A disabled Metro train temporarily stranded more than 100 people on the Red Line in Northeast Washington Friday afternoon.
The train became disabled at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station just after 4 p.m.
“The train stopped really abruptly,” rider Jenna Irwin said.
Irwin said she sat for about 90 minutes while Metro staff and emergency responders figured out how to get everyone safely off the train.
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“The way we were able to get off is they pulled other train cars up behind the train that we were on, and we just all walked all the way back to Rhode Island,” Irwin said.
A Metro spokesperson said the train was not involved in a collision and the railcars did not separate. Investigators are still working to determine exactly what happened.
Irwin said the wait became uncomfortable, especially while wearing a mask.
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“Especially with COVID, I think people were getting restless,” she said. “It was also getting really warm because the power was off and it was, like, 81 degrees today, so I think a lot of people had taken their masks off, so if that had been happening in my car with people close to me, I definitely would have been feeling anxious about that.”
Metro said two people self-evacuated from the train and had to be assisted by Metro Transit Police.
Two passengers were treated at the scene for what was described as anxiety and dehydration.
