Didn't anybody hit the emergency intercom button to contact the train operator? At a minimum, maybe he could hold the train while the passengers used the doorway to pass between cars.

I agree with Rich. This is exactly what those intercoms are for.

The people of MD, DC, and VA need to tell the Senator from Oklahoma to get out of the way of the Metro funding bill. I would guess that about 90% of his office staff use Metro to get to work.

Does Metro have emergency brake valves? Every commuter rail and subway system I have ever been on has them...I'm just not sure where Metro's are. If there are emergency brakes, then someone should pull it to ensure the train doesn't leave the station before people in the last car can move up to get off at their stop. On top of that, there is no way the train operator can just pull his train out of the station and deny that he f-ed up, since that train is frozen in place until the proper procedures are followed to release the brake, meaning there is time for the police to get down there and hopefully arrest the driver for his deliberate negligent behavior.

Rich, pretty sure they would take that train out of service if you inform the train operator of a problem like that. Which I think would be the right thing to do, but obviously, who would want to make that call and then be delayed. Usual D.C. attitude, if it's not my problem, why should I take the time to fix it.

Since this issue happened to many of the same commuters, I wonder if the driver was the same for both incidents?

How funny would that be?

Oh well, it's worth repeating the comment from the last time this happened: Metro Opens Doors.

Clearly somebody's pacemaker is screwing up the system. Keep all the old people out of metro and it work just fine!!!

(just kidding....;-)

Sounds like the train operator forgot that he was driving a eight car train if an entire car was left in the tunnel with the doors open. This happened very frequently during that awful four car experiment over the winter. Operators couldn't remember whether they were driving a six car train or a four car train (hard to remember that I know!) and the trains would stop randomly all over the platform. It sucks enough as it is running after a car when it stops somewhere it shouldn't but getting stuck in the tunnel tops it all!

We can look forward to more of this when rail to Dulles dumps thousands more passengers onto the Orange Line.

"Metro Opens Doors"

Now THAT'S funny. Good stuff.

"We can look forward to more of this when rail to Dulles dumps thousands more passengers onto the Orange Line."

It won't. The Silver Line is to run all the way to Stadium-Armory because WMATA figures, probably correctly, that people won't want to change trains at West Falls Church. What it means is that the existing Orange Line will be more crowded due to longer headways to accommodate the extra trains. But the Silver Line riders won't be sharing the Orange Line trains, except perhaps in the evenings if some people just get on the first train that comes and then change at East Falls Church.

"Since this issue happened to many of the same commuters, I wonder if the driver was the same for both incidents?"

I would hope that the operators have been removed from service for some suspension time. If it is the same operator, then termination is in order.

First, pulling the emergency brake is only justified if there is an emergency. Passengers possibly missing their stop is not an emergency. Someone being dragged down the platform is.

Second, how do you know that the driver him/herself stopped the train short of the platform?

Third, the only way that people could be injured would be if they were leaning on the door (which they are told not to do) or stepped off the train without looking where they were going.

Everyone is so quick to blame the operator without knowing all the facts. Jeez!!

I agree with Rich. Did any of these regular riders hit the intercom to tell the operator what was going on?

P.S. No, I neither work for Metro nor know anyone who does. I just don't like to see people jumping to conclusions.

Eclectic Elder,

If I remember correctly, ALL 8-car trains are operated manually because the automatic train control system is not accurate enough to position the train correctly. Though, it seems, neither are the train operators.

Ah, another 6-12 month "investigation" by our friends at Metro.

There's an automatic train control system??? Is that the thing that jolts trains ahead 2 feet at a time when they are just barely less than perfectly in location?

"Third, the only way that people could be injured would be if they were leaning on the door (which they are told not to do) or stepped off the train without looking where they were going".

Not true at all. Ever ridden the metro in a packed car? If so then you would understand how people could possibly get pushed out into the tunnel.

How hard is it to tell the operators or program the trains to pull up all the way to the front of the platform no matter what the length of the train?

The incompetence at Metro will never cease to amaze me.

What I don't understand is why shorter trains (4 and 6 cars) don't stop in a consistant location on the platform. Some stations they stop in the middle, others they pull all the way up (Gallery Place Red Line for example).

The Gallery Place Red Line trains going towards Glenmont probably pull all the way up because of the unique design of that stop where the Green and Yellow lines, and two of the three exits to the street, are all at the one end of the platform.

Every Metrorail platform has markers on the underside colored green and white (same colors as a highway sign) indicating where trains of each length are to stop. The idea is to have the train centered so that there are an equal number of cars towards either end of the platform.

What Rich said is correct. If you look at the green signs under the platform (you can see them across on the opposite side), all car lengths are signed to stop at the end of the Gallery Place platform. White Flint station has the signs posted on the outer retaining wall by the tracks, so these are visible without leaning.

-Steve

So based on the comments here, half the time the trains stop in completely wrong locations and the other half of the time they're pretty close, but lurch ahead a foot at a time until they're "just right" and they've injured a sufficient number of standing passengers.

About the intercom usage to alert the train operator: I too wondered about this at the time of the first incident. Laura hints at, but does not state, the inconvenience of a few is less important than the inconvenience of many (the whole train being taken out of service, which is a logical, predictable Metro response to intercom calls.) Being the hellfire that I am, I'd punch the emergency button just to get that train operator taken out of service. Heh...

I never report technical problems, suspicious packages, or anything. It's just not worth it.

I've been a train with an intercom call. They do not have to take the train out of service although it did take the operator about 10 minutes to resolve the issue. (door not closing correctly)

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