Train waited 10 minutes at West Falls Church for a train at Farragut West to catch up ??
On Tuesday afternoon, 7/28,(~5:00 pm) I was on the Orange line heading westbound. (I was on rail car #5155.)
The train stopped at West Falls Church station and held for almost 10 minutes (actually 9 minutes and and several seconds).
During the wait, the operator updated us several times saying that we were holding for a "schedule adjustment." The last update provided by the operator provided additional information for why a "schedule adjustment" was necessary. He said that a train having problems at Farragut West needed to "catch up." I've never heard of such a thing this before - holding because of a train in front of us is one thing, but holding because of a train behind is something totally new to me.
Several riders around me also expressed their frustration and confusion over why we, at West Falls Church (7 miles west of Farragut, as the crow flies) needed to wait for a train to catch up to us. There we sat on a train full of passengers waiting to go home - but no, we had to be delayed to let trains catch up.
Is this normal SOP for metro to hold a train for the stated reason? I'm quite sure the operator was merely conveying verbatim what he was hearing from Central Control.
This experience leads me to believe that there must be a maximum distance between trains that CANNOT be exceeded. But if this were true, one train breaking down would mean that every other train on that line must stop and wait, whether they are in front or behind. Something appears to have been lost in the translation by the time the operator got on the speaker system on that train.
I was on the same train (perhaps even in the same car!) and I'm also totally mystified at holding for 10 minutes to allow the trains behind us to "catch up." I know I must have gasped aloud at this announcement. So the new Metro plan is to make sure the trains are on top of each other, and if one breaks down they all express sympathy by waiting for them to catch up? I've written to Metro about it, but I don't expect to ever get an answer.
I hope this was just a typical error in communication as so often happens with Metro.
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emacco,
I may very well have been in the same car as you - especially if you got off at either Dunn Loring or Vienna. The last two cars I often refer to as the Vienna cars! I was sitting in the middle of the last car (or next to last car) and in the first forward facing seat behind the right side doors - that area is pretty close to the escalator at Vienna.
The reason I knew the wait time to the minute was because a rider sitting kitty-corner across the car (facing back) from me was giving running counts - "5 minutes" and then right before we moved "9 minutes." I was happy she did that, as it gave me fodder for this post.
I'd be interested in anything Metro has to say in response to your message to them.
Cheers!
Per.
Peruser