Liz Essley

Updated: Tue, May 14, 2013

A Metro railcar at Silver Spring caught fire during Tuesday evening's rush hour, snarling Red Line commuters on their way home from work. Metro said no one was injured. Just before 6 p.m. the train offloaded its passengers one station before, at Takoma, but Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said he...

Liz Essley

Updated: Tue, May 14, 2013

The University of Maryland will hold its commencement ceremony on Sunday, but those attending won't be able to take Metrorail there. The College Park-University of Maryland station will be closed for the weekend, with two other Green Line stations, as Metro crews update tracks and help build a...

Liz Essley

Published: Mon, May 13, 2013

A park memorializing the victims of the 2009 Metro Red Line crash is delayed, two years after Mayor Vincent Gray pledged to build the $1.8 million project. Gray pledged in 2011 to build a park near the site of the crash in which nine people died and dozens more were injured outside the Fort...

Liz Essley

Published: Mon, May 13, 2013

Metro workers will be repairing track on three lines this weekend, closing five stations. The transit agency is investing $5.5 billion to bring its infrastructure up to date. The following lines will see the work and its accompanying delays: • On the Red Line, trains will single track in...

Liz Essley

Published: Sun, May 12, 2013

Metro announced six-minute wait times and a "cool" blue design for the Washington area's first bus rapid transit system, scheduled to open in Northern Virginia next spring. The five-mile corridor between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road Metro stations will have four miles of lanes dedicated...

Liz Essley

Published: Thu, May 9, 2013

Metro won't be paying D.C. Councilman Jim Graham's legal bills. The transit agency's board of directors denied a petition Thursday from Graham, the board's former chairman, to pay for his private legal counsel in a $100 million lawsuit over a Metro land deal. An independent review...

Liz Essley

Published: Wed, May 8, 2013

Two mothers filed suit against three Metro Transit Police officers on Wednesday, saying the police brutally beat their 14-year-old children and then improperly charged them with crimes in two separate incidents. "We hope [Metro will pay attention. It seems clear to us their officers need...

Liz Essley

Published: Tue, May 7, 2013

Fifteen percent of Metro employees don't feel free to report safety problems without fear of retaliation, a new Metro survey says. The survey shows Metro still has work to do in building an agencywide safety mindset in the wake of the 2009 Red Line crash and a string of four worker deaths in...

Liz Essley

Updated: Mon, May 6, 2013

Apple iPhones are Metro thieves' favorite target: The devices accounted for 67 percent of the items snatched and pickpocketed on the transit system in the first three months of the year. Nearly 100 Apple iPhones were stolen on Metro trains and buses from January to March out of a total of 144...

Liz Essley

Published: Mon, May 6, 2013

Metro's latest crime statistics contained good news for those who park their cars in Metro's garages. Crime in Metro's parking facilities hit a record low in the first three months of 2013, down 79 percent since 2010, with thieves stealing 64 percent fewer cars, 76 percent fewer objects inside...