WMATA Green Line’s Summer Construction Includes Fiber-Optic Cables

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

WASHINGTON, D.C. – WMATA announced closures of several Green Line stations to allow for crews to install fiber-optic cables.

Over the weekend, WMATA closed its Greenbelt, College Park-U of Md, Hyattsville Crossing, and West Hyattsville stations on its Green Line to allow for summer construction. The construction will continue through the rest of July and August and will reopen on Tuesday, September 5^th. 

According to Metro, its contractor will work on improving radio capabilities by installing fiber-optic cables. The cables themselves are “in the middle of two tracks and can only be replaced with both tracks out of service.” By replacing with fiber-optic cables, it enables WMATA to “provide a foundation for advanced communications-based technology to improve service reliability and operate more efficiently.” During construction, crews will still perform routine maintenance including cleaning the track bed and removing vegetation.

The CBTC systems, or Communications Based Train Control, along with security cameras, equipment automation and real-time communications rely on these new fiber-optic cables because they “can support higher capacity and bandwidth, over longer distances with less interference.” WMATA believes this upgrade will lessen the need for future maintenance.

For station closures at Greenbelt, College Park-U of Md, Hyattsville Crossing, and West Hyattsville stations on the Green Line, WMATA offers local service that runs every 8-10 minutes between these locations. Between Greenbelt-Fort Totten Limited, there will be “limited stop service every 5-10 minutes between Greenbelt, College Park-U of Md, and Fort Totten.” Similarly, there will also be limited service that stops every 5-10 minutes between Hyattsville Crossing, West Hyattsville, and Fort Totten.

For more information including bus options, WMATA’s alternatives for its customers can be found here.