The employers who coordinate Metro Lines 4, 5, and 6 have had to use messaging services such as WhatsApp or Messenger after an arson rendered their internal communication system useless.
According to the newspaper Milenio, radios, paper and pens are also used to control the trains'' progress through the various stations.
Using radios, the employees, installed at three tables in the provisional Central Control Post 2, in the Metro building located in the Historical Center, communicate with the train drivers to avoid accidents and collisions.
While on paper, they indicate the trains'' location and verify that they are within the scheduled times.
"RUSTIC" COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IS NOT NEW
This rustic system is not much different from the one La Silla Rota found during a visit to the Metro Command Control Post in November 2018.
A week before this media''s visit to the facilities, a short circuit damaged the Villa de Cortés and Xola stations'' wiring. It also affected the PCC system, where the operating distance is overseen through monitors of each of the 12 Lines trains that make up the STC.
During the failure on Line 2, it was not possible to control the trains'' location from the PCC, since due to the power cut on the board, it was not possible to see where the convoys were due to lack of light. To avoid a collision or a bigger problem, this was done manually, with "post-its." The Broken Chair witnessed it.
The driver radioed his location to another worker from the train cabin, who was at the PCC. This employee was telling another which station the convoy was in. With a yellow post-it with the unit number, he placed its location and thus corrected the fault.
ARSON LEAVES 6 METRO LINES WITHOUT SERVICE
Last Saturday, a fire registered at the Metro Control Center at 5:25 a.m. and lasted up to 12 hours, leaving one person dead and at least 30 workers admitted to hospitals due to smoke poisoning.
After the fire, six Metro lines were left without service, Lines 1 to 6. This Monday, Lines 4, 5, and 6 were reactivated; the reestablishment of the others would take place gradually, beginning at the end of January.
Traducción: Valentina K. Yanes