Metro: Passengers evacuated from disabled train near Rosslyn

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Metro says more than 100 passengers were stuck for about an hour — some longer — on a train outside the Rosslyn station in northern Virginia after the train became disabled by a mechanical problem.

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says the train broke down shortly after 2 p.m. about 100 feet from the platform. He says between 100 and 200 passengers were stuck for about an hour before they were evacuated.

To get passengers safely back onto the platform, officials put another train in front of the broken one, and had passengers walk through it. Passengers didn’t have to walk through the tunnel, NBC4 reporter Adam Tuss told WTOP.

Some passengers said Metro’s communication was non-existent, Tuss reported.

Stessel says it’s not clear what caused the problem but there was no smoke or fire, and no one was injured. He says the train will be towed away.

Tweets show it was the 7000 series — Metro’s brand new railcars — that lost power. There doesn’t appear to be any smoke or fire.

The breakdown comes one day after Congressional Republicans told Metro officials at a hearing that the agency has been poorly managed and shouldn’t expect any increases in federal aid.