Agency studies communication, what went wrong
Metro on Wednesday pulled 16 rail cars out of service that may have the same type of brake problems that caused the meltdown on the Orange and Blue lines the day before, as officials began to review what wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.
The agency still doesn’t know what caused a piece of the brake system on a 5000 series rail car to fall from a Blue Line train onto the tracks, damaging it plus two other trains and stranding some 300 riders for more than two hours in smoky rail cars.
But officials pulled rail cars with brake equipment from the same manufacturing batch as a precaution during their preliminary assessment of what could be learned from the nearly five hours of delays and confusion. The agency is inspecting the rest of the 5000 series rail cars, which make up about 17 percent of the agency’s rail car fleet. That series has been plagued with problems although they are the second newest in the system.
Metro officials also acknowledged that long-standing problems with its emergency radio system occurred during the disruption. They said they could have done more to communicate with the riders who were trapped underground for as long as two hours — and the riders who were trying to travel through the five affected stations.
But the lessons learned aren’t all new. It was just the latest reminder that even small things can cause cascading problems, tying up thousands of riders, on the aging transit system when breakdowns happen and communications falter.
In June, train service was halted at four Red Line stations for nearly two hours during the morning commute after riders panicked when a mentally ill woman made threatening comments. Riders took matters into their own hands and got out of the train when information about the problems wasn’t forthcoming — as a handful did Tuesday, according to multiple riders. Metro officials have said they haven’t been able to confirm that riders self-evacuated the trains Tuesday.
In October, a suicide at the Clarendon station during the evening rush caused rounds of problems at adjacent stations as crowds backed up. The agency had radio problems that exacerbated the confusion.
On Tuesday, the same problems occurred with the emergency radios that Metro Transit Police and other Metro officials use. Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said officials had other methods of communicating down there, such as cell phones.
The agency tested new technology to boost emergency radio signals starting Wednesday. But a systemic fix will take years to implement, the agency has said.
Metro officials also know the agency needs to provide more accurate information and reassurances to riders when such incidents occur, Stessel said.
“We’ve heard from customers already that message was not received,” he said. “That’s what we are focusing on.”
No solutions have been pinpointed, though, he said.
