The third rail of politics in smoke and mirrors: a high-voltage “arcing event,” but no fire. Investigation might take six months to a year... - Deadly subway malfunction leaves many unanswered questions - AP

I am Hades (Clash of the Titans)

Published on Aug 21, 2013
I am Hades (edited)

First, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the centaurs and to learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive.

Hades in You - Tube 

Washington train smoke - Google Search

The Virginia-bound train had just left L’Enfant Plaza station on the system’s Yellow Line and was on its way to the Pentagon about 3:30 p.m. when smoke from an unknown source in the tunnel began filling the cars. Officials said the driver was unable to back the train into the station, trapping some passengers in the cars until firefighters arrived.
...
L’Enfant Plaza stop is near offices for the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Communications Commission and several Smithsonian museums.
...
The N.T.S.B.’s initial finding was that the smoke had been caused by a high-voltage “arcing event,” when electricity jumps from the subway’s third rail in a pop or a flash... 

electrical arcing event - G Search | Brooklyn Electricians - 1 Hour Service - Free Estimates‎

Third rail - Google Search 


Third rail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


"Third rail systems are a means of providing electric traction power to trains, and they use an additional rail (called a "conductor rail") for the purpose. On most systems, the conductor rail is placed on the sleeper ends outside the running rails, but in some cases a central conductor rail is used."

Third rail of politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


"The third rail of a nation's politics is a metaphor for any issue so controversial that it is "charged" and "untouchable"; any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically."


Woman Dies After Smoke Fills Washington Metro Tunnel - New York Times

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Woman Dies After Smoke Fills Washington Metro Tunnel
New York Times
WASHINGTON — One woman aboard a subway train died and 83 other people were taken to hospitals here Monday after a downtown Metrorail tunnel filled with smoke during the evening rush, National Transportation Safety Board officials said. Two of the ...
Smoke at L'Enfant plaza station in Washington leaves 1 deadFox News
1 dead, dozens hurt after Metro car fills with smokeWashington Post
One Person Dies After Smoke Fills DC Metro TrainWall Street Journal
Firstpost -Detroit Free Press
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Washington DC Metro passenger dies as smoke fills train and station 

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Dozens more people taken to hospital after enduring long wait for rescue in choking conditions
A woman died when smoke poured through a subway train on the Washington DC Metro, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from a station just before afternoon rush hour. Dozens more people were injured, authorities said.
Hundreds of passengers had to flee the L’Enfant Plaza station, one of the subway system’s busiest, about 3.30pm, said District of Columbia fire and emergency spokesman Timothy Wilson.
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AP Top Headlines At 6 a.m. EST
Deadly subway malfunction leaves many unanswered questions By JESSICA GRESKO and DAVID DISHNEAU
AP Top Headlines At 6 a.m. EST
Deadly subway malfunction leaves many unanswered questions
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The subway train had just pulled out from a busy Washington station when it ground to a halt and foul-smelling smoke began filling the cars and the tunnel.
"We're going to die here!" passengers cried.
In the fear and chaos that followed, riders prayed but also helped one another, performing mouth-to-mouth on an unconscious woman and offering an inhaler to a man curled in a fetal position on the train's floor. Some waited anxiously for rescuers as instructed, while others opened the doors and broke out of the cars on their own.
One woman died and more than 80 other people were sent to the hospital, mostly for smoke inhalation, after an electrical malfunction Monday that left a multitude of unanswered questions a day later.
Commuters demanded to know: Was the train's evacuation unnecessarily delayed? Were passengers given the right information? And what caused the death of the woman?
Authorities in the nation's capital had no immediate answers.
The woman, whose name was not released, was the first fatality on Washington's Metro system since a 2009 crash killed eight passengers and a train operator.
The malfunction happened at L'Enfant Plaza, one of the subway's busiest stations, around 3:30 p.m. Monday, at the beginning of the afternoon rush hour. The stop is near the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and many federal office buildings, including the headquarters of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.
NTSB investigator Michael Flanigon said the smoke started when something came into contact with the high-voltage third rail and caused an electrical arc.
The train stopped about 800 feet beyond the platform, and the arcing occurred roughly 1,000 feet beyond the train, Flanigon said. There was no fire.
Patti Aliventi, 49, was waiting for a train when she heard shouting and saw gray smoke filling the station. She said riders were told to get out, but a bottleneck developed when employees didn't just open the fare gates to make it easier for people to leave.
Aboard the train, passenger Jonathan Rogers, 31, said he and two other people tried in vain for 20 minutes to revive a middle-aged woman who had slumped to the floor unconscious near the front of the train, where the smoke was the heaviest.
"We know you do chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, so that's what we did," Rogers said. "Nothing was happening and she was laying there unconscious. Somebody took her pulse and said they couldn't feel a pulse."
Rogers said a man scooped the woman up in his arms and carried her through the cars toward the back of the train.
It wasn't immediately clear if the woman was the one who died.
Rogers said he doesn't understand why passengers weren't allowed to leave the train sooner for the one- or two-minute walk back to the platform.
"It just kind of felt like, `Why were we trapped on that train that long?'" Rogers said. "All we did was sit there and wait. Forty minutes seems like a long time."
Andrew Litwin, 21, a University of Texas student visiting the Washington area, said about 30 minutes into the ordeal, a fellow rider reached 911 on a cellphone. Litwin said the news that firefighters were aware of the problem calmed passengers, who had been yelling, "We're going to die here!"
Luis Clemens, 47, a National Public Radio editor, said he was among a group of passengers who got off the train and walked back to the platform through the pitch-black tunnel despite instructions to stay on board. He said it seemed obvious, after what felt like 20 or 30 minutes, that the train wasn't going to move.
"We were not given any information that police or fire were en route or nearby," he said. "All we got was, `Stay in place. Yes, I know there's smoke. Don't leave.' And that doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you're sitting there watching over some period, watching the subway cars fill up with smoke."
The Metrorail system, which connects Washington with the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, carries an average of 721,000 passengers each weekday. The affected line remained shut down Tuesday morning, and other lines were on a reduced schedule.
Metro board chairman Tom Downs apologized to riders injured, frightened or inconvenienced.
The investigation "will be a thorough process that often takes time, and we understand that passengers want answers quickly," he said in a statement. "Please know that once the cause of this incident is understood, we are prepared to take the actions needed to prevent this from happening again."
Smoke and fire are not unusual on the subway system, which opened in 1976 and still uses some original rail cars. Metro's most recent safety reports showed 86 incidents of smoke or fire in 2013 and 85 through the first eight months of 2014.
On Tuesday, Devin Krotman, a rider getting off at the L'Enfant station, said: "I don't think there's a lot of trust in how Metro handled this situation."
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Dishneau reported from Hagerstown, Maryland. Associated Press writer Ben Nuckols also contributed to this report.
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Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols .


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