Safety concerns shut Washington D.C. subway

WASHINGTON - The entire Washington Metrorail system shut down at midnight Tuesday for at least a full day in an unprecedented move by transit officials who said they acted because they feared for the safety of passengers of the nation's second-busiest subway system.

The decision by new General Manager Paul Wiedefeld and the Metro board to halt operations for a full day today so workers could conduct emergency inspections of electric cables marked a nadir in Metro's 40-year history and raised new alarms about its capacity to deliver safe, reliable service.

The paralysis of the core of Washington's transportation network, announced Tuesday afternoon just half a day before it was to take effect, sent a shudder through the region and sparked angry complaints about Metro's inadequacies.

Hundreds of thousands of commuters, schoolchildren and others made new plans to get around today.

But Wiedefeld said that it was too risky to delay the safety checks after an electrical fire erupted early Monday and poured smoke into a Metro tunnel downtown.

The incident, caused by malfunctioning electric cables, was eerily reminiscent of the fatal Yellow Line smoke incident 14 months ago that resulted in the death of one passenger and sent scores to the hospital.

'While the risk to the public is very low, I cannot rule out a potential life-safety issue here, and that is why we must take this action immediately,” said Wiedefeld, who started in November.

'When I say safety is our highest priority, I mean it. That sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions, and this is one of those, for sure. I fully recognize the hardship this will cause.”

Metrorail has closed because of bad weather - including during January's blizzard - but never for safety reasons. During the shutdown, crews will inspect all 600 of a type of power line, called 'jumper cables,” in tunnels throughout the system to ensure that they are sufficiently insulated and are otherwise reliable.

The hope is that no problems will be found in the inspections so the system can reopen at 5 a.m. Thursday. But if problems are identified, individual Metro lines or stations could remain closed Thursday and beyond.

The surprise announcement sent the federal government and local school districts scrambling to adjust.

The Office of Personnel Management granted all federal agencies in the region the option to allow employees to take unscheduled leave or telework.

No school systems closed because of the shutdown, but some officials expressed concern over how teachers and other employees might get to work.