COMMUTING: Celing Collapses at Farragut North

One of the entrances to the Farragut North metrorail station is closed after a section of ceiling collapsed Wednesday afternoon. Nobody was hurt in the incident, but The Associated Press reports that a section of ceiling came cascading down onto the mezzanine between the escalators leading to the SW corner of the Connecticut Avenue and L Street entry and the farecard machines.

The other entrances are open for business.

Farragut North was the original terminal station for the Red Line when the initial metrorail segment opened in 1976. (The other was Rhode Island Avenue.)

Since the Red Line is the oldest line in the system, it is likely that Farragut North, and other stations, will see similar deterioration. In Upper Northwest, the Red Line is particularly prone to flooding. If you look in the trackside recessed lighting, you can see moss growing, particularly at Woodley Park. When the Red Line was bored through the heights of Upper Northwest, it was thought at the time that if enough concrete was piled around the tunnel, it would prevent water from seeping in. That was not the case and now the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority must battle water from waterlogging the tunnel serving the area's busiest subway line.

"Part of Ceiling Falls at Metro Station" [AP via WTOP]