A surge of electricity apparently caused fire and smoke that temporarily closed several railstations and delayed service throughout the transit system Sunday night, a Metro official said.
“[Sunday] evening’s incidents were unprecedented in our 31-year history,” Metro Deputy General Manager Gerald Francis said Monday. “Thousands of riders were impacted by [Sunday] night’s series of events. We have pulled together a team representing several operational departments to determine the cause of the incidents.”
Service returned to normal by 9:30 p.m. Sunday and no problems were reported Monday, but that was little consolation for the many riders who had their trips considerably lengthened.
A fire in a control room forced the Reagan National Airport station to close Sunday evening, while smoke on the tracks at Farragut North and Huntington temporarily shuttered those stations. Farragut West closed for about 30 minutes when smoke was spotted coming from an empty train’s brakes.
“We know our riders were frustrated,” Francis said. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
A surge of electricity could have been too much for Metro’s equipment to handle. The equipment, such as insulators on the electrified third rail, would become overheated and start to smoke.
Metro officials are working with Dominion Power, which supplies electricity in Northern Virginia, to definitively determine whether a surge caused Sunday’s disruptions.
Besides the station closures, Yellow and Green Line trains between U Street and Mount Vernon Square were delayed as one track was off-limits while Metro personnel investigated smoke coming from an insulator. Additionally, a train carrying passengers lost power at Braddock Road and blocked the track until another train could push it away.
Passengers displaced by the closure of the Farragut West station had a double dose of bad luck. A fire broke out in the rear of the seven-year-old Metrobus that picked them up. The fire was blamed on aworn cable and was quickly extinguished by the D.C. Fire Department.
None of the passengers was injured.
