UPDATE:
WASHINGTON – Metro officials say further investigation has determined an electrical short caused the doors on a moving Red Line train to open.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says Metro will begin inspecting all 5000-series cars for similar issues.
A fleet-wide inspection will be completed in about two weeks.
Friday – 5/18/2012, 3:46pm ET
Adam Tuss, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Metro is trying to “replicate” a safety event from earlier in the week where doors on a moving train opened. The transit agency wants figure out why it happened.
The six-car Red Line train was taken out of service for testing after the incident Tuesday morning. Doors on two rail cars opened between the Van Ness and Tenleytown stations while the train was in motion. No one was hurt.
“We will operate the train (on the system) during non-revenue hours or around the rail yard on the ‘loop’ track, cycle the doors, run it through the car wash to simulate rain, etc,” writes Metro Chief spokesperson Dan Stessel in an e-mail.
American University graduate journalism student, Monica Arpino, tweeted a photo of the open doors saying “Nothing like the breeze of open metro doors – while moving. Red line b/n Van Ness & Tenleytown.”
The incident happened with Metro’s troublesome 1000 series rail cars, the oldest in Metro’s fleet and the same type of rail cars involved in the deadly 2009 Red Line crash. The 1000 series rail cars make up about a quarter of Metro’s rail car fleet.
Right now, Tuesday morning’s incident is being treated as an isolated event.
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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
