WASHINGTON 鈥� 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 Southwest Station on May 5 sparked a fire. An arcing 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.
