A 10-car Metro train — carrying two more cars than allowed — traveled to eight stations on the Green Line on Monday before the transit agency pulled it from service, according to Metro.
The incident, which was at least the third within a year, occurred at the start of the morning commute with passengers aboard, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
Metro’s other too-long trains
» July 31: A 10-car train ran on the Green Line for six stops. A Metro employee involved in that incident tested positive for drugs, then was sent to a rehabilitation program.
» March 31: A 14-car train ran briefly on the Orange Line when an eight- and six-car train were coupled together in a railyard.
The train was loaded with the extra rail cars at the Branch Avenue Metrorail yard in Prince George’s County before leaving the station at 5:14 a.m., he said. It passed through five stations before a station manager at the Anacostia stop alerted operations officials about the serious safety hazard.
But the extra-long train traveled to two more stations before it was pulled out of service, meaning it traveled to eight stations with riders aboard. The passengers were offloaded at the Waterfront-SEU station in Southwest at 5:37 a.m. and the train was sent back to the rail yard. Taubenkibel said.
Metro occasionally runs trains configured with 10 cars in its rail yards or to move around cars, but they are not supposed to run with passengers aboard. Station platforms are designed to hold no more than eight-car trains. A 10-car train would leave two cars hanging in the tunnel or track bed when the car doors opened, putting passengers at risk of falling onto the open tracks.
In Monday’s case, no riders could board the last two cars of the train, so they were not exposed to the tracks, Taubenkibel said.
In Monday’s case, no riders could board the last two cars of the train, so they were not exposed to the tracks, Taubenkibel said.
Five Metrorail employees — including the train operator, a supervisor and three track workers — were taken off duty and tested for drugs and alcohol as part of a standard investigation into the incident, Taubenkibel said.
The agency also alerted its outside oversight group within about 15 minutes of the incident, Tri-State Oversight Committee Chairman Matt Bassett said.
Metro is required to notify the committee within two hours of such cases but had failed to do so in earlier incidents this year, including a crash involving 20 workers and an emergency braking incident of a passenger-carrying train. Outside officials slammed the agency for such lapses, and Metro’s new leadership pledged to do better on notifications.
