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Metro to suspend Silver Line service during summer platform shutdown

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All nine Metrorail stations west of Ballston will be shut down this upcoming summer as Metro forges ahead with its Orange Line platform replacement program, instead of just three stations on the Orange line. All Orange line stations from East Falls Church to Vienna will be closed, as well as all Silver line stations from East Falls Church to Wiehle beginning May 23. There is no scheduled reopening date, although Metro has previously said they should reopen by September 7, Labor Day. The summer closure is part of Metro's multi-year project to demolish and rebuild platforms at 20 outdoor stations which began in 2019. All six rail stations south of National Airport on the Yellow and Blue lines were closed for 107 days from Memorial Day to around Labor Day. Green line stations north of Fort Totten were originally set to close this summer, but Metro postponed that closure. Metro's original project schedule  required the closures of Vienna, Dunn Loring, and East Falls Church sta...
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Metrorail data show ridership declines, less late-night use

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Metro told riders making non-essential trips to stay off the rail system, and stay off they have indeed. Metrorail trips on Wednesday totaled 40,000, down 95 percent from the same day last year. The stark ridership numbers come just three weeks after Metro activated Phase 3 of its Pandemic Flu Plan in response to the COVID-19 outbreak which began a series of service cuts to "help protect employees and customers." On Friday, April 3rd, Metro announced further cuts to rail service: Metrorail will close at 9pm nightly until further notice. "Metro's ridership drop-off has been particularly acute after 9 p.m.," read the press release provided by the agency. The total counts of SmarTrip cards tapped when entering the rail system do suggest that the lowest-ridership hours are the ones latest in the evening. The rail system began closing at 11 p.m. daily on March 17th  which cut off half an hour at the end of each weekday and reduced service by two hours on ...
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Metro planning to close 17 stations, 9 additional entrances

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Metro officials are planning to cut the number of open rail stations on Thursday, according to an agency press release . Nineteen stations (17 new) will be completely closed with trains bypassing, and ten other stations will have one entrance closed but still with service. The plans originally were set to go into effect on Wednesday, March 25, according to Metro Reasons sources, but were delayed a day. Agency officials say they take this step "in the interest of ensuring the availability and safety of our employees," and targeted stations and entrances with low ridership. Stations set to close on Thursday Archives Arlington Cemetery Braddock Road Cheverly Clarendon Cleveland Park College Park East Falls Church Eisenhower Federal Center SW Federal Triangle Greensboro Grosvenor Judiciary Square McLean Morgan Boulevard Mount Vernon Square Smithsonian Van Dorn Virginia Square Entrances to close; stations remain open Anacostia (north) Farragut North...
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Overnight signal damage causes single-tracking on Orange, Silver, Blue lines

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Damage to Metro signaling equipment caused three hours of single-tracking on the Orange, Silver and Blue lines on Saturday morning, August 10. The delay, officially reported as a " signal problem ," stemmed from a work unit being used during overnight trackwork that caused damage which required repairs. Actually this wasn’t a software malfunction, a prime mover collided with a signal or signals at D98 around 3:30am. — M (@TunnelRatDC) August 10, 2019 The incident occurred at approximately 3:35am on Saturday, August 10 when it appears indications in the Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) alerted controllers that something had caused a signal or signals outside Stadium-Armory in the "D&G junction" to malfunction. Based on audio recordings of the incident, it appears that a trackwork unit, SM03, was the closest of two units in the area at the time of the incident, and likely the one which caused damage to the signaling equipment. Metro's safety dep...
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Improperly-stored rail disrupts Red Line, causes single-tracking

Four hours of single-tracking on the Red Line on Wednesday, July 31 was caused by improperly-stored rail that had just been replaced, according to Metro radio transmissions analyzed by Metro Reasons. Equipment on a train came into contact with the rail just after 5:30 am which brought down power to the tracks, and led to disruptions throughout Wednesday's rush hour. That surely was some long *scheduled* maintenance. Rush hour is a DISASTER this morning (9 hours later)! pic.twitter.com/G5VtCgdN3H — Jordan Dale (@FrankJordanDale) July 31, 2019 Chronology Metro scheduled a  nightly trackwork area  during the week of July 29th through August 1st between Fort Totten to Takoma in order to perform 'rail renewal ' - that is, replacing the rails ("tracks") which trains run on top of. The work area for the evening of July 30th was scheduled to begin at 10pm, and the Roadway Worker In Charge (RWIC) requested the area on time at 9:12pm. The overnight work ran late ...
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Signal issue at Rosslyn disrupts Orange, Silver, Blue Lines

A signal issue at the Rosslyn Metro station caused major delays, offloads, and train reroutes on Thursday, August 1 on the Orange, Silver, and Blue Line trains. Delays began subsiding around 9:45 am after the end of morning rush. Delays westbound began around 7:40 am and quickly grew. Similar delays eastbound began occurring around 8:30 am after WMATA Automatic Train Control (ATC) personnel arrived on scene. Automatic electronic equipment ("automatics") at the Rosslyn junction where tracks diverge to head to either Arlington Cemetery or Court House typically detects the destination of the next train entering the station. Once detected, the equipment automatically moves the switch into the correct position so that the train ends up at the right location. Current status on the OR/SV/BL lines. Some trains are offloading and reversing at various points to reduce the number of trains through Rosslyn. #wmata pic.twitter.com/Z3ARlf9IXz — Metro Reasons (@MetroReasons) Aug...
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Metro Reasons: Where did the Yellow and Green lines’ eight-car trains go?

This story originally appeared on Greater Greater Washington . Metro runs trains which are either six or eight cars in length; the latter cost more to run but can move more riders. With a recent budget increase, the Yellow and Green lines are supposed to have only eight-car trains running on them now, but the number of these longer trains has fallen in recent months, according to Metro data analyzed by MetroHero. The drop corresponded with the six-station Platform Improvement Project shutdown on the Blue and Yellow lines that began on May 25, 2019. Turns out, there’s a reason for that. Read more on Greater Greater Washington.
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