Passenger Trains > Washington Union Station Evacuated, Trains Halted

Washington Union Station Evacuated Due to Suspicious Package
WRC
July 27, 2016
549pm

> (Washington) Union Station is being evacuated due to a suspicious
> package, D.C. police say.
>
> Metro Transit Police said it is assisting Amtrak police to
> investigate a package in the Amtrak portion of the station.
>
> Metro service is unaffected at this time, transit police said.
======================================

All train operations are reported halted...MARC, VRE (which both
confirm the disruptions on their websites and E-mail/text distributions)
and Amtrak (whose Twitter @AmtrakNEC disruption feed has a most-recent
entry dated May 28).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/16 15:02 by GenePoon.

That's pretty impressive. The NEC has run like a Swiss watch since May 28th.

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's pretty impressive. The NEC has run like a
> Swiss watch since May 28th.
==========================================

You forgot the ("/s") for "sarcasm."

And shouldn't that be "...run like a Swiss TRAIN?" :-)

Either way, I don't think Amtrak even knows how to spell Swiss.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Washington Union Station Evacuated Due to
> Suspicious Package
> WRC
> July 27, 2016
> 549pm
>
> > (Washington) Union Station is being evacuated
> due to a suspicious
> > package, D.C. police say.
> >
> > Metro Transit Police said it is assisting Amtrak
> police to
> > investigate a package in the Amtrak portion of
> the station.
> >
> > Metro service is unaffected at this time,
> transit police said.
> ======================================
>
> All train operations are reported halted...MARC,
> VRE (which both
> confirm the disruptions on their websites and
> E-mail/text distributions)
> and Amtrak (whose Twitter @AmtrakNEC disruption
> feed has a most-recent
> entry dated May 28).

Had one of those in King Street Station in Seattle once upon a time. The effect was similar except that we train dispatchers were not evacuated as they considered us too essential to evacuate.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Washington Union Station Evacuated Due to
> > Suspicious Package
> > WRC
> > July 27, 2016
> > 549pm
> >
> > > (Washington) Union Station is being evacuated
> > due to a suspicious
> > > package, D.C. police say.
> > >
> > > Metro Transit Police said it is assisting
> Amtrak
> > police to
> > > investigate a package in the Amtrak portion
> of
> > the station.
> > >
> > > Metro service is unaffected at this time,
> > transit police said.
> > ======================================
> >
> > All train operations are reported
> halted...MARC,
> > VRE (which both
> > confirm the disruptions on their websites and
> > E-mail/text distributions)
> > and Amtrak (whose Twitter @AmtrakNEC disruption
> > feed has a most-recent
> > entry dated May 28).
>
> Had one of those in King Street Station in Seattle
> once upon a time. The effect was similar except
> that we train dispatchers were not evacuated as
> they considered us too essential to evacuate.
>
> TAW

Just curious TAW, but didn't the Fire Department have any issues with that?  Back in the day when I did the firefighting thing, once we were called to a fire/bomb threat, etc. we owned the building and what we said was the way it was going to be.  Maybe there was a fire department pre plan that allowed you guys to stay in place?

Whatever it was, VRE and MARC report that the emergency has been cleared, the station released by 
law enforcement, the public is being allowed to enter the station, and train movements are to begin shortly. 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/16 15:44 by GenePoon.

RS11 Wrote:


> Just curious TAW, but didn't the Fire Department
> have any issues with that?  Back in the day when
> I did the firefighting thing, once we were called
> to a fire/bomb threat, etc. we owned the building
> and what we said was the way it was going to be. 
> Maybe there was a fire department pre plan that
> allowed you guys to stay in place?

We were on the second floor above the waiting room, the only ones in the upper floors of the building. Apparently someone made an Executive Decision to not tell them that we were there.

TAW

The twitter account is sure a dead issue.  Amtrak is so proud that they have it to notify folk, and I have tried several times.

Budget costs   !!

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Washington Union Station Evacuated Due to
> > Suspicious Package
> > WRC
> > July 27, 2016
> > 549pm
> >
> > > (Washington) Union Station is being evacuated
> > due to a suspicious
> > > package, D.C. police say.
> > >
> > > Metro Transit Police said it is assisting
> Amtrak
> > police to
> > > investigate a package in the Amtrak portion
> of
> > the station.
> > >
> > > Metro service is unaffected at this time,
> > transit police said.
> > ======================================
> >
> > All train operations are reported
> halted...MARC,
> > VRE (which both
> > confirm the disruptions on their websites and
> > E-mail/text distributions)
> > and Amtrak (whose Twitter @AmtrakNEC disruption
> > feed has a most-recent
> > entry dated May 28).
>
> Had one of those in King Street Station in Seattle
> once upon a time. The effect was similar except
> that we train dispatchers were not evacuated as
> they considered us too essential to evacuate.
>
> TAW

"they considered us too essential to evacuate" should be amended to say "they considered us too EXPENDABLE to evacuate."  Just sayin'