The Washington Post, 4/30:
On Metro, rail enthusiasts fill communications void for riders
When his Red Line train stalled in a tunnel near Friendship Heights last weekend, Chuck Holmes squeezed “the barest of a 3G signal” from his cellphone looking for any information.
SNIP
The tweet was from @RailTransitOPS, and “R.B.” is Roger Bowles, 36, a longtime Metro observer who co-founded Rail Transit OPS in January as an independent operation to monitor the subway.
When the fire started, Bowles, who was in western Maryland, reached for his computer and, drawing on audio communications and real-time train data published by Metro, tweeted what he knew: Smoke was reported on the train, which Metro was trying to pull back to the platform.
The information was a relief to Holmes, 58, a journalist from Chevy Chase, Md., because it was a sign that he and others on the train would not be herded through the tunnel after all. Passengers had been considering self-evacuating.
More here.