Warning for Metro riders this week—track work on FOUR lines

[1995hoo]

The following is excerpted from Dr. Gridlock's blog (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/getthere/). Boldface added.

Weekend Metro Delays
The transit authority is doing track maintenance this weekend along the Orange and Blue lines, causing delays for riders. Full details are in this statement from Metro. But that's nothing compared to this next one.

New Metrorail Project
The transit authority is planning a switch replacement project at Mount Vernon Square that will slow travel on the Green and Yellow lines during four weekends this month and next, including two when people will be traveling to games at Nationals Park.

The $475,000 project, which stems from a recommendation made by the National Transportation Safety Board following a derailment at the station, is scheduled to begin next weekend. The work will start Friday night and continue through Sunday. The other weekends are May 16-18, May 30-June1 and June 6-8. The Nationals are home next weekend and June 6-8.

Yellow Line trains will operate between Huntington and Greenbelt and Green Line trains between Branch Avenue and Greenbelt. Trains on both lines will operate every 24 minutes.

[OldChelsea]

Link to official announcement: http://www.wmata.com/about/MET_NEWS/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2082 - the series affected would be the Marlins series next weekend (I'm pretty sure that's what the Dr Gridlock piece means by 'next weekend' since there's no announcement I can see on the Metro site as yet) and the Giants series in June.

[1995hoo]

D'oh, good point about "next weekend." Sorry if I confused anybody. I need to read more carefully. Dr. Gridlock gets points from me for giving advance warning, though!

[kimnat]

Ok, simplify this for me.  I'm taking my girls to the Mothers Day game on 5/11.  Does this apply to us and do we need to park and ride starting at West Falls Church instead of Vienna?

[OldChelsea]

Ok, simplify this for me.  I'm taking my girls to the Mothers Day game on 5/11.  Does this apply to us and do we need to park and ride starting at West Falls Church instead of Vienna?

You'll still get to travel from Vienna, but the station will only get half as many trains since the other half will terminate at West Falls Church (and such trains as do serve Vienna are likely to be very packed-out). I've been caught up in those Orange Line single-tracking situations before - I'd say that, unless you don't mind a long wait at Vienna and a real rugby-scrum getting on board, the safe bet will probably be West Falls Church...and whichever station you choose, get out there substantially earlier than you usually would.

[Skipper88]

For anyone who hasn't tried it yet, the park and ride from RFK works GREAT!!

[kimnat]

For anyone who hasn't tried it yet, the park and ride from RFK works GREAT!!

Yeah, but it's a 5 block walk to Nationals Park and for my 5 & 6 yo daughters, that's a bit much.

[1995hoo]

Yeah, but it's a 5 block walk to Nationals Park and for my 5 & 6 yo daughters, that's a bit much.

Apparently there is a free shuttle running from the bus stop to the ballpark. Click the link to Dr. Gridlock's blog in my first post and scroll down to the entry titled "Ball Game Shuttle Working Well." This might be your solution.

[Dave B]

For anyone who hasn't tried it yet, the park and ride from RFK works GREAT!!

I have not yet tried it, don't need to, but some people must be easily pleased or can easily forget how good things used to be.  If somebody added 20 minutes on to boths ends of some kind of trip for me, I think I'd be pissed.

Now maybe it is not 20 minutes on some nights.

Did anybody use it for the Cubs Saturday night? I saw the buses driving past Lincoln Park and was very glad I was not on one

[CALSGR8]

I don't think the ride is too bad and I get off at Navy Yard Station.  I hope this isn't going on THIS weekend.  I've got plans before and after gametime and don't want to be delayed.

After games is sometimes a wait.  I HAVE gotten on trains to Mount Vernon Square and it takes me to L'EnFant plaza just as easily as Greenbelt.  People get confused and won't board it.  OK by me!  I get a seat!

[CALSGR8]

OOPS it will start this weekend.  Dang!   

For immediate release: May 1, 2008

Weekend track maintenance to affect Metro's Blue and Orange Lines

Track maintenance on the Orange and Blue lines this weekend (May 2-4) will cause inbound and outbound trains to take turns sharing one track.


Orange Line Maintenance

Metrorail customers traveling between the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU and West Falls Church-VT/UVA Metrorail stations should add up to 30 minutes of travel time for their trips because communication cable installation. Inbound and outbound trains between these locations will share one track from 10 p.m., Friday, May 2, to Sunday, May 4, at midnight. To help expedite rail travel towards downtown Washington, every other Orange Line train traveling towards the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail station will terminate at the West Falls Church-VT/UVA Metrorail station and return to the New Carrollton Metrorail station.


Blue Line Track Maintenance

Metrorail customers traveling between the Stadium-Armory and Capitol Heights Metrorail stations should add up to 20 minutes of travel time for their trips because of track maintenance. Inbound and outbound trains between these locations will share one track from 7 p.m. to closing (3 a.m.) Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3.

Blue Line Track Maintenance

Metrorail customers traveling between the Franconia Springfield and Van Dorn Street Metrorail stations should add up to 20 minutes of travel time for their trips because of track maintenance. Inbound and outbound trains will share one track between these locations from 10 p.m. to closing (3 a.m.), Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3.

###

[OldChelsea]

Still no confirmation as yet about the Green/Yellow line project on the Metro site, but suffice it to say: if it's anything like the Dr Gridlock piece says it will be (see lead post), those Marlins and Giants series are going to be a bloody mess (with the exception of the Giants finale on Monday 9th June, which won't be affected).

Green Line trains only once every 24min - at a Nats matchnight??? Granted the Marlins and the now-Bonds-less Giants aren't exactly major road draws, so it's not like they're doing this work during a Cubs, Orioles or Mess visit...but take a look at the current Pittsburgh series: the Pirates aren't exactly big road draws these days either, but the first two matches (Thursday/Friday) of the current series both drew in the mid-20,000 range and I wouldn't be surprised to see us crack 30K+ today and Sunday, so I think we can expect at least comparable turn-outs for the Marlins and Giants series.

For the affected series, unless you're getting on the southbound Green Line at Greenbelt or somewhere else near the line's north end, you can pretty much forget about getting on - those southbound trains will be completely chocka once they hit Gallery Place, and if you're getting on at L'Enfant like thousands of people changing over from the Blue/Orange/Yellow lines...well forget it. If you don't have access to private transportation you can pretty much forget about making it to any of the matches, especially the weeknight ones.

(Oh yes - as if you didn't have enough to worry about - on the 10th, the evening of the Saturday Marlins match, the US women's national soccer team is playing a friendly against Canada kicking off 10min before the Nats match - will probably draw in the teens at least. If you're going to be using the RFK parking shuttle, budget time accordingly.)

[OldChelsea]

Dr Gridlock has added this to his blog entry, concerning trains to the Nats matches:

'From Dr. Gridlock: WP, the extra Green Line trains will run up only as far as L'Enfant Plaza and not to Gallery Place. And yes, that's likely to be messy. Metro will be announcing many more details, and I'll post them.'

Link to full comments page: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/getthere/2008/05/the_weekend_and_beyond_14.html#comments (the above is currently about 2/3 of the way down). Nothing new on Nats or Metro sites as yet.

[1995hoo]

....

For the affected series, unless you're getting on the southbound Green Line at Greenbelt or somewhere else near the line's north end, you can pretty much forget about getting on - those southbound trains will be completely chocka once they hit Gallery Place, and if you're getting on at L'Enfant like thousands of people changing over from the Blue/Orange/Yellow lines...well forget it. If you don't have access to private transportation you can pretty much forget about making it to any of the matches, especially the weeknight ones.

....

It strikes me that if you're on the Orange or Blue or Yellow, those might be good games to go to Capitol South and walk. If that's not an option, I suppose there's nothing stopping anyone from riding the Metro to RFK and then taking the parking shuttle.

[2IPAs]

Thanks for the heads-up, Chelsea!

[OldChelsea]

Now here's the official word from Metro (link to original: http://www.wmata.com/about/MET_NEWS/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2085) - here's the part about how the Nationals matchdays will be handled:

Washington Nationals Games

On May 9, 10, 11, and June 6, 7 and 8, the Washington Nationals have home games at Nationals Park. People attending these games should add more time into their schedules if riding or connecting to the Yellow and Green Line as there will be longer waits for trains before and after the games.

Travel options for riders before the May 10, 11, June 7 and 8 games:

Metro will operate shuttle trains between the L’Enfant Plaza and Navy Yard Metrorail stations on the Green Line.
Red Line riders from Shady Grove who transfer at the Gallery Pl-Chinatown Metrorail station should transfer at the Metro Center Metrorail station and catch a Blue or Orange Line train to L’Enfant Plaza. From there, they can board a Green Line train to Branch Avenue or a special shuttle train to the Navy Yard Metrorail station.
Fans on the Red Line can travel to the Union Station Metrorail station and Blue or Orange Line fans can travel to the Eastern Market Metrorail station and catch the N22 (Navy Yard shuttle) Metrobus route that provides direct service to the Navy Yard Metrorail station east entrance at New Jersey Avenue, SE.
Travel options for riders after the May 10, 11, June 7 and 8 games:

Metro will operate shuttle trains between the Navy Yard and L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail stations on the Green Line.
At the end of the seventh inning, Metro will operate free shuttle buses every five minutes between the Navy Yard and Federal Center SW Metrorail stations. The shuttle buses will depart from M Street and New Jersey Avenue, SE.
At the end of the seventh inning, Metro will operate free shuttle buses every five minutes on the N22 (Navy Yard shuttle) Metrobus route from Navy Yard to the Eastern Market and Union Station Metrorail stations.
Extra station managers, rail supervisors and Transit Police officers will be at the L’Enfant Plaza, Gallery Pl-Chinatown and Navy Yard Metrorail station to assist riders and to direct fans to the free shuttle buses after the baseball games. Metro will also have volunteers available to answer questions from riders on location of shuttle buses and how to walk to the nearest station and making sure fans have enough money on the cards to enter or exit the Metrorail system.

To alert customers about this project, station and train announcements will be made throughout the Metrorail system. Additional information will be available on Metro’s Web site.

The Trip Planner will not reflect the impact of this work on its schedules. Customers should allow more time for their trips because of this work. For more information on traveling by Metrobus or Metrorail, customers may call (202) 637-7000 or TTY (202) 638-3780.