WASHINGTON — The Metro's Red Line is experiencing delays at Friendship Heights due to "track problems," Montgomery County officials said.
The train is delayed in both directions between Friendship Heights and Van Ness. It was reported that trains were single tracking.
D.C. Fire and EMS are at Forest Glen metro station investigating an arcing insulator.
The Red Line has a history of experiencing train problems. Most recently, the Red Line was closed for an hour during the morning rush on Dec 10. after a reported track fire, the transit agency said. Metro service was stopped between Van Ness and Friendship Heights. Track insulators arced three times throughout the day, snarling service once during the morning rush and twice during the evening rush.
Metro has said that they are working to permanently fix the electrical problems during a meeting of WMATA’s board of directors.
Leaders said this latest string of problems underscores the need to waterproof nine more miles of the Red Line, a process called curtain grouting that Metro said could take years.
"We’ll just have to keep an eye on it until we get a final permanent solution, which I think will be the curtain grouting," Leader said.
A Metro spokesman said this won’t be easy. Waterproofing near Medical Center caused weekend single-tracking and some shutdowns. The transit agency has not said when this work could begin.
Metro says Red Line tunnels leak water since they were bored before modern techniques. Last year, Metro permeated tunnel walls with a new waterproof sealant, but only near Medical Center. Metro said that cut down on arcing insulators from 65 in 2016, to 54 in 2017, then 22 in 2018.