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2 Metro problems in Va. delay morning commute

WASHINGTON — A pair of Metro problems snarled the morning commute in Virginia Tuesday. The Orange Line ran on a single track between West Falls Church and Vienna for about an hour and a half after a high rail excavator, similar to a small crane, which pulls out old rail ties, derailed. A Metro spokeswoman said that there were no injuries and no damage to the track. At about 6:30 a.m., Adam Tuss, of WTOP’s news partner NBC Washington, reported that the unit had been put back on the track; it was moved out shortly thereafter.

And service on the Blue Line was suspended between Franconia and Van Dorn Street due to a track problem outside the Van Dorn Street station. It was also cleared up after about an hour and a half. In both situations, delays remained after the tracks were cleared up.

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

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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