Explosions Rock My Metro Train

Oct 6, 2009 Metro Center Station, DC

I waited on the Metro platform at Union Station as I have become accustomed to over my years of commuting into DC. I hadn't hurried for the train that was already in the station when I arrived. Soon the next train arrived and Robert, a man who is usually on the evening MARC train and part of our Car 5 Gang, arrived from the opposite end of the platform. We boarded behind the pushing crowd so as to be able to remain near the doors in my wheelchair and not get thrust further in by the later arrivals.

We held for an extra minute for the train ahead of us to clear the station at Judiciary Square, then we proceeded. At Gallery Place-Chinatown we were delayed by a sick passenger who needed to be assisted off the train. Robert, with his gallows humor, said they need to toss the passenger off the train so we could get going. In a sense that is what they did. A supervisor assisted the non-emergency exiting of the passenger and we began to move out of the station.

The train lurched forward and we joked that they were trying to knock us down. Apologies went all around for the people who had just bumped into someone else. While we sat there, the operator announced that we would be holding while they "try to figure out what THAT was." It was not your usual false start as when someone is leaning against the doors and the fault indicator stops the train. The operator announced that maintenance personnel were checking the length of the train to make sure nothing was under the train. Again, Robert suggested that it felt like we had run over someone.

The operator got the permission to proceed and we moved slowly forward into the tunnel. My third car location had barely entered the tunnel when the first explosion rocked the train. The shock wave pushed me forward a bit. The flash was clearly visible against the dark walls of the tunnel. A collective "OH," went up and the level of nervous chatted accelerated. Two more explosions shook the cars. The flashes and reverberations seemed closer. My thoughts were, "is this what a terrorist act is like?" The train was stopped in the tunnel – lights on – smoke beginning to filter in through the floor vents and door joints. Some yelled that "we have smoke coming in here." Robert called out for everyone to remain calm and shouting would do nothing to help.

Another explosion. The train operator announced that she was going to limp the train into Metro Center where it would be evacuated. We moved slowly forward with halting movements until the platform came into sight. The operator broadcast to the waiting passengers to move back from the train, this train was out of service. The doors opened and a hurried, albeit hasty evacuation was made. The smell of burning electrical insulation followed the train into the station. The passengers aboard the train all disbursed, already knowing that there was no proceeding on Metro this day. Passengers on the platform still waited to board our disabled train. I told people as I passed by them on my way out, "this train is definitely out of service. It is going nowhere soon."

Smoke rose up through the station at Metro Center smelling of electrical burning. There was not visible flames coming off the train at that point. I paused at the mezzanine to look back at the train that still sat at the platform and the crowds of commuters on both platforms who would be finding a different path to work this morning. Nothing seemed untoward and the whole scene quite benign. By the time I reached the street, fire engines were screaming their way to Metro Center and Gallery Place in response to the " Disruption at Metro Center in both directions. Trains sharing same track btwn Judiciary Sq. & Farragut N due to an earlier situation at Metro Center. Delays both directions." So this is what they mean when they say…

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Dear Mr. President:

September 5, 2009

Dear Mr. President:

My health is not for sale to Republican profit motivations.

In this year 2009 once again the cause of health care for people in this land has reared its ugly head. Even with the recent loss of 7 million jobs in this country there are those Legislators who decry expanded health care as Socialist and a scourge to be purged. Those 7 million jobs were typically attached to family households of 4 persons. Most private health insurance premiums are paid by employers on behalf of the employees. So go figure. There are potentially 28 million people in this country who might just now be losing their beloved private health insurance coverage. Since there are a lot of businesses that never paid for health insurance, we can easily half that number and still have a huge population of citizens newly without private health insurance.

A high school era buddy of mine is an early retiree. Such a person is old enough to consider stopping primary employment but who is not yet eligible for Medicare at age 65. He reports that his privately funded private health insurance coverage costs him and his wife $1850 per month. Excluding the annual cost increases that he says is on the order of 10% a year, he will pay nearly $200,000 between now and Medicare eligibility. And this is assuming that some catastrophic event doesn’t intervene and cause termination of the policy by the business that holds his health in their private hands.

President Obama stated his goals of creating a health care coverage overhaul that would allow everyone to have access to medical services before their conditions go critical and we have to fund their costly recovery via Medicaid. He did not specify how the legislation would be worded nor what exactly the Bill would contain. His plan allowed the Congress to work it our as a bi-partisan effort to help the growing population of families and individuals who had no access to medical services until they arrived at an emergency room and could not leave under their own power.

The Democratic legislators set to the task of crafting such a plan while the Republican legislators boycotted the process and said that the Democrats would have to proceed without them. How can it be that there are no Democrats living in Republican districts and states?. How can it be that no Republican constituent is without adequate private health insurance paid for by their employers? How can it be that access to medical treatment is a partisan issue worthy of universal objection by one particular political party?

Republican legislators need to hear from their Republican electoral base that they too need access to adequate affordable medical care. My health is not for sale to Republican profit motivations.

Sincerely,

Robert Carlson