This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Passengers who survived a fog of noxious smoke that filled a Washington DC Metro train on Monday were damning in their evaluations of the transit authority’s response, while federal investigators continued to search for clues.

In video filmed within the smoke-filled trains, a WMATA employee can be heard telling riders to “please stay calm, please do not open the doors”, even as passengers hacked and coughed in the almost total darkness. The train operator was unable to pull the train back into its station as he had told passengers he would. One woman died and 84 others were sent to hospitals.

Ultimately many passengers disobeyed the directive and “self-evacuated”, fleeing through tunnels back toward L’Enfant Plaza station and up a three-story vent shaft, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. It took firefighters as long as 40 minutes to reach passengers who stayed behind after the train stopped.

Passenger Jill Perrott wrote on Facebook: “Metro has NO ability to handle emergencies. We were trapped on smoke-filled cars for over an hour.”

Luis Clemens, an NPR editor, told American University radio that “it was chaos” and: “We needed some better coordination and leadership from Metro.”

dcmetrosucks (@dcmetrosucks) ICYMI: as passengers lay dying from smoke inhalation, sadistic #wmata train operator tells them "please stay calm" https://t.co/SENcDmdN0p

WMATA released a statement on Tuesday from Metro chair Tom Downs, who offered his “deepest condolences” to the family of Carol Glover, the woman who died on board the train.



Downs said Metro is working to restore full service and “the safety of each and every Metro rider and employee remains our absolute highest priority.” On Monday night, WMATA’s general manager Richard Sarles said Metro will cooperate with NTSB to investigate.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner added his voice to the chorus calling for the metro agency to better prepare and help passengers in the event of emergency.

“Passengers deserve to know as soon as possible about Metro’s safety protocols,” Warner wrote in a letter to Sarles, calling the witness accounts of dark trains full of fumes “disturbing” and “a nightmare situation”.

Warner demanded a briefing from the agency to answer questions about evacuation protocol and employee training. He dangled Congress’ 10-year $1.5bn commitment to the agency in front of Sarles, saying “we demand assurances that safety of the Metro system is improving. Commuters and visitors to DC deserve no less.”

The fatal incident blemishes Sarles’ last week in charge of WMATA; he announced his resignation in September after more than four years.

Sarles guided the agency through the aftermath of a deadly 2009 train collision that killed nine people, and had prepared WMATA to restore automatic train operation after a five-year suspension of the system.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Smoke fills Metro train car in Washington DC. Photograph: Andrew Litwin via Twitter/EPA

Knudson said the federal agency will investigate not just the causes of the smoke but also “survival factors”, such as firefighters’ response times and what orders WMATA employees gave to passengers.

A final report from the NTSB investigation may take as long as a year to complete, Knudson said.



An electrical “arcing incident” filled the tunnel with smoke, Michael Flanigon, an NTSB investigator, told reporters Monday night, adding that the investigation had yet to determine many details of the case.

Flanigon said that the high-voltage electricity of the track’s third rail began to arc with supply cables some time before 3.20pm, generating noxious conductive gases that burn more as electricity courses through them.



Arcing is fairly common in subway tunnels, but can develop quickly, causing power outages or burning through cable insulators.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A firefighter assists a victim. Photograph: Paul J Richards/AFP/Getty Images

WMATA often relies on DC firefighters to help resolve arcing incidents, which are usually minor, but has been criticized for the long response time of Metro and fire officials. The agency has also been criticized for poor communication during a 2013 incident when passengers evacuated on their own initiative, and for long delays in fixing minor inconveniences such as broken escalators.

Flanigon said the investigation would focus on the cause of the arcing and said the NTSB does not yet know why the Virginia-bound Yellow train stopped “about 800ft, give or take, beyond the station platform”, and train lights flickered and dimmed. The arcing event took place about 1,000ft in front of the train, he said, and there was no fire on any train.

Unsuck DC Metro (@unsuckdcmetro) Are you telling them you're sorry? RT @TeamMuriel: .@HowardU visiting passengers injured in today’s @wmata incident

As they emerged coughing and covered in soot, some people who had been trapped in the tunnel turned to more mundane concerns, asking WMATA what would become of their belongings left behind. WMATA regained control of the tunnel after NTSB’s initial search and began repairs shortly thereafter.

DC mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement that she was in contact with WMATA leadership, and congressmen Gerry Connolly and Don Beyer vowed to “pursue the cause of this tragedy so that Metro can work to ensure it does not ever happen again”.