Metro may not always stay open as late as riders want, but on one snowy evening last winter, a group of transit workers restarted the trains when about 65 riders were left stranded in the middle of the night. The workers shuttled them around the rail system using an improvised plan so the riders could get home.
The commuters had already faced a long day. They had been stuck for more than six hours on a Fairfax Connector bus before being dropped off at the West Falls Church Metro station, according to Metro.
That day, Jan. 26, the region had been brought to a standstill. A storm dumped heavy snow during the afternoon commute, stranding dozens of buses and making roads so slick that hundreds of drivers abandoned their cars on highways. It took hours for many people to get home.
In this case, it was close to 1 a.m. and the riders had no way to get home. The transit system’s trains stop passenger service at midnight on weekdays and the last inbound trains are scheduled to leave that station at 11:32 p.m.
Even the final worker trains, which ferry home the last shifts of Metro employees, were finishing up.
Station manager Eugene Brown and Ajit Sangwan were at the West Falls Church station. Utility clerk Robert Carter III soon joined them when he was dropped off by the last work train on his way home after his shift.
They contacted the operations control center that coordinates the trains. Then, with rail supervisor Tanya McKinzie and train operator Gary Parker, they worked together to run trains back through the system to take the riders where they needed to go.
The trains stopped at each station riders needed, then the employees escorted the riders to the exits and unlocked the gates.
The five workers were lauded at a Metro board meeting last week.
“What an outstanding response to the needs of our customers,” Metro board Chairwoman Cathy Hudgins told them.
