Error sends Purple Line train to Red Line station
Mistake blamed on operator at main facility causes 25-minute delay and leaves passengers especially anxious after last week's Metrolink crash.
A Los Angeles subway train wound up at the wrong station Monday morning after a Metrorail operator fed the wrong code into an automated system that guides trains along the underground railway.
The Purple Line train ended up at a Red Line station after it failed to switch tracks and traveled along the line's northern fork instead of its intended western route. The incident worried passengers, caused a 25-minute delay and prompted an apology from the rail service.
The Purple Line train left the Wilshire/Vermont station at 9:14 a.m. and was scheduled to stop at the Wilshire/Normandie station. Instead, the train ended up at the Vermont/Beverly station, which is served by the Red Line, Metro spokesman Rick Jager confirmed this afternoon.
The Red Line and the Purple Line share five stops after leaving Union Station downtown. But after the Wilshire/Vermont stop, the two diverge -- with the Red Line continuing to North Hollywood and the Purple Line terminating at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.
Riders said they heard the conductor announce the next stop as Normandie, but found themselves in the Vermont/Beverly station.
The confused passengers were told to disembark and board a Red Line train back to the Wilshire/Vermont stop, where they could catch another Purple Line train, said Metro rider Carla Olson.
Olson said the mistake made riders nervous, especially in light of Friday's Metrolink crash.
"A lot of us were shaken up a lot, especially the people who don't speak English, who didn't know what anyone was saying," Olson said. "The person conducting obviously did not know what was going on, or that his track had been switched, because he announced the Normandie stop."
Jager said the train headed to the wrong stop because an operator at the main rail operation facility fed the wrong code into the system that automatically directs the trains on the tracks.
The Red and Purple Lines take turns going through the Wilshire/Vermont station, Jager said. After a Purple Line train leaves, a Red Line train can go, followed by a Purple Line train and so forth.
There was never a possibility of the error causing a collision, Jager said. Metro Rail trains, he said, operate on dual tracks and brake automatically if a train passes a red-light signal.
Jager apologized on Metro's behalf to the riders who were on the train and said such a mistake "very, very rarely happens."
francisco.varaorta@latimes.com
