Blood on the Red Line

My trip to work in DC this morning was delayed by a closed Metro track at Union Station. Someone had been hit by a train, and apparently it was a suicide attempt. Quite a scene, it was: yellow tape surrounded a half-parked train with all its doors open, while personnel from WMATA and the fire and police departments milled about the platform. One policeman was nestled in the gap between the train and the outer wall, taking pictures of something hidden from view; blood on the tracks, perhaps.

No blood and gore in the photo I took; just security personnel milling about the platform. The Metro underground stations are all rather dimly lit, so I opted to use the low light camera artifacts to get a gritty, distressed texture. Photo taken with an Aiptek Mini Pencam 1.3MP.

It was a long wait for a crowded subway train this morning. When it arrived, it came in the wrong direction, on the opposite rail; and when it departed, there was a jolt and a heave as the cars switched back to their regular track, leaving the changes in the day far, far behind.