Passenger Trains > Entire DC Metro system to shut down for at least 29 hours

By Robert McCartney and Lori Aratani March 15 at 4:05 PM The entire Metro system will shut down for at least 29 hours starting at midnight tonight for safety checks of electric cables, three Metro officials said.The decision for the unprecedented closure was made by the board of directors and General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld in a telephone conference call earlier this afternoon.  They took the step after an electric cable caught fire before the system opened Monday. The shutdown is to avoid a repeat of the deadly smoke incident at L’Enfant Plaza last year.  

PennPlat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By Robert McCartney and Lori Aratani March 15 at
> 4:05 PM The entire Metro system will shut down for
> at least 29 hours starting at midnight tonight for
> safety checks of electric cables, three Metro
> officials said.The decision for the unprecedented
> closure was made by the board of directors and
> General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld in a telephone
> conference call earlier this afternoon.  They
> took the step after an electric cable caught fire
> before the system opened Monday. The shutdown is
> to avoid a repeat of the deadly smoke incident at
> L’Enfant Plaza last year.  



A press [color=#009900]conference[/color]http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png is planned for 4:30 p.m. and more details are expected to be released at that time. per FOX 5 news

Jacob Schnee
Bellevue, OH
https://www.youtube.com/NorthernOhioRailroadAction

That's a good start. Make the place safer for employees and passengers.

Posted from Android

It is refreshing the GM and the Board (apparently) are making the tough calls, and ordering a stand-down to inspect and repair...but in the absence of imminent danger to the public, this couldn't have waited until a weekend?? I suppose they just expect OPM will give federal employees the day off or institute "unscheduled leave." (Basically you get docked a vacation day if you decide to stay home.) Prviate sector employers don't have that luxury. That's on top of a lost work-day back in January due to a snow-related shutdown.

Metro (WMATA) has struggled with water infiltration issues, debris in tunnels, and deteriorated power cables--it was the cause of a tunnel fire that resulted in a fatality a year ago. Perhaps this is another thing Sarles and his staff pencil-whipped and decided to ignore.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

This is insane.

The system is safe enough to take everyone home tonight, but it's not safe enough to operate tomorrow?  Everybody in DC, northern Virginia and the surrounding Maryland counties just take tomorrow off?  Happy Happy Hump Day?

Knee-jerk reaction.  The Washington Metropolitan area built a system that 750,000 people rely on every weekday.  It's crucial to their employment and their lives.  It's part and parcel of their daily activities.  The local economy cannot survive without Metro.  And now WMATA says, Oh, Wednesday, never mind.  Sorry.  See you Thursday.  Safety First.    

That's "... at least  29 hours...so that crews can inspect 600 electric cables in tunnels throughout the system...."
It might take 29 days/weeks/months to fix the problems that the inspection finds.

The Federal Government is the largest employer in Washington, DC.  The Office Of Personnel Management has notified Federal employees that Wednesday will be a day on which they can take "Unscheduled Leave" or "Unscheduled Telework."  So, thanks to Metro's inability to maintain its system, Federal employees can take tomorrow off without pay or take a comp or vacation day.  Details here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/snow-dismissal-procedures/current-status/ 

While I am hardly a conspiracy theorist, when I heard this on TV news this evening, my immediate thought is that this is some kind of "cover story".  Some of the comments above may just support my observation.  Whatever, it surely is a very strange set of circumstances.  The object is to keep people off the Metro for a day.   Hmmm

In your opinion, should they have shut it down this afternoon and make everyone walk home?

knotch8 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is insane.
>
> The system is safe enough to take everyone home
> tonight, but it's not safe enough to operate
> tomorrow?  Everybody in DC, northern Virginia and
> the surrounding Maryland counties just take
> tomorrow off?  Happy Happy Hump Day?
>
> Knee-jerk reaction.  The Washington Metropolitan
> area built a system that 750,000 people rely on
> every weekday.  It's crucial to their employment
> and their lives.  It's part and parcel of their
> daily activities.  The local economy cannot
> survive without Metro.  And now WMATA says, Oh,
> Wednesday, never mind.  Sorry.  See you
> Thursday.  Safety First.    

Guess its "Never on Wednesday" just like the Rio Grande Zephyr was.

The organization has to exercise its "due diligence" when presented with a major safety concern / hazard. However, I think they also did their ridership a favor by giving them a 24 hour notice prior to the shutdown. 

Inspecting the the entire tunnel infrastructure is a huge undertaking. For the safety of the inspectors, it's best to have the tracks OOS while men are walking in the right of way inspecting the high voltage system.

This move is also a message being sent by the new General Manager to try to change the the internal employee attitude and culture towards safety. 

> inspectors, it's
> This move is also a message being sent by the new
> General Manager to try to change the the internal
> employee attitude and culture towards safety. 

+1

It's also a widely disseminated message to the public that we mean business.
I would expect it will support an anonymous hot line for safety complaints.

Posted from Android

Going back to "ancient history" we have the story of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin interurban, which received permission to abandon (after several applications) on a day in June 1957 around noon.  Train crews were instructed to bring all cars to the main yard (which I think was in Wheaton IL), and tie them down.  Commuters who had taken the CA&E to work in downtown Chicago that morning were left to make their way home as best they could.