Dr. Gridlock

Metro’s Red Line again experiencing delays

  • By Dana Hedgpeth

Related story: Metro chief apologizes to Red Line riders after second day of major delays

Updated at 11:45

Metro officials said they’ve resolved the earlier issues on the Red Line after customers experienced a morning of delays from earlier problems.

Around 10 a.m., there were still some delays of up to 15 minutes for riders.

Updated at 9:50 a.m.

Metro officials said some riders on the Red Line experienced delays that averaged 30 minutes to 40 minutes in Thursday morning’s commute. It is the second day in a row that the estimated 150,000 riders on the busy Red Line have seen delays.

In a rare move, Metro posted on its Web site Wednesday morning a message to Red Line customers from General Manager Richard Sarles.

He said he wanted to “apologize for the delays and inconvenience you have experienced recently.”

He wrote: “I know that service on the Red Line has not been good over the past several days. Be assured, we are focused on these issues and are taking steps to improve service.” He said there would be more information about Thursday’s service posted on the site and that he would tell riders about “changes we are making to address this situation.”

He ended the note by saying, “Again, I apologize for the delays you have experienced, and thank you for riding Metro.”

On Wednesday, after the morning delays riders on the Red Line faced, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) tweeted that he was “already reaching out to our neighboring jurisdictions 2 find ways 2 hold @WMATA accountable.” WMATA is the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Updated at 9:12 a.m.

Metro officials said they have no information on the average length of time Red Line riders may be delayed this morning due to a disabled train and a signal problem outside the Fort Totten station. Some commuters reported that their trains stopped on the tracks for more than 20 minutes at some point during their trip.

Transit officials also say they do not know how long the delays will last. It is the second day in a row that the morning commute was disrupted on the Red Line, one of the Metro system’s busiest. At least one passenger tweeted that the personnel at the Takoma station were being solicitous.

Kudos to @wmata platform workers at takoma. At least they’re genuinely trying to help.

 

Original post at 8:45 a.m.

Commuters on Metro’s bustling Red Line are experiencing delays for the second consecutive day, this time because of a disabled train and a signal problem outside the Fort Totten station.

At 8:18 a.m., Metro sent out an alert warning of the disabled train. Another alert went out from Metro at 8:30 a.m. warning of delays — in both directions — because of a signal problem, also outside of Fort Totten.

It was not immediately clear from Metro officials how long the delays would last. Commuters reported trains stopped for at least five minutes at individual stations.

On Wednesday, many riders on the Red Line experienced long commutes because of a dangling cable in a tunnel at the Woodley Park station. Trains had to share a track for several hours while crews worked to secure the cable.

Some riders along the line reportedly become frustrated with the delays, noting that it is a repeated problem. At the Woodley Park station, just before 9 a.m., a station manager got on the intercom system to explain why he couldn’t give refunds to customers.

Here’s what some commuters on the Red Line had to say about their commutes:

RT @alliehilda: @wmata ain’t nobody got time for this. Fix the #redline please. I feel like the only way to get downtown is via helicopter.

— ChaBazz (@darlincharlin) November 14, 2013

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