Actually the press release says that single-tracking will be between Clarendon and Foggy Bottom.

how can the blue line be running normally when two out of three trains are orange and they share a track?

Have there been many Metro derailments in the past? What happens if a blue or orange line train derails while crossing the river?

"Operating Normally" means we'll experience the same delays the Blue Line normally experiences when something on the Orange Line is fouled.

That is to say, lurching, claustrophobia-inducing, 10-minute trips between stations.

Afraid: I dont think blue or orange lines cross the river. They go under (at least in that direction). Now the yellow line is a different story...

I do recall a fire between Foggy Bottom and Rosslyn some years ago and people were stuck UNDER the Potomac River and forced to walk out of the tunnel on foot. That was a mess of a day.

Was it heat-related?

If those at Central Control, have ANY smarts (yeah right), they would plan NOW, for the Blue-Line Shortcut, using the YELLOW line bridge over the potomac river. Maybe if Central Control would ANNOUNCE systemwide, of the BLUE LINE over the potomac, the delays would only be on the ORANGE. But thats just me talking.

Does anyone know if trains are still running from Ballston to Vienna, and if it will be delayed there as well?

Good luck with that 32 mile extension to Dulles, Metro.

Seems unlikely to be heat-related since this is in a tunnel that's deep underground.

Why don't we all lay off the Metro bashing for once

The reason the blue line would run normally is because with a train out of service at courthouse, the blue line can take its normal route through Rosslyn. The Orange line apparently has to switch tracks before rosslyn, to avoid the derailed train.

My question/idea - why doesn't metro run shuttles from the underused Arlington Cemetery Station? It's a shorter hop, even at rush hour, around on 110/27 to get to Clarendon than it would be from Foggy Bottom, which would be a nightmare.

Just trying to think outside the box. Surely Metro has a plan for each station if one gets shut down, right?

Metro... having a plan? Now THAT is the most amusing thing I have heard all day.

They can't handle a thunderstorm, or leaves on the tracks, or heat, or (insert any other random reason for hours long delay here).

And no, I won't lay off the Metro bashing. I'm sure the hundreds of people stuck in a sweltering hot underground tunnel awaiting a "rescue train" will have a few choice words (followed by lawsuits) for Metro upon their emergence as well.

Just thank the good lord that no one was hurt! Praise God!

No Praise Satan!

And now Metro's web site is down. Awesome!

My original statement read:

"Just trying to think outside the box. Surely Metro has a plan for each station if one gets shut down, right? (cue laughter)"

But I used carrots instead of parens, and the web page cut them out. Thanks for the assist, Bohica

Again...classic

Hey Insidious: the blue & orange lines cross the head of the Anacostia River(Northeast & Northwest Branch). Maybe thats what the other guy was talking about.

side note: Im glad that everyone is ok. I'm sure it would suck to be on a train and have that happen. Lets see how my afternoon commute goes...

http://wtfmetro.blogspot.com/2008/06/breaking-news.html

Somehow I doubt God cares about Metro. If he did, it might be better funded and suck less. Also, NBC4 is reporting a pregnant woman was taken to the hospital for observation - a few hours cooking in a 100 degree non-A/C traincar will do that to you.

They need to add one of those "0 days since our last accident/incident!" counters to their website for motivation.

I hope the NTSB brings the hammer down this time, along with the FTA.

Yep, WMATA's website is now down. Sure, why don't we all lay off the Metro bashing. I'm sure we're all unreasonable to expect to get information from WMATA when needed.

The so-called "blue line shortcut" is one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas.

I like that the press release suggested planning alternative routes home, but that the Metro website has now been down for an hour...

Should I just guess how else to get home?

The Metro website being down is actually Metro intentionally trying to be helpful with the alternative route planning - clearly, you're NOT supposed to take Metro anywhere or rely on it for anything.

Contrary to posters, the blue line can't operate normally in both directions. Trains to Largo will not be affected, but those headed to Franconia will be forced to wait behind orange line trains headed toward Vienna. Thus, when an orange line train waits at Farragut West, any blue line trains must wait behind it. This is what happened today, as no blue line train to Franconia serviced the platform at Foggy Bottom for upwards of 40 minutes.

Come on people, it's only 104 degrees out. Walk home! You'll probably get there faster and in better shape than if you'd taken the Metroven.

Evan, you should run WMATA. You understand the system better than they do.

{no name wrote): "They need to add one of those "0 days since our last accident/incident!" counters to their website for motivation."

if you count in "days" then metro could paint the zero on that sign--or etch it in stone. that's like asking to ride metro without seeing an escalator out of service.

what do you think people: should the sign count in hours, minutes, or seconds?

-Squeezed by the Orange Crush Too Many Times

Help us obi-wan. You're our only hope.

I find everyone's lack of faith very reasonable.

"No injuries were immediately reported"

IMMEDIATELY is the key. The regular lurching trains injure people every day, there's no way a derailment is better than a normal commute.

{no name wrote): "The so-called "blue line shortcut" is one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas."

C'mon. If it was one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas Metro would have adopted it as SOP over a decade ago.

Always refer to this site when trying to figure out where delays are:

http://mysite.verizon.net/cambronj/wmata/sys_schematic_ars-2008.gif

In this case Orange will be single tracking between Foggy Bottom and Clarendon (little Xs in the maps are the only places where trains can switch which rail they're on (west/eastbound)) The question is, did it happen before or after the switch to the blue.. if it happened after (westbound) then it's clear. If before, then both blue and orange will have to single track around the problem.

Is the Orange line running past Court House, to Vienna? Is it/was it just the Court House station itself that is/was closed?

Metro is now reporting that the derailment has disrupted ALL lines. That means yellow, green, and red have been disrupted by a problem on the orange line.

Wow.

From Dr. Gridlock: The trains are running out to Vienna, but they're sharing a single track around the derailment, so the delays are extensive.

There's no word on the cause of the derailment, but a heat problem seems unlikely because the accident occurred underground. Most of the heat kinks that develop on hot days -- like the one today on MARC's Camden Line -- occur above ground, under the hot sun.

Outside of Foggy Bottom, there was a line of buses displaying "Out of Service" or "No Service" but with people boarding. It might be nice if they could find a way to display something to the effect of "Emergency Shuttle to..."

Inside the station wasn't as crowded as I expected, but the down escalator was disabled (which is common) with one side taken up by people walking up the down escalator. Since Foggy Botton is running over capacity with one down escalator and no stairs, frequent backups are common when the down escalator is inexplicably turned off. I ended up getting down to the platform by going down an underused up-moving escalator. There were at least three Metro employees milling around the platform in their reflective IMAMETROEMPLOYEE vests, but none were making the slightest effort to keep people from going up the down escalator and jamming up the entire station.

A Blue train came by within about a minute and the commute into Virginia was surprisingly without incident.

I commute between Court House and Rockville on Metro and I was dreading the commute home when I heard about the Orange Line derailment. I was very pleasantly surprised. I boarded the Red Line at 6PM on the dot and got off at Dupont Circle at 6:28. The Red Line ran as smoothly as it usually does without any delays. WMATA's website said the shuttle buses were starting from Foggy Bottom so I walked from Dupont to Foggy Bottom to catch it. There were several WMATA employees at Foggy Bottom and I had no trouble finding someone to ask where the shuttle was. The bus went over the T.R. Bridge to 66/29 into Rosslyn so it was much faster than the 38B bus I had planned on taking that goes thru G'town and over the Key Bridge. The only bad thing was the shuttle did not stop at Court House. It did stop at Clarendon so I walked back to my home by Court House and was home at exactly 7:30. Soup to nuts it only took me about 30 additional minutes to get home, including the walk back from Clarendon. I would only have been about 10-15 minutes late if the bus had stopped at Court House, but not bad at all, all things considered (and after a cold shower to cool off). Kudos to Metro!

I took the 38B from 18th/K to Clarendon instead of trying the train. Aside from having to wait for the bus (it was running about 15 minutes late) and normal traffic, it was no worse than being squished into an orange line train. Door to door was about 1 hour 20 minutes instead of my normal 25-30 minutes, but at least I didn't have to walk!

Blue Line to Largo would have to have been affected - I was on an Orange train to Vienna and at Foggy Bottom and at Rosslyn we were on the Largo/New Carrollton side of the station. And if we were there it means a blue line train was sitting somewhere waiting for us to get out of its way. So to say that the Blue line would be affected is just dumb. That's what they kept saying to us in the station.

So here's my question - my commute in the afternoon is Capitol South to Dunn Loring which costs $4.10 during rush hour. I entered during rush hour but when I exited I was only charged $3.60. The non rush hour rate is $2.35. So I got a discount but I don't know why. I saw the signs saying something about discount rates but the signs scroll so slowly I never got to read the entire message. Anyone catch what it said. Did the machine screw up or was I supposed to get a break?

Bus alternatives today (Tuesday) to Orange line delays with timetables:

Metrobuses:
http://www.wmata.com/timetables/timetables-state.cfm?State=VA

Fairfax Connector:
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/north.htm

Also if your job permits it, a good day to telecommute.

Looks like Orange line is back in service, no single tracking

http://www.wmata.com/about/met_news/emergency_story.cfm?id=13

Yeah...I LOL @ them saying the blue line to largo wasn't affected...
http://wtfmetro.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-commute-facking-sucked-long.html

The real problem is the lack of a water source on the Metro bridge over the Potomac! Over 20 yrs ago, the Metro fire chief at the time promised while on TV to install a water line on the bridge for fightning rail car fires. As far as I know it was never done or seriously concidered after that.

As far as yesterdays derailment you should be asking:
* Was it at a switch point?
* Was it at a curve?
* Was the curve oiler working if it had one?
* What rail car wheel curve was machined on the wheel? Was it an agressive one that has better life, but worse for not climbing up the rail on curves?
* Did they use the tunnel rescue vehicle that most all tunnels have? It had rail wheels & emergency supplies on board & was unpowered!
* When did central control turn off the 3rd rail in that section & adjacent platform area?
* Where the car doors(any opened)opened for rescue or ventilation?
* Was the car ventillation system still pulling air in from the track area?

Many more questions, but here is a few to watch the news on.