09 The Delays of Metro's Rail Lines

In the last several days there have been delays on nearly every one of Metro's six rail lines.

Riders have been plenty frustrated, noting the high fares, constant weekend track work, dropping ridership and almost daily delays on social media.

The Red Line has been particularly hard hit.Monday was no different.There was a track problem outside Grosvenor during the morning rush.

Riders reacted.Really? How can this be? Why so many problems, particularly in the last week alone?

Bethesda rider Ed Rich wrote to us after Monday morning's delay “…have Metro explain how they could have missed a cracked rail outside of Grosvenor when they spent all weekend supposedly working on this stretch of track and single tracking on this same stretch during the weekend, which resulted in major delays for those of us who took the Metro to see our friends and families run in the Marine Corps.Marathon? This is a regular occurrence on the Red Line and incredibly annoying for those of us who want to have faith in public transportation.”

We asked Metro spokesman Dan Stessel.

Monday's cracked rail outside Grosvenor, he said, “was not related to work that was done this weekend.”

“Just because we're doing work in the neighborhood doesn't mean that a cracked rail can't occur in that general vicinity,” Stessel said.

While many riders complained of longer-than-normal commutes Monday, Stessel said there were no significant delays on the Red Line.Trains bypassed Medical Center and Grosvenor as they headed north, he said, to avoid overcrowding the system, he said.

The delay for riders at Dupont was “no more than two minutes,” Stessel said, nothing that it is the last station on the busy Red Line before riders get off at the popular Farragut North and Dupont stations.