Metro officials said personnel followed procedures Monday evening during a small track fire at the Gallery Place station, despite some miscommunication issues.
One commuter was treated for smoke inhalation at a hospital, the D.C. Fire and EMS Department said.
The small debris blaze on the lower-level tracks at Gallery Place tangled Monday’s evening commute on the Green and Yellow lines.
Metro spokeswoman Morgan Dye said Tuesday that a “stray current” came into contact with a bolt shortly before 6 p.m., causing the bolt to “smolder” and debris to catch fire.
A train operator approaching the station saw the fire and then followed procedure, including communicating with station personnel who then contacted D.C. Fire, Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said Tuesday during a press conference.
It took 20 minutes for commuters to evacuate the train while the station manager came down and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.
Mr. Wiedefeld said the incidents were “handled exactly the way [they] should be,” despite difficulty in communicating effectively during emergencies when “a lot of things are happening very quickly.”
Metro has been beset with smoke-and-fire incidents over the past several months, the most serious causing one death and 86 injuries in January 2015.
The transit agency’s communications with customers are difficult in some locations due to broken speakers in train cars and on platforms, Mr. Wiedefeld said.
“In an ideal world, I wish we could do it just like that, but I think overall we did a good job,” the general manager said.
Despite closures the Green and Yellow lines, with single-tracking as trains bypassed the station, normal service on the Red Line at Gallery Place continued, leading to platform congestion and rider confusion.
Mr. Wiedefeld said that due to the fire’s location on the lower level, initially “the assessment was made that they did not have to close the Red Line because the Green [and Yellow] lines were under control.”
Yet riders reported that those disembarking Red Line trains attempted to get onto the Green and Yellow platform despite visible smoke.
Officials ultimately opted to evacuate and close the station entirely while the tracks were serviced. Red line service was quickly resumed, approximately a half-hour after the station’s closing.
Normal service was restored between Mount Vernon Square and L’Enfant Plaza stations shortly before 10 p.m. after emergency repairs were made. Residual delays lingered in both directions.
“The most important thing out of last night was that safety trumped everything and that is what was important to me,” Mr. Wiedefeld said.
• Aubri Juhasz can be reached at ajuhasz@washingtontimes.com.
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