UPDATED: DART Red Line trains down Monday morning due to electrical problems

by Teresa Gubbins

The DART Red Line has been experiencing electrical problems since about 7 a.m. Monday, stopping southbound service from Plano and causing major delays for commuters.

One commuter reported that the DART station at George Bush was crowded with employees and that he saw "some people getting on northbound trains, I guess in hopes that they'd eventually go southbound -- very strange."

At 8:30 a.m., a DART employee said that she saw an email sent out to staff at about 7:15, explaining a problem with a "rail guard", and that southbound service was about to be reinstated.

If DART employees know about the problem at 7:15 a.m., it seems like it might be a good idea to share that information with members of the media or perhaps on those red displays at the stations.

UPDATE: Explanation from DART says that a northbound train experiencing an electrical problem stalled near the Dallas Convention Center, which caused crossing arms to lower and blocked street traffic from the convention center to the Dallas Zoo. And that, by 9 a.m., the problem had been solved and traffic was "flowing". Really? So that's it? One hates to dog DART unnecessarily, they do have the trains running most days on time, but that seems pretty dismissive. One wants to see a heartfelt apology and possibly some tears.

Alex Bentley contributed to this story.