Metro Sustains Minimal Damage, Reopens At 2 P.M.

After a rare extended shut down of its entire rail and bus system, the first since 2003, Metro is ready to start carrying passengers again as Sandy departs.

The ominous forecasts of what Sandy might have done has Metro officials feeling fortunate for the relative ease with which they will be able to reopen.

"Given the magnitude of the storm, the potential for high winds, the potential for flooding conditions, we view ourselves as very lucky," says Metro spokesman Dan Stessel.

The lack of widespread commercial power outages helped, too. Overall, there was minimal damage to the rail lines.

"Construction fencing blowing onto tracks. We had some water infiltration in several stations, we had water pooling in elevator and escalator maintenance rooms underneath the units," says Stessel. "But nothing that would prevent us from re-opening."

Rail and bus are operating on Sunday service levels as of 2 p.m. Tuesday, but are charging weekday fares.

"It may take up to 30 minutes for trains to filter through the system so you want to give it a little bit of time from two o'clock," says Stessel, cautioning riders to be patient.

MetroAccess service remains cancelled and is expected to be restored tomorrow, along with full service for bus and rail.