Smoke incident near L'Enfant Plaza 1/12/201

[JDC]

A developing story - - -

L'Enfant Plaza was evacuated and closed due to smoke, starting around 3:30 PM today. Metro trains on B/S/O lines are bypassing L'Enfant, and there are no Yellow or Green line trains between Mt. Vernon Sq. and Pentagon/Navy Yard. Trains are turning back at those locations.

The WP has a story collecting updates and photos: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr- ... for-smoke/.

Twitter user collecting interesting tweets indicating that a train is being evacuated: https://twitter.com/DildineWTOP/status/ ... 0188241920; https://twitter.com/DildineWTOP/status/ ... 0994061312; https://twitter.com/DildineWTOP/status/ ... 9721470977.

DC Fire Dept. tweeted and called it a 'mass casualty event', with the accompanying concerns/consternation over the use of that term.

NBC News 4 reported that passengers are being evacuated from trains and using vent shafts to reach the surface.

[JDC]

Twitter user "Rogers" has photos from inside a Metrorail car as it is being evacuated by FEMS - the smoke appears intense enough that passengers are laying on the ground to avoid inhalation: https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/5 ... 7114055680

[JDC]

Additional images from "Rogers": https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/5 ... 4391113728; https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/5 ... 7735034880; https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/5 ... 9313170432.

Another image shows a signal marked "F03, 46": https://twitter.com/JRogers202/status/5 ... 1671271424.

[JDC]

More images streaming out:

https://twitter.com/naes_hcnyl/status/5 ... 1096567808

https://twitter.com/danr/status/554757153463209985

[JDC]

More disturbing photos are coming out: https://twitter.com/unsuckdcmetro/statu ... 12/photo/1.

A press conference with WMATA officials and mayer Bowser is scheduled for later this evening.

[JDC]

VIDEO from inside a car: http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/lo ... video.html

WAMU has a great story summarizing today's facts as currently known: http://wamu.org/news/15/01/12/smoke_in_ ... _suspended

That WAMU story has great photos and videos and interviews (recorded) with those onboard. The videos are downright scary, and I can see them playing on a screen during an oversight hearing.

[JDC]

Sarles is being interviewed live on NBC 4 right now; confirms 1 FATALITY and 2 in CRITICAL CONDITION. Fatality is woman who was on stricken Yellow line train.

[pumpers]

Any word on where the smoke was from?
JS

[YOLO]

Probably burnt 3rd rail covers but not confirmed.

[Sand Box John]

"pumpers"
Any word on where the smoke was from?

I happen to believe the smoke came from a fire under one of the cars similar to the fire at Silver Spring back on 05 14 2013.

[JDC]

For service today, January 13, Metro has modified its regular operations so that there are no Yellow line trains, with Blue line trains running between Huntington and Largo Town Center. To accommodate extra trains through Rosslyn, the Orange and Silver lines are operating on reduced headways. Green line trains servicing L'Enfant Plaza as normal, as the site of yesterday's incident is after the split for Branch Ave/Huntington. No word yet on when Yellow line service will resume.

[JDC]

In today's WP article on the incident, they have the following initial summary from the NTSB: "And authorities now believe they know why the train, which had just left the L’Enfant Plaza station, came to a halt about 800 feet into the tunnel. The National Transportation Safety Board said “an electrical arcing event” occurred about 1,100 feet in front of the train. The event filled the tunnel with smoke, the NTSB said. The agency said the arcing involved cables that power the third rail. Arcing is often connected with short circuits and may generate smoke. There did not appear to have been a fire."

[JDC]

Photos of NTSB's investigation from their twitter account: https://twitter.com/NTSB/status/5548475 ... 36/photo/1; https://twitter.com/NTSB/status/5548469 ... 44/photo/1

[pumpers]

In today's WP article on the incident, they have the following initial summary from the NTSB: "And authorities now believe they know why the train, which had just left the L’Enfant Plaza station, came to a halt about 800 feet into the tunnel. The National Transportation Safety Board said “an electrical arcing event” occurred about 1,100 feet in front of the train. The event filled the tunnel with smoke, the NTSB said. The agency said the arcing involved cables that power the third rail. Arcing is often connected with short circuits and may generate smoke. There did not appear to have been a fire."

It doesn't all make sense yet in my mind. Does an "arcing event" lead to circuit breakers switching off? If so that would explain why the train stopped.
I find it hard to believe that the arcing led to breakers shutting off the power right away, because if there was really no fire as in the quote above, and the arcing was stopped from the power being off, what was creating all the smoke for that 30 minutes or so? There must be more to the story, like the burning 3rd rail covers as posted earlier (are they made of plastic???).
JS
Or are voltage oscillations from the arcing enough to stop the train?

[JackRussell]

It doesn't all make sense yet in my mind. Does an "arcing event" lead to circuit breakers switching off?

It depends on how much current is being pulled. In normal usage, the circuit could draw thousands of amps