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Adventures in Mass Transit

Valadius Feb 18 2011 03:03 PM

The failures of the Washington Metro system are well-documented, but this just takes the cake: Several steps of an escalator at Foggy Bottom fell into the machinery this morning, causing a dangerous situation and massive backups. A Metro spokesperson said no one was injured, but Father Nathan Humphrey, commenting on this blog post, said a woman "fell on her back in the middle of the wreckage, but not, thank God, into the chasm. Another man and I immediately pulled her up and made sure she wasn't injured. Shaken up and probably bruised, but not injured." Let me set the stage here: I take the Metro from work five days a week from Union Station to the Foggy Bottom station. (I take a different route to work in the morning that doesn't involve switching trains, however.) There are three escalators at Foggy Bottom - or at least there were, before last month work began on a year-long project completely gutting and replacing the escalators there. There are now only two in operation, though "operation" is perhaps not the best word - half the escalators are generally broken at any given time on the Metro system. Right now, Metro is in the middle of a "let's show the public we're really serious about our escalators by replacing a quarter of them all at the same time" binge and generally screwing up everyone's commute. So when I see a newsflash that an escalator at the station I use every weekday literally collapses in on itself, it just further clarifies to me my mental image of Metro's effort to take back control of their escalators - they're just taking buckets to the Titanic.

Willets Point Feb 18 2011 03:09 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

The funny thing is that the people in Boston who gripe endlessly about the T always say "look at how great the Washington Metro is!" I have a theory that every transit system is hated by the residents of that city but is thought to be superior by people from other cities.

metirish Feb 18 2011 03:12 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

I bet yer one is real happy that Padre Pio came to her rescue, if she lays there and waits for paramedics then she claims all sorts of back injuries and in a few years gets a few million from the system,.

Edgy DC Feb 18 2011 03:14 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

The efficiency of Metro blew my mind when I got here. I still find it markedly superior to and safer than the New York subway even as I walk past a marker every day in memory of about a half dozen folks killed in a crash at my local station about a year and a half ago. Of course, it shuts down at night.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 18 2011 04:39 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

Nymr83 Feb 18 2011 06:00 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

There are now only two in operation, though "operation" is perhaps not the best word - half the escalators are generally broken at any given time on the Metro system. Right now, Metro is in the middle of a "let's show the public we're really serious about our escalators by replacing a quarter of them all at the same time" binge and generally screwing up everyone's commute. Sounds just like NYC to me!

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 18 2011 07:04 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

There was a story in the Snooze today about an elevator in some uptown station that trapped people inside it something like 6 times in a 3 month period and is out of service more than 25% of the time.

themetfairy Feb 18 2011 07:14 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

I just noticed an alert on my NJ Transit line. Major delays and trains aren't stopping at my station due to a "trespasser fatality." Not just any fatality, but a trespasser fatality. Whatever that means....

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 18 2011 07:50 PM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

LIRR just had one of these the other day, with a work acquaintance on the train at the time. I neglected to ask how they announced it.

Gwreck Feb 19 2011 12:36 AM Re: Adventures in Mass Transit

themetfairy wrote: I just noticed an alert on my NJ Transit line. Major delays and trains aren't stopping at my station due to a "trespasser fatality." Not just any fatality, but a trespasser fatality. Whatever that means.... A trespasser fatality is someone who went where there weren't supposed to (ie. on the tracks) got hit by the train. Obviously every situation is unique but from a pure statistical percentage...there aren't very many people who don't know that a. They shouldn't trespass on the train tracks, and b. that by doing so, they run the very real risk of getting hit by a train.