Metrorail riders weathered serious delays with two smoking insulators, one switch malfunction, a sick customer and a scheduling mishap just during the morning commute on Wednesday. And that was before a storm was slated to blow across the region, bringing with it up to 10 inches of snow.
But Wednesday’s troubles on the Red, Orange, Blue and Green lines came on top of several days of terrible commutes — delays caused by three cracked rails, the evacuation of the Red Line’s Forest Glen station because of a train’s smoking brakes, more switch malfunctions, more smoke, a Metro worker’s injury, a derailment of track equipment, and evacuated trains.
And those were the unplanned delays. Commuters also have to factor in the scheduled track work that has seeped over from overnight hours into weekends, evenings and now the middle of the day — all while weaving their way around stopped escalators, leaking ceilings and crumbling platforms.
Riders are grumbling. Some turn to Twitter to vent, while others have been griping to their colleagues or cursing aloud in disbelief on the actual trains. Is this what the higher fares brought us? Is this the new normal?
Metro, in part, says, yes.
“Part of it is the aging infrastructure. And in the past, due to various reasons, maintenance wasn’t done as regularly as we do it now,” said Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff.
That has caused the system to literally fall apart, especially on the Red Line, the agency’s oldest and busiest line.
Riders can expect more delays to come, even if those waits are scheduled as part of a major track work program. The transit agency has warned riders that 2011 will be full of track work as crews try to catch up and return the system to what officials call “a state of good repair.”
Woodruff explained, “It seems like every weekend and every holiday, we’re doing track work and that is to prevent these types of issues from happening.”
But until the equipment is replaced and refurbished, the unforeseen problems also will likely continue.
Metro isn’t to blame for all the problems. Woodruff said the cold on Monday likely contributed to the cracked rails found near the Rockville, Brookland-CUA and Van Dorn stations. And then there are the passengers who get sick, the suspicious packages left behind and occasional downed Pepco lines.
But to riders, it means delays, either way.
