Suspicious Package on Train Quickly Found to Be Harmless

Last night, a few hours after thousands of football fans rode Metro to the Redskins game, at a time of heightened concern about security, a passenger on the Blue Line spotted it: a briefcase, unattended, on the train.

It was just the sort of thing that has caused dozens of delays, detours and evacuations across the Washington region. The disruptions have become part of Washington life, particularly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the more recent bombings of European commuter trains. Some of the disruptions have lasted for hours, altering the routines of thousands.

However, last night's incident demonstrated that, in the flow of daily life in Washington, not every package without an easily identifiable owner causes such turmoil.

At 8:13 p.m., Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato said, the passenger notified the train operator of the briefcase. Operations control and then Metro Transit Police were alerted, Asato said. The train, which was headed toward the Franconia-Springfield Station, was halted at Metro Center.

Transit Police officers who had been in the area boarded, checked out the item and quickly saw what it was, Asato said. "It was an empty briefcase," she said.

By 8:30 p.m., she said, the train was on its way again.

While the train was stopped in the station, it was necessary to detour only one train around it, Asato said.

The incident contrasted with last month's discovery of a suspicious package on a Red Line train that shut down three stations for about two hours. Passengers used 52 free shuttle buses.