Red Line Delays to Last Until Morning Rush

Crews Working 24-7 on Bethesda Rail

Metro expects to restore normal service on the Red Line by tomorrow morning's commuter rush after a broken section of rail near the Bethesda Station caused delays at the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

As crews worked to tear out and replace the long stretch of rail yesterday, trains into and out of the District were forced to use a single track between the Friendship Heights and Medical Center stations, causing a slowdown along the entire Red Line, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel.

Gloomy weather, he said, appeared to thin the festival passenger crowd yesterday but not enough to eliminate delays.

"The people are out there," he said. "We have a lot of people here from out of town."

Taubenkibel said crews have been working around the clock since Friday night and hope to complete repairs by 5 a.m. tomorrow. Meanwhile, as planned, the transit agency is operating additional eight-car trains on the Red, Orange and Green lines to handle increased ridership during the festival, which runs through April 12.

The process of single-tracking trains near Bethesda means that trains headed toward the District as well as those headed away take turns on the one useable stretch of track between the Medical Center and Friendship Heights stations. Taubenkibel said today's Red Line riders should continue to expect delays between Shady Grove and Glenmont.

Metro said the problem began at 4:23 p.m. Friday, when the broken rail caused a D.C.-bound train to derail in the tunnel near the Bethesda Station. A train behind it, headed in the same direction, also derailed. There were no injuries, Metro said.

The transit agency assigns track-walkers to check rails daily. It was unclear yesterday whether the section of rail in the Bethesda tunnel broke during the first derailment or was already broken, Taubenkibel said. He said lab tests will be conducted on the broken metal to determine the problem.

"It could be routine wear and tear," he said. "It's all speculation at this point. How and why it happened, we don't know yet."

Restoring normal service is more than just a matter of removing and replacing one piece of broken rail, Taubenkibel said. He said crews are working in a 600-foot-long area in the tunnel just south of the Bethesda Station.

"We're in the process of ripping everything out, dozens of feet of rail," he said. "If you have a rail on one side that's broken, you have to replace the whole thing, both sides, including the third rail, which supplies electrical power to our trains."

Ridership figures for the weekend will not be available until tomorrow, he said.

On a typical Saturday this time of year, he said, 250,000 to 275,000 people use Metro. "For a festival weekend, we'd typically get anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 on a Saturday."