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Metro completes insulator replacement at underground stations

By Michelle Basch

WASHINGTON — Metro said Friday that its massive effort to improve safety on the rails has reached a milestone.

At underground station platforms throughout the Metrorail system, all porcelain insulators have been replaced with fiberglass versions that are more heat-resistant.

Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld sped up efforts to swap out insulators at those locations after an arcing insulator at Federal Center Southwest Station on May 5 sparked a fire. An arcing insulator fire near McPherson Square Station shut down the entire system for more than 24 hours for emergency inspections and repairs in March.

The insulators are installed about every 10 feet along Metro’s 230-plus miles of track.

Metro’s 10-month-long repair plan calls for replacing 12,000 insulators. The massive rehabilitation project is intended to address years of deferred maintenance.

Metro hopes for temporary Dupont, Farragut North cooling fix this summer

By Max Smith
WASHINGTON — Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld stood Monday next to the Metro chiller pumps sitting idle for a third straight year about 40 feet below Connecticut Avenue Northwest and said he hopes — but cannot promise — that a temporary fix for the cooling system for Dupont Circle and Farragut North will be in place at some point this summer. Pipes connecting the chiller vault to a cooling tower about 500 feet south on Connecticut Avenue and 13 stories up have been leaking since at least 2015. Metro believes those 500 feet of pipes are the only issue that has kept the stations from being cooled by the shared chiller plant since then.
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