Update – 6:30 p.m. – Firefighters found an arcing insulator inside the tunnel between the Medical Center and Bethesda Metro stations around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The incident caused significant delays during the evening rush hour commute as trains heading toward Washington, D.C., bypassed both stations, as well as Grosvenor.
On its Twitter account, Metro said passengers heading into D.C. should take an outbound train to the next station where they can get off, presumably White Flint, then take an inbound train from that station. A Metro spokesman was not immediately available to provide additional information when contacted by Bethesda Beat Tuesday.
Montgomery County Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said on his Twitter account the arcing insulator, which happens when debris or water touches the electrified third rail causing smoke or a fire, was in the tunnel, but there was no smoke at the Medical Center or Bethesda stations.
Firefighters could be seen responding to the Bethesda station around 5:25 p.m. Tuesday.
Passengers stuck at the stations shared their frustration on Twitter and asked Metro what they should do:
@Metrorailinfo for how long? Expectation of us using outbound trains for 3 stations is ridiculous. #unsuckwmata
— lrothschild (@lrothschild) March 1, 2016
@Metrorailinfo Why bypass med ctr?!!!! 100s here waiting! It's a working station!!
— Frank W. Mata (@Frankwmata) March 1, 2016
@Metrorailinfo instructions to people at these stations would be nice. There's no direction from anyone. Fix it.
— Cher Underwood (@TrixieLadelle) March 1, 2016
UPDATE – 6:15 p.m. – Metro says trains are no longer bypassing the stations:
Red Line: No longer single tracking. Residual delays continue in both directions due to an earlier track problem outside Bethesda.
— Metrorail Info (@Metrorailinfo) March 1, 2016
