Remember when President Obama held a press conference in 2009 to announce the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which would allocate a portion of more than $800 billion to upgrade mass transit and build high-speed rail lines throughout the nation?
If not, you might remember just last month, when officials announced that the Washington, D.C. Metro would close sections of track for 16 days to make repairs demanded by the FTA. It turns out the Metro was three years behind on regular maintenance because of a lack of money, and that negligence turned fatal in January when a train car was trapped in a smoke-filled tunnel with non-operational exhaust fans, its exit blocked by an abandoned train car.
We don’t know what was repaired over those 16 days, but on Monday the Metro tunnel filled with smoke again.
Tell all your friends, Twitter is reporting fire/smoke on the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, silver lines. https://t.co/Ke5MT5fnwt
— Is Metro On Fire?? (@IsMetroOnFire) June 27, 2016
Once again,Twitter is reporting fire/smoke on the red, yellow, green lines. https://t.co/Ke5MT5fnwt
— Is Metro On Fire?? (@IsMetroOnFire) June 27, 2016
If you had "Gallery Place" is today's Metro Station On Fire pool, you're a winner. #wmata
— Donny Ferguson ? (@DonnyFerguson) June 27, 2016
Gallery Place metro filled with smoke… Remind me again, what is @wmata safe track supposed to be doing? pic.twitter.com/TtvLeY8v0g
— Rachel Giattino (@RachGiattino) June 27, 2016
Just how much smoke are we talking about here? A lot.
Gallery Place Station is Currently Closed due to Smoke Filled Tunnels pic.twitter.com/njiXTmnaSu
— DC Maryland Virginia (@DMVFollowers) June 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/matthadro/status/747550569993216000
Was in train right before fire at Gallery Place. Had to offload in tunnel. Scary. This is Gallery Place right now pic.twitter.com/0bRxQlUVld
— Liz Malm (@elizabeth_malm) June 27, 2016
Update Gallery Place Metro. Assessing 1 civilian possible smoke inhalation. Fire out & smoke dissipating. Incident under control.
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) June 27, 2016
Good effort. At least buses were called in to keep people moving.
Gallery Place station is closed due to fire department activity. Buses requested.
— Metrorail Info (@Metrorailinfo) June 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/Travis_Waldron/status/747585814977253376
In an unrelated incident from last week, one Metro driver was caught on video prepping for next week’s Independence Day fireworks display.
Early word from Metro on this one from last night – it could be someone not releasing handbrake on an axle #wmata pic.twitter.com/lbqLWQucxp
— Adam Tuss (@AdamTuss) June 24, 2016
Guys, they just need more money.
Let's let DC run our healthcare. https://t.co/Q9aKBCUyhB
— jon gabriel (@exjon) June 27, 2016
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