Metro restoring services after Sunday storm knocked out power

Written by jrood

Metro officials in the Washington, D.C., area, worked throughout the night to mitigate the impact of Sunday's thunderstorms to Metrorail service Monday, July 26. Sunday's storms knocked out power to much of the region, including rail stations and rail yards. However the effect of the storm on Monday's rail service was expected to be minimal.



Customers may see some
more crowded rail cars this morning because the power losses across the region
knocked out electricity to rail yards and stations, which significantly
hindered Metro staff from being able to provide maintenance to rail cars and to
have rail cars at proper locations to dispatch trains July 26. Scheduled system
maintenance was cancelled to allow staff to focus efforts on restoring rail
cars and the power systems that run the railroad. 



Power to the railroad was
knocked out at more than a dozen different stations at some point Sunday
afternoon and evening, which put stations in the dark, stopped elevators and
escalators, prevented the air cooling system from functioning, froze fare gates
and turned off fare vending machines. Approximately 18 back-up generators were
mobilized to help mitigate the loss of power. Many of those generators were
still in use Monday.



The Shady Grove and
Glenmont Rail Yards experienced a loss of power, which impacted the ability of
maintenance crews to work Sunday afternoon and evening on preparing rail cars
for Monday’s rush hour. With the severe heat in the region since Friday, maintenance
crews were unable to fix all of the trains that experienced loss of air
conditioning, so fewer trains are expected to be available for morning service.

The weather also saw some
flooding that impacted train control equipment along the tracks. For example,
the Rockville Metrorail station was temporarily closed due to high water on the
tracks because electricity was cut to the pumps that would typically keep the
tracks dry and passable. Because trains were unable to pass through the station
until the water receded, free shuttle buses were used to get riders past the
high water. 

Also, a downed tree between Shady Grove and Rockville Metrorail
stations temporarily halted service between Red Line stations Sunday afternoon.

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