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Cracked rail, cold weather problems cause Metro delays

WASHINGTON - Thousands of Metro riders faced crowded trains and even more crowded platforms as they experienced extreme delays while the transit system repaired cracked rails and a disabled train Thursday morning.

The frigid temperatures wrecked havoc on the rails, even freezing doors shut. The problems were reported on five of six Metro lines.

With a 230-mile system, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says it’s difficult to predict where a cracked rail is going to occur. Two cracked rails have been reported Thursday.

On Metro’s Green/Yellow Line, there were delays in both directions after a rail cracked. 

There are delays on Metro’s Orange/Silver Line due to the cracked rail at East Falls Church. Trains
were running on a single track between East Falls Church and Ballston but resumed regular service before 1 p.m. Riders should expect residual delays. 

The Orange Line had delays of 20 minutes during the single-tracking, Metro says.

On the Orange Line, a disabled train outside the Smithsonian stop was causing delays for Vienna-bound commuters.

Stessel says the extreme temperatures were “wreaking havoc on some of our railcars,” especially on the Red Line.

On the Red Line, Metro was no longer single-tracking as of 10 a.m., but delays remained. Earlier, there were delays in both directions due to weather-related equipment problems, including a door problem that forced a Red Line train to offload at Van Ness.

Earlier, Metro had a train malfunction outside Gallery Place.

Only the Blue Line avoided delays or problems. Metro managed to escape the snowy commute that blind sided drivers earlier this week.

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