As big a deal as was made about the Potomac Yard Metro being a huge reason the Wizards/Capitals want to move to Virginia, apparently no one actually contacted Metro before yesterday's announcement. GM Randy Clarke said today no one called him... (1/2) #wmata ...and the station would need work done to handle crowds: “Clearly it would need some type of modification I think to handle [events] of that nature...if it’s a $2 billion investment, I would like to think that there will be some type of interaction with us to do that.” #wmata

Planes landed at Reagan National Airport in wind gusts of up to 48 mph today - travelers tell me they experienced the wildest landings of their lives. #aviation Photographer @news_photog also captured this plane that did not land on this attempt, the pilot instead heading back up to try again in the heavy winds. #holidaytravel

Starting to see a few significant delays on the arrivals board at Reagan National Airport. However you will notice some of these are actually planes landing a little early. #aviation It is definitely busy at Reagan National, which is a hub for American Airlines. Some people are dealing with canceled flights but most seem to be getting out okay. #aviation

Since a 2009 Red Line crash that killed 9 people, Metro train operators have manually stopped & started trains instead of it being automated. New documents released today show #wmata wants to bring automation back, saying it would prevent red light overruns. Metro says changes since 2009 mean it would be safer to use automation and #wmata feels there would be an increase in safety and not a decrease if they returned to using it.

NEW: DC Health says July inspection found several health & safety violations including "mice droppings under the shelving unit at the coffee station area" & "mold build up on the baileys Irish cream container." Says Georgetown Cupcake has now fixed all issues but license renewal

https://twitter.com/GTownCupcake/status/1557744034365456384

In all a DC Health inspection report from July 13 found 13 issues at Georgetown Cupcake. A reinspection yesterday found all were fixed except its license expiring on Nov 30 last year. Examples of other violations include improper temps & employee not wearing a hair restraint.

JUST IN: Metro is proposing manually inspecting 7000 series train wheels once a week instead of every day. Says the small number of 7000 series railcars that have returned after a derailment last year have gone 540,000 total miles without any of them failing inspection. #wmata It would have to be approved by overseer @MetrorailSafety, which right now is only allowing Metro to run 8 total 7000 series trains a day, but yesterday revealed that Metro wants to run more than that. This appears to be the method Metro would use to be able to run more. #wmata

Covering MD Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perez-former MoCo councilman plus state & federal labor secretary.
Campaign will keep eye on results from MoCo, Prince George’s & Baltimore city/county tonight, but with many mail-in ballots they don’t expect to know winner 2nite Early voting results released so far by the Maryland board of elections have Wes Moore leading for the Democrats, Dan Cox leading for the Republicans - but there are many, many votes yet to count and it’s unclear if these are even all the early votes #mdgovernor #Elections2022

The eight 7000 series trains Metro has approval to run were pulled late last week and then returned on July 4. Now Metro says they are temporarily pulled again. #wmata

https://twitter.com/wmata/status/1544707125800214528

Update from #wmata: “As this daily manual inspection & data collection process is new to Metro, the senior managers overseeing the process are adjusting and perfecting our ability to perform timely inspections, manage and assess data collected, & prepare cars for service.” (1/2)

The line waiting to get into the Smithsonian Metro Station right now. Police are cutting off access at times when the station gets too crowded. #IndependenceDay2022 Metro Transit Police just let another wave of people through after the platform became less crowded. They told folks waiting outside they would not have to wait long once they got down into the station. #wmata #IndependenceDay

Alexandria city council meeting has begun with a few dozen anti-abortion protesters here. Council will vote on resolution encouraging the General Assembly to protect abortion rights & asking the city attorney to join litigation seeking to protect abortion availability in the city One anti-abortion protester was just escorted out of the city council meeting by Alexandria Police after interrupting the meeting.

Metro hasn't yet released its plan for the closing of the Yellow Line bridge over the Potomac from fall to next spring, but it looks like Alexandria has spilled the beans in its city council docs. Everything from the Pentagon south will be Blue Line, including Huntington. #wmata The plan includes shuttle buses across the Potomac. With Metro announcing today it expects its 7000 series trains back by late summer, that puts an awful lot of trains going through the already clogged Rosslyn to DC tunnel (where the Silver & Orange lines also travel). #wmata

Metro GM Paul Wiedefeld is leaving effective immediately in the wake of this weekend’s news that about 250 train operators were behind on recertification, which involves safety training. Interim GM Andy Off takes over until new GM Randy Clarke starts later this summer. #wmata Part of a statement from Wiedefeld: “I believe conveying all authority of the General Manager’s office to Mr. Off better positions him to address the challenges that came to light this week, while preparing for the transition to the next CEO.” #wmata

This is unreal: Green & Yellow line service, which just got slightly better two weeks ago, will get worse again tomorrow after Metro says it will remove 72 train operators who are at least a year behind on recertification.
Riders will wait 20 mins between trains. #wmata In fact, Metro says nearly half of their 500 train operators are at least somewhat behind on being recertified, which Metro says involves them spending time in classrooms and doing testing out in the field. #wmata

NEW: Metro says no Yellow Line trains will be able to cross the Potomac for 7-8 months starting Sept 10.
They plan to do major rehab work on the tunnel & bridge to stop "water intrusion" & strengthen the tunnel lining. #wmata says it's the system's "top structural priority." Metro isn't announcing exactly what alternatives they will offer yet, but it seems to me their only possible option is to send all trains onto the current Blue Line route between Virginia & DC since trains won't be able to cross the Potomac on the Yellow Line route. #wmata

“What plagues #wmata is a culture-all too often-of mediocrity.” - @GerryConnolly. House subcommittee hearing on Metro & its recent & long term problems has begun.
Besides Northern Virginia’s Connolly, @StenyHoyer of Maryland is here & @EleanorNorton of DC is appearing virtually. Rep. Gerry Connolly recalled how admired Metro was in its early days - “We’ve got to return to that.”
I remember personally as a kid how everyone used to be so proud of it, so different from now. #wmata

At a Metro board meeting GM Paul Wiedefeld said more #wmata employees have Covid and are absent from work than at any time during the pandemic. Says they will bring back now-reduced bus service "as soon as we can" when fewer workers are sick. Metro GM Paul Wiedefeld also revealed he recently tested positive for Covid and said he was out of work roughly two weeks. #wmata

BREAKING: Metro says riders will finally see some 7000 series trains return in the coming days & weeks, after @MetrorailSafety said today it had no objection to a #wmata plan to bring them back.
Metro says the process will be gradual though, so long wait times won't improve yet. @MetrorailSafety You may remember all 748 Metro 7000 series railcars were pulled in October after a derailment exposed major safety concerns with their wheels.
Metro's plan for bringing them back involves inspecting them every seven days - pre-derailment they were inspected every 90 days! #wmata

NEW THIS MORNING: Metro GM's proposed budget for fiscal year staring next July includes:
-$2 fare on rail trips after 9:30pm
-extra $5 added to SmarTrip cards for every $25 a rider adds to the card ($30 worth of rides for the price of $25)
-monthly & weekly pass discounts #wmata This is the time between Metrorail trains the new budget calls for. Metro already started running at these intervals in September, but as riders are well aware the times aren't even close to this right now thanks to the derailment & the pulling of all 7000 series trains. #wmata

BREAKING: Metro GM says current slow Metrorail service will last through at least November 15. He says to continue to expect 30 minutes between trains on all lines but Red, which will be 15 minutes. #wmata Here's the plan to bring back service in phases. We are in 1A right now, and it sounds like we're not getting out of this Metro mess anytime soon. #wmata

LATEST ON METRO: #wmata gave update this afternoon, they hope to add five 6-car trains into service late next week; those trains are currently stuck at Shady Grove rail yard due to canopy & other work at the closed Shady Grove & Rockville stations blocking their path south Metro spokesperson says track work is needed to get the trains safely past the work going on at those two stations. Right now there are 31 trains in service, so five more would help, but would not get things back to normal by any stretch of the imagination. #wmata

Here is the Metro train that became disabled in the tunnel just short of Gallery Place while heading south. DC Fire says all passengers have been safely evacuated. #wmata Metro is now doing single tracking on the Green and Yellow lines at Gallery Place, Red Line running as normal, well at least normal for this week. #wmata