The shutdown was announced on Friday, the day after a large fireball was sparked by debris on the tracks at the Federal Center station, closing down service on two lines just before rush hour. There was also a fire on the tracks earlier that morning, caused by a porcelain insulator.
— Is Metro On Fire? (@IsMetroOnFire) May 5, 2016
In an effort to stop the fires, porcelain materials will be replaced with fiberglass.
“This is a massive undertaking,” said Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld. “It’s like a military operation. There’s a lot of moving parts that have to work together.”
Even the US President was asked to weigh in on the issue during a news conference on Friday.
“The problem we have is that the Republican Congress has been resistant to really taking on this problem in a serious way, and the reason is because of an ideology that says government spending is necessarily bad,” President Obama explained to reporters.
“That mindset, that ideology has led to us not investing in those things we have to do together.”
The revamping of the tracks will begin in June and is expected to continue through March 2017.
