Trapped on a train: Behind the scenes of Metro’s Tuesday night Red Line debacle

By Martine Powers and Faiz Siddiqui

http://twitter.com/martinepowers
http://twitter.com/faizsays

September 14 at 6:42 PM

Tuesday night around 10, a Red Line train, packed with Nats and Team USA hockey fans, departs the Farragut North Metro station toward Dupont Circle.

It stops in a tunnel, barred from proceeding by a signal stuck on red.

And thus began a nearly hour-long ordeal that involved frantic riders, a non-functioning radio system, a harried train operator, and passengers who ventured out onto the tracks as Metro workers scrambled to find them.
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{On metro, rail enthusiasts fill communications void for riders}

On Metro, rail enthusiasts fill communications void for riders

By Faiz Siddiqui
http://twitter.com/faizsays

April 30

When his Red Line train stalled in a tunnel near Friendship Heights last weekend, Chuck Holmes squeezed “the barest of a 3G signal” from his cellphone looking for any information. ... The panicked-sounding train operator wasn’t answering questions, and it didn’t help when another Metro employee, sounding distraught, told passengers: “It is very important! Please close all doors between cars!” as they began to see smoke.

Riders, some crying and climbing over seats, assumed that they would have to walk through the smoky tunnel to the platform, and thoughts of the January 2015 smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza — which left one rider dead and more than 80 injured — flashed through their minds.

Holmes searched Twitter for information. There was nothing from @Metrorailinfo — the official Metro account. Then he saw this: “RD/Shady Grove @ Friendship Heights report of smoke aboard train 107 - attempting to pull train back to platform .... {original text converts to DU symbol}” ... The tweet was from @RailTransitOPS, and “R.B.” is Roger Bowles, 36, a longtime Metro observer who co-founded Rail Transit OPS in January as an independent operation to monitor the subway.
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In some cities, people who are crime-obsessed make a hobby out of monitoring police scanners, chronicling the mesmerizing — and often devastating — incidents. In the District, transit wonks have made a habit out of monitoring the rails.