading may make trains more crowded, as the same number of passengers must fit into fewer cars.
"We recognize that trains are crowded," Taubenkibel said. "We're trying to remove a condition where people might be sitting on a train for a few minutes at a time."
Since the June 22 accident, Metro has advised Red Line riders to add 30 minutes to their travel times. Customers have continually reported delays, despite Metro announcements that trains are moving at normal speeds and intervals.
"We recognize the fact that our customers are not accustomed to this because they are used to a higher level of service we provide each day," Taubenkibel said. "We have had to change our level of service until the initial phase of the investigation is over."
Trains are continuing to run at a reduced speed between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, and the Takoma station will continue to close at 10 p.m. to allow for crash investigation. Metro is operating 37 or 38 Red Line trains during rush hour, rather than the usual 44.
