The first two cars of a red line train broke away from the rest while leaving the Silver Spring station Tuesday morning, abandoning the rest of the train on tracks south of the station, according to the Washington Post.
The incident occurred at 9:07 a.m., puzzling many riders who were stranded in four cars without an operator. The last four cars of the train came to rest just south of the station, but some distance from the platform.
Riders in one car tried to use the emergency intercom to notify the operator, but no one responded because the operator was in the front section of the train that separated.
The brakes on both sections of the train automatically deployed when it separated. The marooned cars were never in danger of being rammed by another train because Metro's rail cars are controlled by a computerized system that detects the presence of stranded cars. The system would automatically engage the brakes of an oncoming train if it came too close, said Steven A. Feil, Metro's chief operating officer.
