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[CNJRoss]

WMATA news release

 

For immediate release: February 9, 2024

  Metro announces three-year capital construction plans, including Red Line station closures this summer

 

Metro has announced plans for major capital construction over the next three years to modernize the Metrorail system, improve safety and reliability, and maintain a state of good repair. Planned closures are scheduled between summer 2024 and summer 2026, with additional construction planned over the winter holidays.

 

Beginning in early June, Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, Silver Spring and Takoma stations on the Red Line will be closed. The closure will continue through early September with the possibility of reducing the work zone to allow Takoma Station to reopen prior to the end of construction.

 

The planned work includes upgrading the signaling system, installing communication and train control cables, and repairing the interlocking; which allows trains to cross from one track to the other outside the Takoma Station. Detailed service plans, including free express and local shuttle buses, are being developed and will be announced at least one month prior to the start of the closure.

 

 

 

The work is being planned in coordination with the Maryland Transit Administration Purple Line Project to build a new mezzanine on the platform at Metro’s Silver Spring Station to provide easier access between Metro and the future MTA Purple Line. The Maryland Purple Line light rail line is not part of the Metrorail system, but building the new connection between the two will require the use of both tracks for an extended period and can’t be completed safely and timely with single tracking only.

 

Additional work includes leak mitigation, automatic train control system replacements, traction power cables installation, drain pumping station replacement, tunnel standpipe replacement, and elevator and escalator maintenance.

 

Improvements in planning and scheduling track work through summer, winter, and extended weekend outages instead of extensive single tracking, has also helped reduce the amount of planned service disruptions. In the past seven years, the impact to budgeted service declined by half to just four percent with more weekends free of track work on almost all lines.

 

Following the Red Line closure this summer, major construction is also planned:

 

December 2024 – January 2025

Blue/Orange/Silver Lines Construction Foggy Bottom – GWU to L’Enfant Plaza

Duration: Approximately two weeks

• Farragut West, McPherson Sq, lower level of Metro Center (upper-level Red Line open), Federal Triangle, Smithsonian stations affected
• Pour new grout pads and replace fastener replacements to provide smooth, safe rides
• Includes 6,400 linear feet of grout pad and fastener replacement
• Installation of 15,000 linear feet fiber optic cable for communication and train control
• Construction will require isolated closures, but not the full segment between all stations. Developing plans and analysis to close smaller segments and/or single tracking.
• Alternative to planned work - four months of weekend single tracking, or up to 400 late-night single tracking

Summer 2025

Blue Line  Construction Franconia-Springfield to King Street

Duration: Approximately three weeks

*Exact dates and order of outages to be determined

• Van Dorn St and Franconia-Springfield stations closed
• Upgrade train control system
• Replace worst performing, obsolete signal system
• System upgrades will bridge to potential next generation signaling system
• Alternative to planned work – 10 weekend outages and 10 weeks of early weekday closures

Green Lin Construc Congress

Green Line Construction Congress Heights to Branch Avenue
Duration: Approximately six weeks

*Exact dates and order of outages to be determined

• Southern Ave, Naylor Road, Suitland, and Branch Ave stations closed
• Install 52,000 linear feet of radio and ancillary fiber optic cable for communication and train control system
• Required modernization project to improve communications and address FTA findings
• Repair elevated tracks and bridge
• Alternative to planned work - seven months of consecutive weekend outages

*All work will be completed before Labor Day with no construction Jul. 4

 

Winter 2025 – Winter 2026

Green/Yellow Lines Construction L’Enfant Plaza to Fort Totten

*Exact dates and duration to be determined

• Replace grout pad and fasteners
• Install fiber optic cable for communication and train control system
• Replace running rail and repair restraining rail
• Install signals along tracks to support train control system upgrades
• Stations served by 82 percent more trains than the system average
• Developing construction plans to optimize service which may include smaller closures, single tracking, or combination of both

Summer 2026

Red Line Construction Friendship Heights to Grosvenor-Strathmo

*Exact dates and duration to be determined

• Medical Center and Bethesda stations closed
• Construction to connect Maryland’s MDOT MTA Purple Line with the Bethesda Metrorail Station
• MDOT MTA Purple Line currently scheduled to begin operating mid-2027

[KevinKorell]

WTTG-TV, Fox-5 in Washington, DC, 2/9/24:

 

 

 

     5 Red Line Metro stations shut down for summer construction 

 

 

 

Five stations on the east end of Metro’s Red Line will shut down this summer for work to connect the Purple Line light-rail project to the system at Silver Spring.

 

Story

[CNJRoss]

WTOP-FM, Washington, DC 4/23/24

 

Metro unveils plan to dampen impact of summer Red Line work that will shut down 5 stations

Metro says free shuttle buses traveling in special bus-only lanes through parts of Montgomery County, Maryland, will help riders affected by the shutdown of five Red Line stations this summer.

 

The Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen and Silver Spring stations will be closed from June 1 through Aug. 31. The Takoma station will be closed from June 1 through June 29.

 

To help riders get around, Metro will roll out four free shuttle routes during the entire closure.  . . .

 

 

Continue here. 

[CNJRoss]

WTOP-FM, Washington, DC 6/3/24

 

‘I’m not happy about it’: Commuters deal with Metro’s summer shutdown

 

Many Monday morning commuters who usually take the Red Line to work had to find another way to their workplace, after Metro’s summer shutdown began on Saturday, June 1.

 

Five Red Line stations are now closed for construction and maintenance. The Takoma station will be closed through June 29. The Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen and Silver Spring stations will be closed through August 31.

 

To help riders get around, Metro is offering four free shuttle routes during the entire closure.

 

“I’m not happy about it,” said Robin Richardson, who was waiting for the shuttle bus at the Silver Spring station. Richardson told WTOP she gave herself an extra 30 minutes to get to her job in Crystal City, Virginia. “I had to walk around the bus terminal to get here, so this is not working for me.”

 

 

Continue here.

[KevinKorell]

WJLA-TV, ABC-7 in Washington, DC,  6/27/24:

 

 

   Metro completes Takoma station renovations early, reopening set for Friday    

 

 

D.C. and Maryland residents who rely on the Takoma Metro Station will not need to wait much longer for rail service to resume after Metro announced that they plan to reopen the station Friday.

 

 

Update

[CNJRoss]

WMATA news release

 

For immediate release: August 26, 2024

Four Red Line stations reopen Sunday, MTA Purple Line construction continues at Silver Spring

 

Crews replaced crossties along the Red Line during the summer construction.

 

Metro will reopen four Red Line stations for customers on schedule Sunday, Sept. 1.

 

The reopening of Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, and Silver Spring marks the end of Red Line rehabilitation work that was completed while the Maryland Transit Administration built part of a new Purple Line mezzanine at Silver Spring.

 

Purple Line mezzanine work will continue on the platform at Silver Spring with scaffolding covering about one-third of the platform, but the Metro station will be open for customers. During the summer, Purple Line crews built columns that will support the walkway from the Purple Line station over the tracks to the Metro Red Line platform. 

 

Silver Spring will still be an active construction site for the Purple Line and the scaffolding will remain on site until 2027.

 

During the construction, Metro crews: 

• Replaced 6,500 feet of rail
• Replaced 6,000 feet of grout pads, which improve ride quality 
• Repaired 857 areas for leak mitigation
• Restored 1,350 square feet of concrete
• Installed 102,000 feet of fiber optic cable for communications
• Replaced 183 track signs 
• Replaced 2,500 crossties that support the rails
• Replaced 1,000 fasteners that hold the rail to the grout pads
• Replaced six switch machines
• Replaced 12 train control processers
• Replaced 650 insulators that insulate electricity around the third rail
• Repaired 72,000 square feet of tile joints
• Cleaned 40,000 feet of track bed
• Cleaned 8,500 feet of drains 
• Repaired sidewalks
• Replaced 354 signs on mezzanines, platforms, and entrances
• Painted 12,700 square-feet of interior and exterior surfaces
• Restriped parking and bus loop traffic directional arrows and crosswalks

Additional work included replacing automatic train control systems, installing traction power cables, replacing drain pumping stations, replacing the tunnel standpipe, and maintaining the elevators and escalators.

 

Metro also rebuilt an interlocking switch area between Fort Totten and Takoma before that stretch of track reopened in late June. 

 

Crews were able to complete the equivalent of eight months of weekend closures and disruptions into the summer construction period.

 

Later this year, Metro will install new digital Passenger Information Displays on platforms and station entrance digital screens at all five stations. Supply chain issues held up installation during the construction window. 

 

More than 850,000 trips were made on the shuttles during the construction work. We thank customers for their patience as MTA made progress on this key connection between the Purple Line light rail and Metrorail. 

 

In Summer 2026, Medical Center and Bethesda stations will close to connect the Purple Line to the Bethesda Metrorail Station. 

 

The Maryland Transit Administration’s Purple Line is currently scheduled to begin operations in December 2027. For more about the Purple Line visit PurpleLineMD.com.

 

Crews work on the escalators at the Wheaton Metrorail station.

 

Crews replaced broken and uneven sidewalk at Forest Glen station.

 

Crews replace rails along sections of the Red Line during the closure.

 

Crews work in the Red Line tunnel during the closure.

 

Crews pull cable along tracks near Silver Spring.

 

Related:  MARC Brunswick Line Welcomes WMATA Metrorail passengers this summer

[KevinKorell]

WTOP Radio, Washington, DC, 9/2/24:

 

 

    These Red Line stations are open again after Metro’s summer shutdown   

 

 

Commuters, rejoice: The four Red Line stations that closed as part of Metro’s summer construction project reopened on schedule Sunday.

 

More

[KevinKorell]

NBC Washington,  9/3/24:
 

 

   Commuters head back to work after 4 Red Line Metro stations reopen    

Today is the first rush hour since the Metro reopened four Red Line stations after repairs and more work towards the Purple Line over the summer.

 

Read

[CNJRoss]

Summer 2024 Construction makes the Red Line safer and more reliable

 

Metro

 

Sep 6, 2024 #YourMetro #wmata

Over the summer, our crews worked day and night to complete critical repairs to the Red Line to improve safety and customer trips! Check out the behind-the-scenes footage of the 2024 Major Construction to learn what we accomplished, making #YourMetro safer and more reliable. #wmata