Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Coast is Clear, or is it?


From Ryan:
Last Saturday, my girlfriend and I were on the Orange Line heading toward New Carrollton. At Landover, the operator let us know we would be holding on the platform as a "man and stray dog" were out on the tracks. We sat and waited for roughly 10 minutes when the operator announced we would begin moving again.

Now, you'd assume that meant they knew the man and dog had been cleared, gotten through a fence, that Metro cops had apprehended the man and trespassing canine or that the situation was remedied in some other fashion.

You'd assume.

A couple minutes later we came to a stop. Being in mostly empty front car, I moved forward and looked out the window to see what was going on.

I saw the man and the dog were still out on the rails.

Our train, and a train heading the other way were stopped. The other train let out a few honks as the clearly intoxicated man rambled around with his pants around his knees.

He then picked up the dog and hurled it over the barbed wire onto a lower set of tracks. The throw over the fence was horrific enough, but the other set of tracks was easily another four to six feet below ours, meaning this dog was tossed roughly 12 to 15 feet.

After rolling on the ground and failing to climb the fence several times, the man mounted the barbed wire and threw himself over.

Was there an aftermath? Did the operator seem to care? No.

A simple "train is moving" announcement came on over the speakers, and we carried on as another passenger on the train comforted his girlfriend who began sobbing once the dog was thrown.

At least there wasn't a delay? Right?
Other items:
Metro tweaks fare hike proposal (Examiner) WaPo take
Upcoming track work schedule looks pretty rough (WMATA)
 
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