D.C. rail system to shut down for cable inspection

Fire on tracks Monday leads to major delays.

WASHINGTON — It’s already being branded #Metromageddon.

Hundreds of thousands of Washington, D.C., workers face a potentially soul-crushing commute today as the rail system serving the nation’s capital shuts down today.

At least one congressman called on the federal government to let workers telecommute to lessen the agony after Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld announced the shutdown at a news conference in the agency’s headquarters Tuesday afternoon.

The system will be closed until 5 a.m. Thursday — a total of 29 hours — to allow for an emergency inspection of its third rail power cables, Wiedefeld said.

“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 after New York’s. 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.

D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans, the chairman of Metro’s board, said that while the system had previously been closed because of weather, including a blizzard earlier this year, today’s shutdown was believed to be the first for mechanical reasons.

A fire on the tracks led to major delays throughout the system on 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 the L’Enfant Plaza fire and deficient ones were replaced.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, called on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to allow federal workers to take unscheduled leave or telework on today, calling the decision to shut down “a gut punch to the hundreds of thousands of commuters who depend on the system.”

“While I am extremely frustrated with this news, safety must be our No. 1 priority,” Connolly said in a statement. “This dramatic action highlights the need for longterm safety and reliability improvements throughout the system.”

Commuters using the system during Tuesday evening’s rush hour said they hoped to avoid the drive to work on Washington’s chronically jammed road system.

“It’s really frustrating,” said Atlee Ahern, 23, a Justice Department intern awaiting her train home to Bethesda, Maryland.