"We still have a crack in the rail but they are going to try to get us across"

Not what you want to hear when you're on a train, but that's exactly what was conveyed by the Metro train operator as I was heading into work yesterday. This was after we had already been stopped for about 20 minutes and the operator had walked all they way from the front to the back of the near-empty train thinking that we would have to go backwards because of the cracked rail. But I guess she soon realized that there were only a few of us left on the train heading into Maryland after everyone else had gotten off in DC, so it wouldn't be that bad even if we didn't make it.

Once she made it back to the front of the train came the "we still have a crack in the rail but they are going to try to get us across" over the speaker system. Question: Who is "they"? And how are "they" going to get us across? I was strangely relieved when a few minutes later she announced "We will be moving momentarily; we are trying to get the train directly ahead of us over the cracked rail at this time." At least we're not the guinea pigs.

After another 5 minutes passed, we finally started moving again...very...very...slow...ly. Out of curiosity, I stood up to try to see what was going on as we passed over the cracked portion of the rail. I saw two Metro employees laughing and not paying attention to anything as we passed over the problem area. Yes, we made it...glad "they" were able to help.