Metro Blames Mechanical Failures

The agency planned to reconfigure power last night to compensate for the blown transformer. Trains between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations on the Yellow and Blue lines in Northern Virginia were running eight minutes apart instead of the normal six minutes during the evening rush and slowing to speeds of 35 mph because of lower power levels.

Officials have found a replacement transformer -- which weighs several tons and is about the size of a small RV -- for the Potomac Yard station, but it will take several weeks to install.

For the longer term, Catoe said he would ask the Metro board next month for $25 million to $30 million in capital funds to accelerate an ongoing plan to upgrade the system's 98 power substations. Part of the money could be transferred from other projects, and some would be new, he said.

The upgrade is designed to give the agency enough power to operate half its fleet as eight-car trains. Most trains are six cars long, but Metro hoped the recent purchase of rail cars would allow for more eight-car trains.

Catoe also wants to expand the agency's ability to detect corrosion and identify stray electric current on the entire 106-mile system, rather than fix problems as they arise. The agency wants to buy a special rail car that could be outfitted with a thermal imaging camera to find rail flaws. Metro has one such camera, but it must be carried up and down the tracks by a worker.

These types of improvements, Catoe said, take major investment and resources that Metro does not have.

Although Metro officials scrambled to figure out what had happened, riders seemed to be taking the incidents in stride yesterday. As they boarded the trains in the morning, some expressed resignation; others concern and frustration.

Roger Alexander, 48, a lawyer in downtown Washington who has been commuting on Metro for 10 years, said he was not surprised to hear of Metro's latest troubles. "And they're talking about raising fares?" Alexander asked while waiting for a Red Line train at Judiciary Square. "A fare increase is warranted when good service is provided."

Staff writers Joe Holley, Mary Beth Sheridan, Elissa Silverman, Theola Labb? and Jonathan Mummolo and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.