Metro’s Red Line riders should keep setting their alarms early — at least through Thursday morning’s rush hour, the transit agency said Monday.
Fewer trains moving at slower speeds between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations will continue to create delays as long as the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
“It is simply day to day in terms of how service is,” he added.
NTSB and manufacturers continue to investigate the cause of the June 22 crash that killed nine and injured 70. Riders should expect to add 30 minutes to their travel times and may be forced to exit trains early so that the empty cars can attend to crowded stations on other parts of the line.
Trains are still running slowly and one at a time through the area of the crash but are hitting full speeds along the rest of the Red Line.
“That is going to be the plan until the NTSB wants us to know they’re finished out there,” Taubenkibel said. “Our Operations Control Center personnel try to get as many trains as possible through there in a safe manner.”
Red Line rider Greg Johnson of the District said he has switched to sometimes taking a bus for his Chinatown-Farragut North commute.
“It seems like the trains aren’t running as frequently during rush hour,” he said while waiting for a train Monday afternoon.
His bus ride doesn’t take that much longer than a rail commute would, he said, and on the bus he doesn’t have to run to the first car to climb aboard a crowded train.
Chris Lord of Maryland rides the Red Line from Shady Grove to Farragut North every day.
“It’s not too bad in my direction,” he said, “but it does seem like the trains are four to five minutes slower, and they’re not as close together.”
Lord said he avoids the Metro on weekends, when he knows trains are few and far between.
Further adding to Red Line riders’ frustration, a switch malfunctioned at the Wheaton station early in the evening rush hour but was fixed by 5 p.m.
