DC Metro Closes For Emergency Safety Inspection (nbcwashington.com) 110
McGruber writes with NBC's report that Washington, DC's Metrorail system has been completely shut down for at least 29 hours, so crews can check 600 underground jumper cables:
A problem with those jumper cables caused a fire at the McPherson Square station early Monday and was also the cause of a fatal smoke incident in January, 2015, that killed one person and injured others. The safety checks could have been delayed until the weekend or conducted at night over about six days, officials said. But if the system were kept open, a public announcement about the risk would have to be made. That would have put passengers, and Metro, in the awkward position of publicly acknowledging that it was operating despite being aware of a potentially deadly safety problem. Metro also would have been liable in the case of any crashes or calamities. The shutdown prompted the Washington Post to publish an editorial titled It's official: Metro is a national embarrassment."
Wheres my flying car. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, since this is DC, better get VIP plates for them or you'll be in a holding pattern.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Nautical miles. I assume...
Anyhow, at first I thought that it'd be okay just to let some of the DC folks die in accidents, there's a lot of politicians there and many of them are straight up evil. But, then I thought more about it and, having been on the metro in DC, I know no politicians are going to be impacted by this at all. So, only some mostly-good people would be at risk and it's probably best to shut it down.
Mostly-good is, of course, in comparison to the above mentioned politicians.
I'm actually not
Re:Wheres my flying car. (Score:4, Funny)
Nautical miles. I assume...
No, nautical miles are more commonly known as knots [wikipedia.org], so the appropriate abbreviation is "km". I see it all the time, especially in Europe, where they use km for almost everything.
Re: (Score:2)
Nautical miles. I assume...
No, nautical miles are more commonly known as knots [wikipedia.org], so the appropriate abbreviation is "km". I see it all the time, especially in Europe, where they use km for almost everything.
I hope you're trying to be funny. Europe does not use English units of speed to express Metric measures of distance.
Re: (Score:2)
No, nautical miles are abbreviated as "N" or "N.M." typically. However, I'm not talking about what it is, I'm talking about what the poster probably meant. Unless you're that AC - which seems unlikely, given that you'd basically being saying that you did something wrong only it was not only wrong, your attempted correction would be wrong. As non-meters makes no sense in this case.
As for a reference for the N.M, as you're likely to not believe me, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
That page will also tell
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
42
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You know, you should just give up and start using the metric system, that way everything is consistent and there's no difference between a Kilometre on land and Kilometre at sea.
Re: (Score:2)
I much, much prefer the metric system. I've traveled a lot and it's odd, I sometimes find myself converting a lot of the figures into metric in my head. I didn't realize I was doing this until maybe ten years ago. I even look at speed limit signs, convert them into my head into metric, and then end up converting them back when I look at the dashboard. Yeah, it's horribly wasteful but I can't seem to help doing it. I blame the US for that - and I live here!
I think they do use the nautical mile in Europe but
Re: (Score:2)
. A guy is going between stuck cars, asking for donations. When a driver asks what the average donation is. . .
". . .
(grin)
Re: (Score:2)
I like that! I'm gonna borrow it.
It does remind me of my way to absolutely make the government notice a large enough group of unhappy people - without violence. I'll try to make it brief...
Remember the million man march?
Today, we have GPS.
Set a date like the day that Congress has its first session or perhaps for the President's Address to the Nation.
Set GPS to arrive at PA Ave in DC.
Figure out when it will make you arrive there at noon.
Everyone try to get to that address, on that date, at noon.
Drive your ca
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm... Self-driving accomplishes much of the same thing but it doesn't then put 1,000,000+ people in the area all needing services. That's kind of an important aspect. Part of the whole thing is that not everyone that would be on the road is an instigator. There's tourist, journalists, locals, businesses, etc... They've all gotta be dealt with too and there's no way of knowing who did what and who is there to protest vs. those who are there for alternative reasons.
It'd shut that whole area down. Someone me
Re: (Score:2)
I can assure you - they have no way to deal with something like that in a speedy manner. The protesters needn't be violent. I'm not even sure if it'd be breaking any major laws. It's going to *really* suck for the locals but hopefully they understand. If they put barriers up around the city and refuse entrance, park as close to the barriers as possible and stop. The infrastructure is designed for throughput, not standing. It *will* collapse in a spectacular fashion.
A bulldozer/snowplow blade attached to a dump truck or heavy wrecker solves the problem quickly enough. Chicago does something similar when a truck gets stuck under a bridge - they just push it out of the way, in however many pieces it ends up in. Moving heavy things out of the way is a well-solved problem.
Re: (Score:2)
That's not gonna help with a million of them - at least not quickly. They're gonna have to do something like that - it's going to take a long time and make the clean-up even worse. Then, who's going to pay for it? Many, many of those vehicles will not have been there intentionally. They'd be "innocent victims" so to speak. They were just trying to travel around. It'd be HUGE - many, many miles and will ripple out from there.
They can roll in with heavy equipment but we're talking a million cars AND the polit
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yup. Can you imagine if they all tried to arrive at 1600 PA Ave - on the same day, at the same time, and if there were a *million* cars? Not 1000, not 1000, but 1,000,000... Yeah... It would be awesome! It'd get some attention. I almost want a reason to protest bad enough to need that sort of intervention just so that I can see the results. It'd shut the city down. I seriously think that it'd shut the city down for at least a month.
I tried to estimate all the available parking and road surface area and then
Re: (Score:2)
Oh god no...I wouldn't be able to get to work for like a month...actually, that would be pretty nice.
Re: (Score:2)
You may even end up getting some sort of insurance coverage from unemployment. Kids might get to miss school. Outbound roads, that far away, might still be open so you can get out of town and go camping, fishing, to the beach - wherever... Just so long as you don't want to go back home until it's over, you should be good to go.
I really, really have wanted to see the outcome of such a thing - for a lot of years. I'd hate to go through whatever it was that upset the people enough to want to do this but, I can
Re: (Score:2)
"If we all had flying cars this would not be a problem"
My guess is that if we all had flying cars, they would be items one, four, and seven on our personal list of problems. Among the issues:
1. Broken cars STOP. Broken aircraft DROP
2. Ignoring the Check Engine light in a flying car until you have time/money to deal with it is likely to be a fatal strategy.
3. Many drivers have substantial difficulty navigating safely in two dimensions. Another dimension is unlikely to make things any easier.
4. Insuranc
Good for them! (Score:2)
Far too often these things aren't done because they are too hard. Glad to see them take it seriously and check everything out, although I feel the pain for commuters in DC.
Re: (Score:2)
It's just too bad things had to get to this point to have the work done, just another example of how sorely we need to step up our maintenance and development of public infrastructure.
Re: (Score:1)
(disclaimer, yes I am a Slashdot heretic, I read both the article and the comments attached to it)
So, it looks like the DC Metro has a new general manager who is probably just now finally getting the reports from the establish Metro bureaucrats about how poorly maintained the whole DC underground deathtrap array is. If he can find a way to destroy the organizational inertia and make some real changes in how that rail line is run, this may end well. My cynical side wonders if he will actually work toward m
Re: (Score:2)
I read both the article and the comments attached to it
No wonder you posted as an AC. I did that once... I found out the links actually went to someone's grocery shopping list, written in Swahili, and that they'd never actually meant for us to read 'em in the first place!
Re: (Score:2)
No it was likely a link to the Washington Post or Fox News or some similar place and you mistook their reporting style for Swahili... either that or it was the advertising on the site getting in the way again...
Re: (Score:2)
The only Swahili I know is "Jambo." I used to know some other words but I've long since forgotten and I've not been back to southern Africa in a while. Oh, Jakola. (I have no idea how that's spelled - pronounced ja cool ah.) That means food. Jambo means hello. Hmm... About ten minutes after I send this, I'll remember a few more words.
But, you're right. It probably was Fox. ;-)
Re: (Score:3)
This is just "maintenance theater". This problem has been festering for years, and then all of the sudden they decide it is a "crisis" and they need to shutdown the entire system for a full day in the middle of a work week. This maintenance could have easily been done during regular daily shutdowns from midnight to 5am. Or it could have been done on a weekend. Or they could have done it one line at a time, so that there would be enough buses/taxies/ubers to handle the displaced commuters.
The only reason
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Good for them! (Score:4, Informative)
Good for them! Over a first year since the first incident, they're finally getting around to it! What a responsible bunch!
Why wait over a year? (Score:4, Interesting)
If the first deadly accident with these jumper cables happened in January of last year, why did they wait so long to close down to inspect?
Re:Why wait over a year? (Score:4, Informative)
Because...well, because it's the DC Metro and it's run by horrible people.
The only thing they seem to actually care about is how much money they can make, while pushing things to the absolute limit in terms of customer service and equipment.
I spent 6 years using the system to get back and forth from NoVA to downtown DC every day for work....and if I had to move back there now, I would be driving and paying for parking, absolutely no hesitation, even though it'd probably be at least twice the cost.
See https://twitter.com/unsuckdcme... [twitter.com] for many, many examples.
Re: (Score:2)
"The only thing they seem to actually care about is how much money they can make,"
Not so. They seem to be obsessed with the possibility that one or more passengers might eat or drink something. They CARE about preventing that.
That said, I live out in the boonies nowadays and haven't experienced the DC metro for 8 or 10 years. But I recall it as being no worse than, and possibly a bit better than the Boston MTA, NYC subways, PATH, the Japanese subway and train systems, or the London underground. Has it c
Re: (Score:2)
That said, I live out in the boonies nowadays and haven't experienced the DC metro for 8 or 10 years. But I recall it as being no worse than, and possibly a bit better than the Boston MTA, NYC subways, PATH, the Japanese subway and train systems, or the London underground. Has it changed?
I was in the DC area a lot about 15 years ago, and found the system much, much nicer to use to use than most of the London Underground or the NYC subway, with few technical problems. In 2013 I went back and had the alarming experience of sitting on a train that started to fill with acrid fumes as something began to burn, luckily while still at one of the above ground stations. Passengers in 2015 weren't so lucky, when a smoke incident in a tunnel caused a fatality. Decades of neglect, including inadequate c
Re: (Score:2)
yeah, maybe run by horrible people.
I know you are not implying at all, but this is not limited to government. Working in the private sector (huge manufacturing company in the US, ~$20 billion, albeit our location is a tiny part (~34 million) ).
We have similar issues - basically boils down to: maintenance is not sexy,
unless a machine is brand spanking new. It is amazing how quickly maintenance is seen as a drain of resources rather than a necessary part of business. Even though i work in the offices rather
Re: (Score:2)
Because...well, because it's the DC Metro and it's run by horrible people.
The only thing they seem to actually care about is how much money they can make, while pushing things to the absolute limit in terms of customer service and equipment.
I spent 6 years using the system to get back and forth from NoVA to downtown DC every day for work....and if I had to move back there now, I would be driving and paying for parking, absolutely no hesitation, even though it'd probably be at least twice the cost.
See https://twitter.com/unsuckdcme... [twitter.com] for many, many examples.
DC's metro system isn't that bad. You should try coming to Perth, Western Australia where not only does Transperth take 3 times as long as driving but they also claim that weather shut down one of their lines on a perfectly clear spring day... That is if you're lucky enough to be in an area serviced by Transperth.
After a month or two on Perth's public transport system you'll go back singing the praises of the DC Metro.
Also come to England and experience the wide open spaces of London's tube stations [wikimedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
But then, I'm in early (arrive 6AM) and leave early (2:30PM)
Re: (Score:2)
It takes time to be sure of the cause, sure that there are related items that need to be checked, sure you're not going to get fired for bringing it up...
Did an Initial Inspection & Repair, New Fire (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why wait over a year? (Score:4, Informative)
The biggest reason is that someone else was in charge last year.
After the first* incident government agency (NTSB?) ordered the cables inspected, and WMATA (the people who run the DC Metro) use their own crews to do the inspection, in the off-hours.
Now WMATA has a new leader, who's much more focused on safety (I think they said he came from the airline industry) ... and the incident happened again. So he said (or at least hinted at, I was driving while WTOP was broadcasting the press conference) that they can't trust the last inspection, and they're bringing in outside crews to do the inspection this time around.
* "first" only in terms of this problem. Two family friends died in the 2009 red line crash, which killed nine people.
Re: (Score:2)
I remember that article. I don't recall any "two people" who died in it except a ANG general and his wife. Odds are, unless you're strange luck and the news didn't mention it, those would be your family friends. Unless there were other groups of two in the total group of nine that were fatally injured and the news didn't mention them. I seem to recall he was in the DC ANG but have no idea what the name was. (By sheer happenstance, I was in the area at the time.)
Re: (Score:1)
Your logic is flawed. The two people didn't have to be connected to each other. They just had to be connected via friendship to oneiros' family.
Re: (Score:2)
No, your reading comprehension is flawed. That's covered with the "strange luck" and is intentionally why I wrote "strange luck." After all, what are the odds of that? Not very high, not very high at all.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, yes that's exactly that.
Re: (Score:2)
They did inspect it, and then one of the cables that had passed the inspection failed and caught fire yesterday.
Re: (Score:2)
They had a second fire in one week? I did not catch that one the news.
Re: (Score:3)
They did inspect them. They just did such a craptacular job, that another lit on fire 2 days ago (luckily off hours). The problem with metro is purely political. Between all of the contracts and oversight, nothing gets done. Situations like this are a prime example why outsourcing in government fails horribly.
Re: (Score:2)
In related news... (Score:3)
Re:In related news... (Score:4, Informative)
I lived in DC for 5 years. Before, I lived in NYC for 5 years, and I'm now living in Chicago for 3, so I have some basis for comparison. The DC metro system is in an unusually high state of disrepair. Fixes don't happen until they're life threatening--and even then, they sometimes don't happen for a year.
While I was living in DC, at least 2 DC metro events made the national news: the first was the train collision that killed a few people because the conductors weren't coordinated, and the second was due to an escalator brake collapsing, leading to multiple injuries. I've also had to find alternative means of transportation due to 2 fires in the metro system. People aren't complaining that work is being done on the system. People are complaining that there is very little maintenance and that problems get so severe that a whole system shutdown is needed.
There have been a number of articles in the Post about the state of disrepair for the DC metro system. Many people have speculated that the system is corrupt. They certainly charge enough for the service. A 30 minute trip costs about $2.25, and a one hour trip costs about $5.00.
After having used the NYC, DC and Chicago systems extensively--and the BART system--I'd have to say that the DC system is a disaster. The problem is particularly acute for the DC area since the city is not designed to handle the amount of traffic its population would otherwise need.
Re: (Score:2)
I grew up in NYC, and have been living near DC for almost 10 years now.
It's not so much that the DC system is in a greater state of disrepair (NYC's subway system is breaking down all the time), but rather that the DC system is much more fragile. In NYC, there are both local and express tracks, and in lower Manhattan multiple lines within a few blocks of each other, such that when a section of track needs repair, it is much easier to re-route. Growing up, the only time the entire system ever shut down was
Re: (Score:2)
In related news, I-94 outside of Milwaukee will be shut down late Friday night to allow bridge construction to continue.
That's just one single bridge, not an entire system, being shutdown for planned construction over a weekend.... after plenty of notice was given to the people who use the bridge.
Do you remember when Milwaukee's Hoan Bridge failed back on December 13, 2000? [wikipedia.org] To be similar to what's happening in DC, people would have been killed during a Milwaukee bridge collapse, then a second Milwaukee bridge would have to have collapsed a few months later, then all of of Milwaukee's interstates would have had to be shutd
DC is the embarrassment (Score:2, Interesting)
Or rather, the culture that allowed this to happen.
Last January, an electrical fire caused by problems in feeder wires that provide power to the rails killed someone. The NTSB ordered DC Metro to inspect ALL such feeder wires.
Last Monday, another electrical fire was caused by a problem in feeder wires - wires that were apparently "inspected" and "passed" just a few months ago.
In other words, the previous inspections were falsified. In US Navy parlance, they were "gundecked". [urbandictionary.com]
My guess is a few mid-level man
It's actually for cleaning... (Score:2)
It's an election year, so the metro is filling up with the black ooze that is the souls of congress and other politicians.
2014 experience with USA public transit (Score:1)
In 2014 I travelled for the first time to the United States, and I was astonished at the public transit system. It felt like stepping into a third world country. It was dirty, smelt of human urine (?!), there were people wandering around shouting loudly and insanely to no one, and the rolling stock felt like it was taken straight from 1950's, rather than being clean and modern. I found it all very frightening.
I don't know what went wrong there, but if I lived there I would try to never use that system as
Re:2014 experience with USA public transit (Score:4, Insightful)
That's 'cause we can afford cars. No, seriously. We don't rely on mass transit - it's a cultural thing. Look at the percentages and socio-economic class of people who use the (limited) mass transit available.
Also, I have to wonder if you're stupid or just ignorant - and, if the latter, it is willfully so? Seriously. The US is a rather diverse and large place. I notice you compared the mass transit of the US to just cities in other countries - which demonstrates an even greater willingness to bias your statements.
I'd also wonder why you'd lie... You've absolutely, zero chance, not seen all of the public transit in the US. So, I doubt you were astonished by such a thing as you've not seen it.
Which leads me to this... You're almost certainly, by deduction, a liar - and you've probably not been to any of the places you seem to claim you've been and that includes the places you're contrasting with. It's telling, in some ways, that you used Moscow - I've been to Moscow and been on public transit there (you'll need to narrow down which transit(s) you speak of) and am inclined to think you've never actually been.
So, you're probably actually from the US. Your writing style, the grammar and verbiage used, indicate that you're really from the US. That means you probably don't own a passport and haven't been out of the US in your life. I'm not sure why you'd lie - except to troll. However, trolls are my source of amusement at times - more so when I'm bored, and it's fun to pick apart the idiocy they spout for their own amusement. Thank you for the fun game. I appreciated it and the folks who read the response may also be aware of the idiocies in your post.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, I don't think that runs counter to anything I said - do you?
Well, I suppose you must, given the tone and that you bothered replying.
To demonstrate, I don't think I've seen any disturbing things in the subways in the Boston area nor on the buses. The buses in the area I'm local with at the moment aren't bad at all - or weren't the last time I was on them. I've not been on them at all since I came down here to spend the winter but I've been on them before. I've not been on any of Boston's subways in a f
Re: (Score:2)
That is true. You have me there. It won't *normally* smell like piss - even when the fans are out and about. I don't know where they're pissing but probably not in the subway. Their bathrooms aren't actually that bad. I went to school in Cambridge, have some property and relatives in Dorchester and Roxbury, and have spent time in town off-and-on throughout my whole life. The subway system, even the buses, have improved a great deal since the 70s. Hell, the Plains have improved a lot since then. A lot sure h
Re: (Score:2)
"I was sure you'd be on foot, because you always say public transportation is for losers." - Marge (Episode 3F24)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, he was 100% right.
Looking at NYC because it's the closest peer to Moscow: NYC claims it is impossible to run more than 30 trains per hour [wikipedia.org] on its most crowded subway lines, while Moscow routinely runs 42-44 trains per hour [wikipedia.org] on its lines. NYC subway stops are routinely dumps [newsday.com]; Moscow stops are architectural marvels [ggpht.com]. So it's not surprising that Moscow's subway has 60% more riders per mile [wikipedia.org].
As for smaller US cities, they typically consist of just buses except for maybe one central corridor. The buses are
Re: (Score:2)
He was right about what? He lied, he wasn't *right* about anything.
Moscow is really neat - I didn't argue against that nor did I, in any way, indicate that NYC was anything other than what it was. Did you read what they wrote? Did you read what I wrote? I'm thinking that you didn't or, for some reason, either added things to their post or to my post. I responded to what they said and I meant everything that I said.
I'm not sure why you inserted NYC's subway system. It's not the topic and neither of us mentio
Re: (Score:2)
Let's be fair. Our public transit system is more like a second world country ;-) With the exception of certain historic lines (ie: San Francisco's trolley's), the rolling stock doesn't date to the 50s, but can be as old as the 70s or 80s, though most cities with trains that old are in the process of actively refreshing their stock.
I've visited Europe several times now, but have yet to visit Asia. The older parts of the public transit systems in Europe are generally comparable to the US, though I'll admit
Greedy WaPo sucks ! (Score:1)
"You only have two remaining free articles for this month"
Yet I didn't notice a single free article, they were plastered with ads anyway.
(I don't have an ad blocker installed on the work computer, I guess I should install one)
Re: (Score:2)
talk to mr. bezos [washingtonpost.com]
Personally I don't read it any more because of it's decidedly screwball view of reality. #YMMV
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, WMATA's rolling stock comes from several companies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Breda made the 2000, 3000 and 4000 series trains. The 2000 and 3000 series were remanufactured by Alstom in the 2000's and the 4000 series are being retired early and replaced with 7000 series, which were manufactured by Kawasaki.
I can't speak to the quality of Alstom or Kawasaki, but it seems they at least learned their lesson about Breda. Eventually.
Let me get this straight.... (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a serious incident on Monday, one of a number that have been raising concern. The metro decides to shut down the system to do a major safety inspection. That is somehow bad?
The summary suggests that they could have waited until the weekend, which is true or done it at night over a longer period of time, which is also true. Of course, if another incident had occurred in either of those time frames and lives were lost, what then?
Have we really gotten to the point in the US that no matter what the authorities do, even with matters of safety, it is always bad?
Re: (Score:3)
Have we really gotten to the point in the US that no matter what the authorities do, even with matters of safety, it is always bad?
the answer to that question is, clearly, yes.
Re: (Score:2)
There is a serious incident on Monday, one of a number that have been raising concern. The metro decides to shut down the system to do a major safety inspection. That is somehow bad?
Yes, when they supposedly inspected all the cables last year, and supposedly found them to be OK. That is somehow bad.
Re: (Score:3)
...but a step in the right direction. After a long string of charlatan political hacks at the helm, DC Metro finally has a guy in charge with the balls to do something so terribly impolitic as shut down the system for 29 hours during the week with little warning, to fix stuff.
This was a ballsy move, any way you slice it. He's gonna take some heat for this, but it was the right thing to do. But he has a long way to go. 3-flight escalators in and out of stations haven't run in years, cars desperately need up
Re: (Score:2)
There is a serious incident on Monday, one of a number that have been raising concern. The metro decides to shut down the system to do a major safety inspection. That is somehow bad?
The editorial (3rd link in the story) posed this question:
But if the situation was dire enough to require a unilateral shutdown at midnight, why was it simultaneously okay for people to ride home on Tuesday night?
Re: (Score:2)
If this were the only safety incident, sure.
But at this point, they have the credibility of a US Senator talking about corruption when it comes to safety.
Re: (Score:1)
There is a serious incident on Monday, one of a number that have been raising concern. The metro decides to shut down the system to do a major safety inspection. That is somehow bad?
It's a WaPo opinion "article". Some "journalist" got his jimmies rustled and had to whaa whaa whaa about it. WaPo editors, having nothing of worth to publish and having no standards, ran with it.
Not that bad in comparison (Score:2)
It's official: Metro is a national embarrassment."
The US electoral process, on the other hand, is an international embarrassment. I never watch reality TV, and even I'm keeping track of it.
What caused the fire? (Score:1)
Since when do power cables spontaneously combust? What actually caused the fires, has there been any disclosure?
Meanwhile (Score:2)
Sniffer dogs and RCMP being deployed at some stations
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... [www.cbc.ca]
Cable joints ARE important. (Score:2)
Both had similar failures - one of the AC-power lines had over-heated at the (automotive "spade" connector), singing the cable insulation until it shorted out elsewhere. Inadequate jointing design. One cable I replaced, another - where a plastic-bodied time clock was physically close - I took the clock out of the circuit, leaving the thermostat operating.