ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Hundreds of passengers were stranded on a MARTA train following a World Cup match at Atlanta Stadium Saturday night.
According to MARTA, a mechanical issue affected a northbound Gold Line train approaching Lenox Station at around 10:20 p.m.
MARTA police said the issue caused the train to “shut down on the trackway.”
Passengers were stranded on a stalled MARTA train for more than an hour after Saturday’s World Cup match.(Provided)
They said the issue was fixed at 11:35 p.m. and the passengers were taken to the Lindbergh Station.
At around 12:10 a.m. on Sunday, MARTA confirmed the problem had been resolved with normal service resuming.
“We thank you for your patience,” they wrote on social media.
On June 22, a MARTA spokesperson provided ridership numbers for World Cup matchdays in Atlanta. For the first two games, MARTA saw nearly double its average ridership on those individual days. For the third game, MARTA reported roughly triple its average ridership.
RELATED: Atlanta officials say ‘we are executing in every phase’ as World Cup hosts
For the game on Wednesday, MARTA had approximately 220,000 rides. The data for Saturday’s match has not been released yet.
MARTA had hoped to put into service several brand-new trains before the World Cup, but the trains had not received state certification yet.
RELATED: MARTA postpones launch of new trains as safety testing continues
Inside MARTA’s new trains: A first look at the fleet designed for Atlanta’s future.(Atlanta News First)
The long-awaited CQ400 railcars are designed to replace MARTA’s decades-old trains. It’s unclear when the cars, built by the Swiss manufacturer Stadler, will now enter the public eye.
MARTA touts the cars as the most technologically advanced in the country, featuring open gangways, digital information displays and wireless charging stations.
RELATED: MARTA switching to thicker glass after multiple faregates shatter
MARTA did roll out the Better Breeze program at several stations (not all were ready by the World Cup), which included installing glass faregates. There have been several instances where the glass has shattered at stations across the city, forcing the agency to replace them with thicker glass.
Atlanta News First is working to learn more about the issues on Saturday.
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