Metro News Release

For immediate release: August 8, 2007

Red Line resumes normal service after suspicious package found on train

Dupont Circle, Woodley Park and Cleveland Park stations closed for two hours

Red Line service returned to normal at 5 p.m. after a suspicious package that had been discovered on a train at the Dupont Circle Metrorail station was safely disrupted. The six-car Red Line train was en route to the Glenmont Metrorail station when the package was reported.

A customer riding in the last car of the train reported finding a brown box and used the train intercom to alert the Metrorail operator just before 3 p.m. The train operator notified the Operations Control Center so that emergency personnel could be notified. The Metro Transit Police responded immediately and dispatched its explosives detection team to Dupont Circle. Passengers on the train were asked to exit the train so that police could investigate.

Metro Transit Police bomb technicians X-rayed the box, then safely disrupted it with a water cannon. The box contained paper and cardboard. The train was taken to a nearby rail yard for further investigation.

During the incident, Metrorail service was halted at the Dupont Circle, Woodley Park and Cleveland Park Metrorail stations, and Metrobus ran 52 free shuttle buses between the Van Ness-UDC and Farragut North Metrorail stations.

News release issued at 12:00 am, August 8, 2007.