You probably felt it this morning. I felt it this morning—an overwhelming sense of dread as I watched three crammed Red Line trains pull through the Judiciary Square station. After waiting for one delayed train after another, I accepted my fate and squeezed my way into a car. Sure, I’ve gotten used to Metrorail delays in my 18 months of living in DC and commuting by Red Line, but this one felt worse than usual.
In fact, it was. Independent Metro service tracker MetroHero reported that this was the worst morning Red Line rush since January 16, 2018. At 7:42 AM, Metro reported a track problem at Fort Totten that caused single-tracking and delays in both directions. By 8 AM, most trains were delayed by at least 9.53 minutes.
Normal service didn’t resume until after 10 AM, causing delays that were a gobsmacking 332 percent worse than most rush hours this year. Trains came 58 percent less frequently than expected, causing a platform wait time that was 75 percent worse than usual.
By both headway and schedule adherence, this morning was the worst AM Rush for the Red Line since January 16th, 2018.
Cumulative Red Line train delays from 5-9:30am were ~332% (!) worse than the majority of morning rush hours on the Red Line so far this year. #wmata https://t.co/GqEI67eOxx
— MetroHero (@dcmetrohero) July 31, 2019
But, at least we were not alone in this struggle (56 MetroHero users reported a Red Line problem). As I shuffled onto the jam-packed train, I hoped I wouldn’t accidentally elbow a rider in the face. Most just hoped they would get to work before noon:
https://twitter.com/Moondawggie_/status/1156548149290381315
The red line this morning🤦♀️No L1 came when it was scheduled (as usual) so I walked to Friendship Heights & waited 7 minutes for what turned out to be a ghost train (& another 7 for an actual train). During rush hour. @wmata needs to seriously figure this sh*t out. @unsuckdcmetro pic.twitter.com/mqqvkMs755
— Diane (@DianeKrauthamer) July 31, 2019
I wish @wmata would learn that 6 car trains don’t work during rush hour, but ESPECIALLY not with this mess on on the red line. #overit pic.twitter.com/ENghSCKYBY
— Angela (@musicforlife92) July 31, 2019
Marked Safe: from that Red Line commute this morning (DC Jokes, feel free to unsub) @unsuckdcmetro #wmata
— Dave Wardrick (@AD79DAVE) July 31, 2019
Elliot joined Washingtonian in January 2018. An alum of Villanova University, he grew up in the Philadelphia area before earning a master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post, TheAtlantic.com, and DCist.com, among others. He lives in Bloomingdale.
