A Metro employee removed a barrier blocking an escalator under repair at a Red Line station last month, leading to at least 14 customers climbing over a four-foot gap of missing steps in the stairway, according to Metro officials.
No one was hurt in the Nov. 16 incident at the Tenleytown station, but it exposed customers to a safety risk at the start of the afternoon commute, a busy time for leaving the station.
And it was a customer, not a Metro employee, who ultimately put a barricade back in front of the out-of-service stairway to stop more people from climbing up, according to the agency.
The accordion-style barrier was removed from the base of one of the escalators at 4:11 p.m., said Robert Maniuszko, Metro’s deputy chief of rail safety. The person who removed it appears to have been a Metro employee as video images showed he had a key to the escalator and a radio. But Maniuszko said they have not been able to determine which employee.
“To zero in, we’re trying to but with that grainy video, we haven’t been able to do it,” he told Metro board members Thursday.
Fourteen riders then climbed up the escalator – and apparently tried to straddle the gap. Maniuszko added that a number of people were notified of the situation but did not recognize the importance of it or know who to contact.
At 4:15 p.m., one customer came down the stairways and put a traffic cone that had been nearby in front of the stairs, he said.
The full barrier was put back at 4:19 p.m., he said.
The transit agency is researching a way to attach the barrier to the escalators, he said, and adding redundant barriers. The agency is also working to improve communication and signage when escalators are out of service. A one-foot by one foot sign had been the only sign present, he said.
Metro has been under fire recently for its out-of-service escalators and elevators. Customers are used to walking up stopped escalators that have been shut down.
