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Metro commuters faced only minor delays on the Orange Line Thursday morning after a 'kink' in the track snarled the Wednesday evening commute. It was the second major problem on the heavily traveled line in three days.
Metro predicted in-bound passengers would experience one-to-two minute delays because of speed restrictions Thursday.
Metro was forced to single-track trains between Ballston and East Falls Church Wednesday after a train operator discovered what the transit agency described as a 'kink' in a section of track. The bend in the track was believed to be heat-related, Metro said.
Metro said the operator stopped the train, preventing what could have been a more serious problem. The train returned to the East Falls Church station.
"We stopped and they kicked us off the train, originally saying we'd have to wait for another train," said one passenger.
Commuters faced delays of 30 minutes, according to Metro. Some told ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 that they were stranded for up to two and a-half hours. Metro ran free shuttle buses between the Ballston and Vienna stations, but the snarled commute tripped up many riders.
"I have a 4:40 bus from West Falls Church to Sterling that I'm gonna miss," said another passenger.
It has been an especially difficult couple of weeks for this section of rail. Storms last week rendered them unpassable. Monday, a car derailed underground, and yesterday, the intense summer heat caused the metal track to buckle.
Today in a Metro board meeting, the agency's leaders felt that heat themselves as they tried to account for the recent delays and problems. "It seems like the kind of response we have to make in these situations could be a lot better," said one Metro official.
The primary problem caused by these breakdowns in Metrorail service is moving people when a train line is down. Usually that means relying on the buses, but since one train full of people can fill 20 buses, securing enough buses to take up the rail's excess passengers can be a major challenge. It can also take up to 45 minutes for the buses to arrive at their destinations, drastically slower than that expected by train riders.
Metro officials suggest that one key failure of the Metro system during the recent breakdowns might have been giving riders unrealistic expectations. One notes, "if it's gonna be hours we've got to tell them. We need to be realistic, we need to be honest, we need to be accurate with the information. And that's what we're gonna work on."
Metro admitted today it must do a much better job of warning riders of a problem before they enter the station or pay the train fare, of securing more buses faster, and of being more upfront about just how long expected delays might take.
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