WASHINGTON — Passengers using Metro’s Orange, Blue and Silver lines will have faster commutes during peak hours, the transit agency has announced.
WMATA General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said trains on those lines will resume a six-minute rush hour service schedule following a substation fire in September outside the Stadium-Armory station.
“That fire was catastrophic,” said Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. “It knocked a substation off-line and it’s one of our larger substations. It pushes out nine megawatts to the third rail that trains use to run.”
Crews were concerned it would take six months to fix the substation. And while it took half that time, he says tens of thousands of riders felt the effects.
“If you were an Orange, Blue or Silver line rider, you know how horrible those commutes were,” Stessel said. “It was stop and go, 20 to 25-minute delays on many days.”
The schedule restoration is effective immediately.
Stessel said there was a mechanical delay on the Blue line Wednesday, which was not related to the power issue now resolved at the Stadium-Armory station.
