WASHINGTON — It’s already being branded #Metromageddon.
Hundreds of thousands of Washington, D.C., workers were preparing for a potentially soul-sucking commute with the rail system serving the nation’s capital facing a full-day shutdown today for an emergency safety inspection of its third-rail power cables.
The federal government took some of the pressure off the city’s traffic-choked highways by announcing Tuesday that workers have the option to take the day off or telecommute.
The Metro system’s general manager, Paul Wiedefeld, said the closure was necessary to ensure the safety of passengers after a series of electrical fires on the tracks.
“While the risk to the public is very low, I cannot rule out a potential life and safety issue here, and this is why we must take this action immediately,” he said.
Metro is the nation’s second-busiest transit network: Its six rail lines and 91 stations serve more than 700,000 riders daily, and it is a vital link for federal workers and other commuters to Washington from Maryland and Virginia. The system will shut down at midnight Tuesday and remain closed for 29 hours until 5 a.m. Thursday.
D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans, the chairman of Metro’s board, said that while the system had previously been closed for days for weather, including earlier this year, today’s closure was believed to be the first time the system would be shut down for mechanical reasons.
A fire on the tracks led to major delays throughout the system Monday. The fire was caused by the same kind of electrical component that malfunctioned last year and caused a train to fill with smoke inside a downtown Washington tunnel, killing one passenger and sickening dozens.
Wiedefeld said that during the shutdown about 600 so-called jumper cables will be inspected throughout the system. Wiedefeld said those cables were inspected after last year’s L’Enfant Plaza fire, and deficient ones were replaced.
