MARTA officials are still trying to determine the source of the mysterious smoke that prompted the evacuation of a rail station Tuesday.
“We don’t know what it was,” said spokesman Lyle Harris Tuesday evening. “It was either something mechanical or electrical on the train but what that was we don’t know for certain.”
The Vine City station was closed for about two hours although single-tracking service returned after about 90 minutes, Harris said. The service is slower because both east-bound and west-bound trains have to alternately use the same track through the station.
There were no injuries, Harris said.
He noted the transit authority is currently updating its evacuation procedures and taking steps to ensure they’re posted more clearly in the station and on board trains. The updating wasn’t because of Tuesday’s episode but in response to a review conducted after a recent fire involving the Washington rail transit service that left one person dead, Harris said.
“After that happened we took a serious look at our emergency procedures we had posted in our rail stations and in our rail cars and we decided that wasn’t’ sufficient,” he said. “There weren’t enough of them out there that were highly visible. Where they were posted in the rail cars, they were in a place you would not usually see them … and they didn’t give enough details.
The smoke was spotted shortly after the main commute began Tuesday. Just before 8 a.m., the station reopened, with trains “single-tracking” through the station, MARTA spokeswoman Alisa Jackson said.
A bus shuttle was established between the Five Points and West Lake stations, Harris said.
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