Entire Metrorail system to shut down Wednesday (Washington DC)

wtop.com ^ | 3/15/2016 | WTOP Staff

[OwenKellogg]

WASHINGTON — Metrorail will shut down entirely for more than a day beginning at midnight Wednesday for safety checks, Metro has announced.

Metrorail will reopen at 5 a.m. Thursday. Metro General Management Paul Wiedefeld says that the 29 hours should be enough time to inspect 600 underground jumper cables that provide power to the energized third rail to run the trains.

There is no word yet of the closure’s impact on federal offices or its employees — many of whom rely on Metro to get to work.

The Office of Personnel Management says it will provide an update later today. Virginia Railway Express will operate on a normal schedule Wednesday and Thursday. Montgomery County’s Ride On will run regular weekday service Wednesday but additional buses will be provided where possible. MARC Train will announce any service changes Tuesday evening.

[Jedidah]

Dated yesterday:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/03/14/homeland-security-on-alert-for-dc-hotel-attack-n2133522

[grey_whiskers]

First guesses:

Someone hacked the computer controls.

Someone phoned in that there would be multiple bombs.

Someone emailed authorities that anti-Zionist Freedom Fighters were going to have multiple attacks on the Metro tomorrow.

The employees all decided to call in sick at once.

[Secret Agent Man]

Look for lots of govt worker sick days, personal days, and work at home bs days.

[foreverfree]

SEPTA in Philly did something similar on their commuter rail lines 30 years ago. A rail bridge in North Philly was visibly sagging whenever a train crossed. The bridge was closed and service suspended for a month on that part of the system while the bridge was replaced.

Afterwards, SEPTA inspected all of the bridges on its rail system and found a few more defective bridges in North Philly. SEPTA spent 2 summers replacing the bridges and the tracks, herding passengers onto the Broad St. Subway and the buses in the meantime.

Metro seems to be doing something similar here because of the fires it's had in the past year. Playing it safe.

ff

[deks]

There was a fire Wednesday morning... “the conditions appear disturbingly similar to those in the L’Enfant incident of a year ago,” [when one person died and scores were injured]

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=6082

[deks]

Correction...It was Monday morning that there was a fire

“The unprecedented action follows an early morning electrical fire involving a cable in the tunnel outside McPherson Square Station yesterday. There were no injuries; however, service was disrupted along the Blue, Orange and Silver lines throughout the day.” March 15, 2016

[21twelve]

“Must have had a serious threat...”

First, let me adjust my tin-foil.

Okay. This would be a good excuse to use if there was some type of OTHER serious threat. Although I’m guessing a fire underground on a passenger train warrants it as well!