Three Metro workers have been disciplined after letting a 10-car train run the length of the Red Line last month.
The incident happened on Dec. 2 when the extra-long train left Shady Grove around 2:13 p.m. It traveled the full line to Glenmont, said Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. That’s unusual as in the past, such extra-long trains have typically been caught and stopped after traveling just a few stations.
While riders may wish the system had longer trains, the trains are not supposed to run on the system with more than eight cars per train. Longer trains are a concern because rail platforms are built to hold a maximum of eight cars, leaving the remainder hanging into the tunnel and potentially exposing passengers to the dangerous third rail and tracks when doors open.
In this latest case, no passengers were in the rear two cars, Stessel said. No one was reported injured.
The train operator, the interlocking operator who allows each train out of the rail yard and the terminal supervisor all received “strong disciplinary action,” Stessel said.
He would not specify what type of discipline they received but said it included unpaid suspensions and disqualification from their current assignments at the agency.
