D.C. Metro details work to be done during station closures
Written by jrood
Starting Sept. 4, at 9:30 p.m., until closing (midnight) on Sept. 7, Metro will undertake a complete track overhaul on the Blue and Yellow lines that will close the Pentagon City, Crystal City and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail stations. Customers using the Blue and Yellow lines should add 45 minutes to their travel plans to transfer to a free shuttle bus to get past the affected work area.
Metro will conduct six
projects in the area of the closure during this time. Metro will replace four
track switches at the Pentagon City Metrorail station, replace 2,000 feet of
rail, 735 ties, perform concrete and deck joint repairs along the Ronald Reagan
Washington National Airport Metrorail station aerial structure, conduct fire
line maintenance and install cable to upgrade cell phone service in the
Metrorail system.
The track switch
replacement is work recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board and
the cell phone service upgrade is a Congressional mandate.
"By completing this work
during the Labor Day holiday weekend, we will save more than $1 million in
late-night maintenance costs that would have resulted in 150 days of
single-tracking," said Gerald C. Francis, Metro’s deputy general manager and chief
operating officer. "People can still take Metro to get where they want to go.
It will just take a bit longer to get there."
While planning for the
work to be done at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail
station, Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority officials confirmed that
Labor Day weekend is traditionally not a busy time for air travel.
"Metrorail ridership
during Labor Day Weekend is relatively light, and we wanted to take advantage
of this time to conduct major maintenance between Pentagon and Braddock Road,"
said Francis. "This safety-sensitive track maintenance work may inconvenience
some riders, however, the silver lining at the end of the weekend is that when
we replace the rail switches at the Pentagon City Metrorail station, we will
not have to return there for another 25 years."
