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Downed power line leads to costly repairs, delays along Charlotte light rail

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Light rail service is experiencing delays Monday due to a downed power line, according to officials with the Charlotte Area Transit System.

Officials said the line fell around 8 a.m. and led to an outage in southwest Charlotte.

Service has been suspended from the Interstate 485 station to the Archdale stop along the LYNX Blue Line, officials said. Channel 9 has been told that a bus bridge is in place between the two stations in the meantime.

Channel 9 learned that this is the second time in two days that a power line has disrupted light rail service.

Duke Energy said it’s tracing the problem back to Saturday morning, when a car struck a power pole on South Boulevard and it fell on the tracks, shutting down the Blue Line for 5 hours.

Officials believed the problem had been fixed, until Monday morning when the same power line fell onto the light rail.

Duke Energy said it’s not sure why it happened, but crews admitted they missed something over the weekend, so the whole power line is now being replaced.

Officials said the downed line has been extremely costly.

Duke Energy said the outage affected 222 customers and officials said the downed pole damaged CATS’ rail equipment, forcing it to pay for extra bus service and more man hours.

CATS said it’s planning to bill Duke Energy for the costs.

Frustrated travelers told Channel 9 that they wish they had the same option.

“It's annoying when I've been traveling so long to get to work on time,” resident Jacquelyn Crosland said. "Now I've got to call a Lyft driver in order to get to work on time when I've already paid my fare. This ride is costing me $10."

Power has been restored, but Duke Energy said it could take until 2 p.m. Monday before repair work is finished and trains can start running again.

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

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