Equipment Falls From Red Line Train; Slows, Scares Commuters

A piece of equipment that came off a Red Line train during Tuesday morning's rush hour created delays on Metro's busiest line for nearly two hours, produced what sounded to witnesses like explosions and reminded riders of the aging system's vulnerability.

Investigators in the agency's maintenance division spent the afternoon trying to figure out how a collector shoe, which transfers electricity from the third rail to the train, came off the lead rail car of a six-car train as it left the Gallery Place-Chinatown station about 9 a.m. Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said the train either hit debris on the track or the collector shoe assembly fell off by itself.

The train operator, whose name was not released, noticed something was wrong as the train pulled into the tunnel past the end of the platform, Taubenkibel said. The control center instructed the operator to continue to Metro Center, the next station, and then take the train out of service for inspection.

As the train moved forward, witnesses on and off the train said they saw sparks and heard three loud noises in rapid succession. Donna Kelly, a paralegal from Arlington County headed to work downtown, said she had decided not to get on the train because it was packed, and she saw the scene unfold from near the end of the platform.

"The train just sat there for a minute," Kelly said. "Then it started moving slowly into the tunnel. Then it was like 'boom.' Then there were two more booms. Then everyone started running. It was chaos."

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Pete Piringer said the noises probably were from the equipment colliding with the track. "A lot of energy comes off that third rail that powers those trains," he said.

The initial report was of smoke at Gallery Place, Piringer said, but other units were directed to Metro Center when they learned that the train was headed there. Contrary to early reports, Piringer said, there was no blaze when firefighters arrived.

"It was a slight haze," he said. "I'm not sure if anything burned."

Emergency crews turned off electrical power and did partial evacuations from the stations as the platforms were unloaded, Piringer said. There were no injuries or track damage that would require repairs, Taubenkibel said.

Trains going in both directions shared a track from Farragut North to Judiciary Square until 10:12 a.m. Residual delays lasted about an hour.

All rail cars have four collector shoes to get power from the third rail, Taubenkibel said, so the operator was able to get the train to Metro Center.

A collector shoe fell off an Orange Line train at McPherson Square station at 8:22 a.m. July 30. That caused sparks and a fire, which the train operator put out with an extinguisher.

Commuters said Tuesday's delays were frustrating. Most trials in D.C. Superior Court were delayed about an hour as judges waited for jurors stuck on Red Line trains.

Staff writers Keith Alexander and Lena H. Sun contributed to this report.