MTA rail riders get to be part of earthquake drill
As you probably are aware, there was a giant earthquake drill in the region this morning, the idea being to practice response to a 7.8-magnitude shaker on the southern portion of the San Andreas Fault.
As part of the drill, the light-rail lines and the subway run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority stopped at 10 a.m., the time of the massive make-believe temblor. “That gives the train operators a chance to look out the window to inspect the tracks to make sure they haven’t been torn up,” said Rick Jager, an MTA spokesman.
In a real earthquake, the protocol is for train operators to call the MTA’s rail operations center to get instructions on how to proceed. After the fake earthquake at 10 a.m., trains were then instructed to run at speeds under 20 mph for the next hour so that the MTA could stage mock inspections of the tracks.
