Metro News Release

For immediate release: August 26, 2007

Smoke and Fire Incidents Impact Metrorail Service on Sunday

A variety of different smoke/fire incidents took place in the rail system Sunday night, August 28, affecting all Metrorail lines. Metro officials are investigating each incident and also are looking into any possibility that one or more may be related.

A brief overview of each incident follows. All information is preliminary.

5:46 p.m. - A problem with an insulator at Mt. Vernon Square caused smoke on the tracks of the Yellow and Green Lines. Officials single tracked between Mt. Vernon and Shaw-Howard stations. Regular service resumed at 8:02 p.m.

5:52 p.m. - Fire in an equipment room along the tracks at National Airport caused officials to close the station on the Yellow and Blue Lines. Shuttle buses were provided shuttle buses around the incident. As of 9:30 p.m., service had not yet resumed.

6:30 p.m. - A fire in the tail track (end of the line where trains are stored and staged) at Huntington station on the Yellow Line caused Metro to temporarily close the station. The station was reopened with only the south entrance closed.The south entrance reopened shortly after 8 p.m.

7:08 p.m. - A smoldering cable inside Farragut North Metrorail station on the Red Line caused the closure of the station. Trains ran from Metro Center to Glenmont and from Dupont Circle to Shady Grove stations. Shuttle buses were also available. The station reopened at 8:50 p.m.

8:12 p.m. - A train experienced brake problems between Foggy Bottom and Farragut West on the Orange and Blue Lines. It was offloaded due to heavy smoke. The smoke also caused the closure of Farragut West at 8:25 p.m. Trains were permitted to move through the station, but not stop. The station reopened at 9 p.m.

News release issued at 12:00 am, August 26, 2007.