Updated Wednesday — The power surge that hit the region on Tuesday led to an escalator malfunction at the Bethesda Metro station, which closed the station for almost six hours.
The transit system tweeted out that the station would be closed just before 3:30 p.m. Because one of the three long escalators into the station is closed permanently for a replacement project, Metro said it must close the entire station if just one of the two others malfunctioned.
The escalator was finally fixed a little bit after 9 p.m. and the station was re-opened.
Metro said a little after 5 p.m. that technicians on-scene determined the escalator outage was caused by the earlier regional power surge. Metro hoped to have a new “speed sensor” installed on the escalator and the station back open by 6 p.m.
Metro warned customers the station might need to be closed with little or no warning if problems arose with the working escalators during the escalator replacement project. The project will likely last at least another two years.
Metro provided shuttle buses at the station to run to Medical Center. Trains bypassed the station and Metro advised customers to use Medical Center as an alternate.
