WASHINGTON (AP) – Commuters in the nation’s capital were returning to their regular routines Thursday morning after an unprecedented daylong shutdown of the Washington subway system.
But the problems that led to the closure won’t be fixed so easily and will continue to cause headaches for riders, some of whom have already abandoned the aging system because of safety and reliability concerns.
The 29-hour shutdown, scheduled to end at 5 a.m. Thursday, was ordered to allow workers to inspect 600 third-rail power cables throughout the Metro transit system. An electrical fire on the tracks Monday, similar to one that killed a passenger last year, raised grave safety concerns, Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said.
The inspections revealed 26 areas of concern requiring replacement or repair, Wiedefeld said, including three he called “show-stoppers.” Most of the issues were fixed during the closure, but Wiedefeld said the next step was to understand why the problems occurred.
Riders take more than 700,000 trips on Metro trains every day because it’s still a convenient way to get downtown from Maryland, Virginia and the city’s outer neighborhoods. But the system has become less reliable and ridership has declined.