McLean Metro Train Goes Up in Smoke -- And Riders Aren't Happy

Commuters on the Silver Line train reported smoke this morning after being offloaded at McLean station due to a train with a "mechanical problem."

Riders on the Orange and Silver lines have been suffering all week due to a maintenance "surge" as part of Metro's year-long Safetrack plan to fix chronic safety problems throughout the system, resulting in single-tracking in Northern Virginia for the next couple weeks.

One of the reasons for the Safetrack plan was the numerous smoke and fire incidents, one of which caused the death of a woman at L'Enfant Plaza last year. This particular problem had to do with hot brakes and was unrelated to the L'Enfant Plaza incident, according to a Metro spokesperson, but that was small comfort to commuters on the train who went to social media to complain:

Editor's note: The story originally indicated that it was a "smoke and fire" problem. It has been updated to clarify that there was no fire and it was exclusively smoke.

Image via Wikimedia