Post by Logan on Mar 16, 2016 12:35:16 GMT -6
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An unprecedented safety shutdown of the Metro subway system inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of people in and around the nation's capital on Wednesday. Federal workers telecommuted or took the day off, children missed school and countless others woke up early to take bus after bus, hail pricey taxis or slog through traffic.
Many people resigned themselves to a very long day.
"I've got to catch five buses to get to Alexandria," said Leander Talley, 52, who loaded his bicycle onto a bus at the Springfield Metro station. "It's like three and a half hours. It's crazy."
After a series of electrical fires, the nation's second-busiest transit system shut down at midnight Tuesday for a system-wide safety inspection of its third-rail power cables. It will reopen at 5 a.m. Thursday unless inspectors find an immediate threat to passenger safety, which the system's general manager said was unlikely.
Without working trains in the way, 22 inspection teams were walking 100 miles of underground track, checking power cables for potential problems. By noon, Metro tweeted that half the safety checks had been completed.
Read more: hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DC_SUBWAY_SHUTDOWN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-16-13-27-13
Many people resigned themselves to a very long day.
"I've got to catch five buses to get to Alexandria," said Leander Talley, 52, who loaded his bicycle onto a bus at the Springfield Metro station. "It's like three and a half hours. It's crazy."
After a series of electrical fires, the nation's second-busiest transit system shut down at midnight Tuesday for a system-wide safety inspection of its third-rail power cables. It will reopen at 5 a.m. Thursday unless inspectors find an immediate threat to passenger safety, which the system's general manager said was unlikely.
Without working trains in the way, 22 inspection teams were walking 100 miles of underground track, checking power cables for potential problems. By noon, Metro tweeted that half the safety checks had been completed.
Read more: hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DC_SUBWAY_SHUTDOWN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-16-13-27-13