Metro: Miscommunication complicated Green Line chaos last month - The Washington Post

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Metro: Miscommunication complicated Green Line chaos last month

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By Dana Hedgpeth, Thursday, February 14, 1:11 PM

Metro said miscommunication between a transit police officer at the Anacostia station and the transit agencys command center complicated an incident last month in which about 2,000 passengers were stranded on two trains and an estimated 200 riders exited onto the rail tracks. The finding came as agency officials on Thursday gave a replay of the Jan. 30 incident to the boards safety and security committee. Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn said the situation was complicated by poor radio communication between transit police officials and the two stuck trains. He said Metro is exploring an enhanced radio communication channel. Once passengers got off the trains after the two-hour ordeal, they were confused, and many reported there were no buses at the Navy Yard and Anacostia Metro stations as Metro had promised. We failed to assist customers with bus service at Navy Yard station, Taborn said. Riders reported panicked and uncomfortable scenes on the stuck trains and little information on what was going on or how long it would last. A passenger on one of the stuck trains had a
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Metro: Miscommunication complicated Green Line chaos last month - The Washington Post

2/15/13 11:03 PM

mikdev
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METRO FAIL!!! :/ pic.twitter.com/De15oHou

11:33 PM - 30 Jan 13

seizure and was assisted by the train operator. Some passengers evacuated from one of the trains, thinking they were following a Metro employee, but they were in fact following another passenger, Metro officials said. On one of the trains, the operator tried to calm passengers with jokes and stories about his grandchildren and shared tips for dealing with the heat. On the other train, riders panicked and told Metro they got little information about what was going on from their train operator, who had seven months on the job. That operator, according to the report presented to the board, failed to make their presence known to customers throughout the train, made inadequate announcements to share information with passengers. Customers were alarmed, said Lynn Bowersox, a top Metro official. That sense of alarm led them to self-evacuate. The incident happened as a big thunderstorm was coming, she said.

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scene right now outside navy yard metro RT @SadieDing Total insanity at Navy Yard #wmata pic.twitter.com/q6LKyyz1
11:48 PM - 30 Jan 13

It is absolutely clear customers were alarmed, frightened and inconvenienced, Bowersox said. She said four passengers were taken to hospitals for stress, but no injuries were reported. Board member Tom Downs said the hairs on the back of my neck stood up at hearing of customers evacuating themselves from a train and into a tunnel. Our job is to explain to customers they are risking their life exiting a train without any supervision or direction, Downs said. Although there are signs on trains that warn passengers against evacuating , he said, it needs to be more clear.

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If you are exiting this train you are risking your life, he said. You are going to get killed. Board member Kathy Porter said passengers reacted in an irrational manner in exiting the train. The report also found a number of further

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Metro: Miscommunication complicated Green Line chaos last month - The Washington Post

2/15/13 11:03 PM

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Is it baseball season yet? I wish! Serious delays on the #greenline #NavyYard #wmata pic.twitter.com/q6IJIheF
11:28 PM - 30 Jan 13

improvements are needed in compliance with incident command protocols, communications within command and control operations, providing inadequate information to passengers.

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Curmudgeon10 wrote:
8:22 PM EST

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"Board member Kathy Porter said passengers reacted in an irrational manner in exiting the train." Time for someone to strap Ms. Porter's fanny to a seat in a darkened Metro car, and see how she handles it.

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SJaxx wrote:
8:13 PM EST

Our job is to explain to customers they are risking their life exiting a train without any supervision or direction, Downs said. Wrong. Your job is to make sure Metro responds effectively to situations like this. You and your fellow board members have failed in your job repeatedly. You all ought to be fired. In fact, either the Federal government should take over Metro, or the board should be a popularly elected body that is directly accountable to the public.

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cprdcnats wrote:
7:40 PM EST

Washington D.C. region is a seller's market Housing prices are going up, days on the market are going down, and theres a scarcity of...

Shut it down. Fire the staff. Start anew.

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Metro: Miscommunication complicated Green Line chaos last month - The Washington Post

2/15/13 11:03 PM

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