D.C. Metro Back Open After Safety Defects Cause Shut Down

WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- The Washington, D.C. Metro is back open after an unprecedented shutdown. Metro officials say their decision to suspend service was justified after numerous safety defects were discovered.

Right now, some repairs are still being made.

Ava-joye Burnett shows us the major damage found Wednesday.

Crews scoured through more than 100 miles of tracks in the D.C. Metro system.

Metro inspectors found ripped up cables--a fire hazard--as trains zoom by on the tracks. That's why Metro shut down every single line for an unprecedented 29 hours.

"We still believe today that we made the correct decision because of safety that none of us in good conscience could send those trains out," said Metro Chairman Jack Evans.

Inspectors found 26 problem spots where damaged jumper cables and connector boots needed to be repaired or replaced. All but four locations have been remedied as of 9 p.m. Repairs at the four remaining locations are underway.

Metro is advising customers of the following service information:

• Trains on the Red, Yellow and Green lines will operate on a regular weekday schedule Thursday following clear inspections on all three lines.
• On the Blue, Orange and Silver lines, there is a slight chance of service changes if an ongoing repair effort at Foggy Bottom cannot be completed prior to Metrorail's 5 a.m. opening time. If repairs continue at the current pace, Metro expects to operate Blue, Orange and Silver line service on a regular weekday schedule. However, in the event that repairs are not completed in time, Metro will single track between Clarendon and Foggy Bottom, running Orange Line trains between Vienna and New Carrollton and Silver Line trains between Wiehle-Reston and Largo. The Blue Line would be rerouted over the Yellow Line bridge.
• As always, customers are encouraged to sign up for MetroAlerts to receive service information via email or text message.

This is the type of issue that caused a fire at McPherson Metro Square on Monday and a similar situation one year ago at L'Enfant Plaza, where a passenger died after smoke flooded a train.

With all 91 Metro stations closed, a lot of people had to rely on buses. For those commuters, they can't wait for things to be back up and running.

"I didn't have a problem with it after I read that it was due to safety issues. That should be a paramount concern from my viewpoint," said Peter Gabriel, commuter.

"I applaud this man for taking a firm step and saying we're going to figure out what's going on," said Barbara Morrison, commuter.

Some 700,000 people in the region use the system every day, and Metro is using this opportunity to demand more funding.

"As we go forward, I hope this is a wake up call for the entire region--for the District, for Virginia, for Maryland and for the federal government--that we need to invest in our system once and for all," said Evans.

Metro service on all six lines and at all 91 stations will resume at 5 a.m. Thursday. If all issues aren't fixed, there could be delays because some trains will have to use single tracking.

Metro plans on releasing all its findings to the FTA and the NTSB.