Will Rast of Funk Art
@ Fort Reno
Q:What's your song for summer?
A:"'I Ain't Nobody's Baby' by Sharon Jones."
WANT TO HOP the Yellow Line to Potomac Yard? You can't right now, of course, but officials in Alexandria are in the early stages of considering whether to add a Metrorail station near the $2.6 billion office, retail and residential complex taking shape there, The Post's Lena H. Sun reports.
Don't expect a new station any time soon, though, Sun reports:
City officials say it will be several more years before they decide whether they can come up with the estimated $150 million required for constructing a station. ...Last week Metro and city officials met to discuss cost and feasibility of building a station.
"We think this will be a great addition to the system," Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said today at a regional transportation forum.
If approved, the new station, which would sit between the National Airport and Braddock Road stops, would be the second "in-fill" station — a stop built in the middle of an existing line — added to the system. The first was the New York Avenue station, which was opened on the Red Line in 2004.
» "Alexandria to Consider Adding Yellow Line Metro Stop" [WaPo]
WHILE THE IDEA to re-route some rush-hour Blue Line trains between the Franconia-Springfield station and the District via the Yellow Line has been stewing in recent years, Metro officials will formally propose such a service pattern at this week's board meeting.
The goal of the re-routing?
To relieve the bottleneck at Rosslyn, where trains on the packed Orange Line merge with those on the Blue Line before heading into their shared tunnel into the District.
As The Post's Get There blog reports today:
While the transit authority staff points out in a report to the board that ridership is growing more quickly at the stations on the eastern side of downtown, this proposal is almost certain to be controversial among riders. The concept has been discussed before as a way of creating more room in the Rosslyn tunnel. It factors into planning for the Metrorail line to Dulles, which would send even more trains through the tunnel.Don't expect the proposal to go into effect in the immediate future. Although the plan will be presented to Metro's Customer Services, Operations and Safety Committee, there won't be a formal board recommendation until June.
» "Blue Line Diversion Proposed" [Get There/WaPo]
» EARLIER: "An Inevitable Metro Marriage: Blue and Yellow?" [Free Ride/Express]
Image courtesy WMATA
IF YOU PLAN TO USE THE BLUE AND YELLOW LINES this afternoon, beware: The Pentagon station is currently closed because of a suspicious package. Trains are turning back and are not servicing the station. Shuttle buses have been requested to ferry passengers around the Pentagon station, but those are not expected to arrive until 3:30 p.m.
» UPDATE, 4:15 p.m.: The situation has been resolved but expect residual delays.
» "Pentagon Metrorail Station Temporarily Closed" [WMATA]
IF YOU NORMALLY use the Eisenhower Avenue or Huntington stations on the Yellow Line during the weekend, take note. This weekend, there will be no Metrorail service between those two stations and the King Street station. Instead, Yellow Line trains from the District will run to the Blue Line's Franconia-Springfield terminus via King Street. Shuttle bus service will operate between Huntington and King Street, with a stop at Eisenhower Avenue.
The work will start Friday at 9 p.m. and wrap up at closing on Monday, which is Veterans Day.
Map image courtesy WMATA
METRORAIL track maintenance and a special safety training exercise are scheduled for the following areas this weekend:
» YELLOW LINE: Due to a safety and emergency response exercise on the Yellow Line's Potomac River bridge, trains will not run between Fort Totten in the District and the King Street station in Alexandria via L'Enfant Plaza, from opening to noon on Saturday. In the District, use the Green Line. For access between Alexandria and the District, use the Blue Line via Rosslyn.
Yellow Line trains will share the same track between the King Street station and Huntington terminal because of maintenance on a switch at Huntington starting at 10 o'clock this evening through closing Sunday. Following Saturday's safety exercise, Yellow Line trains from the District will service the Blue Line's Franconia-Springfield terminal instead of Huntington.
» ORANGE LINE: Trains will share the same track between the New Carrollton and Cheverly stations on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Every other outbound train will terminate at Cheverly before returning to the District and Virginia.
» GREEN LINE: Because of cable work between the Prince George's Plaza and College Park-U of Md. stations, trains will share the same track through that section of the Green Line tonight and Saturday from midnight to closing.
Regularly scheduled testing of new rail cars will force Green Line trains to share the same track in and out of the Greenbelt terminal on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Expect minor delays.
» "Weekend Track Work to Affect Metro's Yellow, Orange and Green Lines" [WMATA]
BLUE AND YELLOW LINE commuters now have extra room during rush hours. The recent introduction of 18 new rail cars into the Metrorail system has eliminated the need run four-car trains on the Blue and Yellow lines. This morning, Metro announced that the conversion of seven four-car Blue Line trains and one four-car Yellow Line train into six-car trains is now complete.
The new rail cars are from Metro's new 6000 series, which have modified interiors including fewer windscreens and more handrails. One hundred sixteen of those rail cars are currently in service, and by early 2008, all 184 of the 6000 series cars ordered will be deployed across the system.
» EARLIER: "Coming Soon: No More 4-Car Trains During Rush" [Free Ride/Express]
THE ADDITION OF 18 NEW RAIL CARS to the Metrorail system will eliminate a regular annoyance for those on the Blue and Yellow lines: Four-car trains during the morning and afternoon rush.
According to Metro's announcement:
Metro will convert seven, four-car Blue Line trains and one four-car Yellow Line train into six-car trains during regular rush hours. ...Expect crowded four-car trains to be extinct by the end of the month. And crowded six-car trains? Well, that's something you'll have to live with.Metro will have 800 rail cars operating during the morning and afternoon rush hours each weekday. It’s the first time in the agency's 31-year history that 800 cars are available for service. ...
The placement of 18 rail cars to the fleet is possible due to the addition of Metro's newest rail cars, the 6000 series rail cars. Metro has 106 of these new rail cars in service, and continues to test new cars each weekday. The new 6000 series rail cars have a slightly modified look, including additional overhead and seat back-to-ceiling
handrails and fewer windscreens. The floor to ceiling poles were removed to eliminate obstructions in the doorways and allow improved passenger flow down the aisles.
AFTER ANOTHER SERIES of smoky eruptions shut down another batch of Metrorail stations during Monday's evening rush, Metro officials are considering the possibility that the incidents could have been caused intentionally.
"This is not normal," Metro General Manager John Catoe said, according to The Post's Lena H. Sun and Martin Weil. "This is highly, highly irregular."
Report Sun and Weil:
Asked whether he thought the incidents might be intentional, [Catoe] said: "Could it be something else [other than an accident]? Everything now is suspicious."Monday's delays began at around 7 p.m. after several trains lost power between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations on the Blue and Yellow lines, according to a Metro press statement. A track fire was reported at the Pentagon City station. A fire was also reported at the U Street-Cardozo station, which shut down both that station and the stop at Columbia Heights from 7:20 p.m. to 8:40 p.m., the statement said.A spokesman for the D.C. fire department said that the department was "very concerned" about the large number of incidents in a brief period and that the department would try to assist Metro in determining whether they were more than accidental.
Shuttle buses ferried passengers between L'Enfant Plaza and Huntington and also between the Georgia Avenue-Petworth and Shaw-Howard University stations.
Continue Reading "Smoke, Fire Cause Another Messy Metro Commute" »
HOPEFULLY, MORNING COMMUTES on Metrorail ran pretty normally, because after Sunday night's massive disruptions on all five lines, Metro could probably use a breather.
It all started at 5:30 p.m. when there was a report of smoke at the Mount Vernon Square-7th St.-Convention Center station. Following that were four separate incidents involving smoke or fire that ushered in "a series of disruptions that appeared to be without precedent in the system's 30-year history," The Post's Martin Weil and Elissa Silverman report.
Fortunately, these events didn't take place during a weekday rush hour. But try telling that to anyone who was caught in yesterday's misery.
» "Outbreaks of Fire, Smoke Shut Down Metro Stations" [WaPo]
» "Smoke and Fire Incidents Impact Metrorail Service on Sunday" [WMATA]
METRO IS EFFECTIVELY shutting down the Yellow Line inside the District this weekend, so riders who use the line to cross from D.C. into points south in Virginia — including the Pentagon, Alexandria and Reagan National Airport — should hop on the Blue Line instead.
The move comes due to inspections and track maintenance on the Yellow Line's bridge over the Potomac River. Starting Friday at 10 p.m., the Yellow Line will only serve as a shuttle between the King Street and Huntington stations. That means no Yellow Line service through downtown Washington, the U Street corridor and on to Fort Totten.
Metro will run six-car trains all weekend on the Blue Line, and will have additional train cars ready if they're needed. The work will end at closing Sunday.
Other track maintenance is scheduled for the following areas:
» ORANGE LINE: Alternating New Carrollton-bound trains will turn back at Cheverly station due to scheduled track maintenance. Trains will share the same track between Cheverly and New Carrollton. Add 30 minutes to travel on that end of the Orange Line.
» RED LINE: Trains will share the same track between Takoma and Silver Spring stations on Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m-7 p.m. Add 15 minutes of travel time through the area.
» GREEN LINE: Regular new railcar testing will force trains to share the same track between the College Park-U of Md. and Greenbelt stations on Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
» "Metro's Yellow Line Rail Bridge Closure Highlights Weekend Service Changes" [WMATA]
Image courtesy WMATA
Addison Road