“The decision for the unprecedented closure was made by the board of directors and [General Manager] Wiedefeld in a telephone conference call earlier this afternoon.
They took the step after an electrical fire in a Metro tunnel early Monday, which caused huge delays on three subway lines, involved the same type of track-based power cables that burned during last year’s fatal Yellow Line smoke incident in another tunnel, the transit agency said.
The unprecedented, non-weather-related shutdown tonight is to avoid a repeat of the deadly incident.”