Red Line closure impact

The Red Line has been closed for a little over a week now and will remain closed through September 6. (More information here.) I think there has been enough time to work out any kinks in the process and everything should be running smoothly, but is it?

I went to the North Bethesda (formerly White Flint) metro station this morning during rush hour to find out. As you might imagine, when a Read Line train comes in from the north, and everyone gets off, there are a lot of people.  To continue south most people cross under MD-355 using the tunnel, but some folks use the crosswalk.  With all those people showing up at once, there is a long line to board buses. 

Buses lining up

The good news is that there are a lot of buses ready to take them away.  It looks like they load three at a time (I think the fourth bus is the local bus that stops at every metro station along the way, not nearly as many people take that). As the buses fill up they move away, but new buses don't immediately pull up, I think they wait until all three are done loading.

A lot of buses

There are a lot of buses waiting, here is the other side of Old Geoorgetown Road at Pike and Rose, there is a line of buses in the right lane that goes to the next traffic light. I think there are 8 or 9 waiting, plus some waiting on the near side of the light, plus the ones loading.

 

Leaving the station

As people walk out of the station, there is someone directing them to the shuttle buses, and a lot of signs too.

The whole process seems to be going reasonably well. It shows how many people take the Red Line each day.  It does take longer, probably a lot longer. Not only do the express buses take time (about 26 minutes) to get from North Bethesda to Friendship Heights, you also have to get off the train, exit the station, cross the street, load onto the bus (which can take a while if it is busy), then reverse the process at the end. 

Northbound stop

Not many people were going north on the shuttles to rejoin the Red Line towards Shady Grove here. In fact, most of the shuttle buses that went by were out of service as the sped north to get back in line and go south.

Bethesda Metro Station closed though September 6

 

From July 6 through September 6, the Red Line is closed between North Bethesda and Friendship Heights. That means Grosvenor-Strathmore, Medical Center, and Bethesda stations are closed. This is so that some track work can be done and so that the a mezzanine at the new south entrance to Bethesda Station can be built.

 Here in Bethesda, the escalators at the bus bays down to the station are blocked off and there are many signs directing you.  There was also a friendly person who gave me a flyer and told me where everything was.

Temporary shuttle stop

There are express buses that run from North Bethesda directly to Friendship Heights and local buses that stop at all the stations.  The shuttle stop southbound (pictured) is at Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Lane, where the metro elevator is located and near the old post office building. The northbound stop is at Wisconsin Avenue and East-West Highway, directly across from the station entrance and next to the building with a tunnel to the metro in it. 

Northbound shuttle stop

Here's a Red Line shuttle metrobus stopped at the temporary shuttle stop across from the metro station.  The two people on the left are there to help you find your way.  Not many people got on this bus but a number of people got off, this was on Sunday morning (today)

This was also this morning. The two yellow buses are express shuttles, the sign above the window would alternate between "Red Line" and "Express". on the left you can see a Metrobus that is being used as the Red Line Local shuttle.  This is Southbound on Wisconsin Avenue at Old Georgetown Road.

I took this photo on Friday before 9 am.  This is the temporary bus lane that runs southbound on Wisconsin Avenue.  The bus lane is only active Monday-Saturday, on Sundays anyone can use it. 

 

Bethesda Metro Station construction

 Bethesda Metro Station is getting a new south entrance and connection to the future Purple Line light rail.  Work has been going on inside the station for a while.  On Wednesday I took photos of the status.

 At the far (southern) end of the station a wall panel is removed and you can see the real walls behind it.  The area is open behind the red plywood.  When the station was built they envisioned a future south entrance so left a knock-out panel for it. 

 To give you a sense of scale, at the very center of the plywood is a full-sized door, so I think the opening is 12 feet tall.  It seems a bit close to the tracks for a bridge over the tracks but I guess not. 

False Walls

I never knew the curved concrete walls of the station were removable panels and the real station walls weren't curved.  Here you can see the gap between the real wall and the apparent wall.

The new entrance will be located on Elm Street near Wisconsin Avenue and  will only have elevators, no escalator to the metro station.  A mezzanine will be built over the south end of the platform to allow access to the trains.

 

Fossil extension cord

I can't be 100 percent sure, but it really looks like when they poured the original concrete station walls they left an extension cord there and it left this serpentine outline.

 

Station in July 2025

 Here's how the station looked last July, the concrete panel that has since been removed was still up on the right side of the picture and they were still building the work areas on the platform. 

 

More information:

•  WRA page about their work
•  Montgomery Planning page about the entrance
•  Bethesda Today article about escalating costs

No more paper farecards

As of this Sunday, March 6th, metro will stop accepting paper farecards for for travel within the metrorail system.  Metro has been preparing for this change for a while, and all the blue fare machines in metro stations have been dispensing smart trip cards instead of paper farecards since last December.

If you have a paper farecard (or a pile of them) you can still turn them in until June 30th and add the value to a smart trip card at any brown fare machine at a metro station (the blue ones don't have a spot to accept paper farecards).  I tried it out earlier this week and had about a 50% success rate with the cards I had.  (Admittedly though, some of my farecards are pretty old.) You can also take them to any Metro sales office.  For more information see the Metro press release.

The future may be riding on Metro, but the future isn't riding on Metro using paper farecards.

What "Track Problems" look like

Metro is famous for using vague wording. Currently the are reporting "Track Problems" at Bethesda Metro Station. There are probably a dozen emergency vehicles around the station and they aren't letting people down the escalator. A co-worker of mine reported being smelling smoke in the station. The fire department tends to overreact when things involve metro so it could be minor.

Another incident at Bethesda Metro Station

Metro rail incidents are happening with alarming regularity. This morning something happened at Bethesda Metro station and they closed it and called in the fire department. Their alerts were somewhat unhelpful "Red Line - Disruption at Bethesda in both directions. Trains sharing same track btwn Medical Center & Friendship Hts. Due to a track problem outside Bethesda. Delays in both directions." According to a fireman at the scene, there was some problem on the tracks between Bethesda and one of the other stations. He wasn't sure what the issue was.

Apparently, it wasn't too serious because the equipment has already cleared the scene.

Major Red Line disruption this weekend.

This weekend there will be major havoc on portions of the Red Line. The fun starts at 10pm tonight and goes through closing on Monday. (MLK day). WMATA is doing track work at Grosvenor metro station and no trains will go through there. Buses will run between Medical Center and White Flint metro rail stations. Expect to add an additional 40 minutes to your ride. The reason for this:

During the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend, Metro will rebuild the trackbed, which means workers will install 1,400 feet of new rail, 310 new ties, 200 new tons of ballast, 300 new track fasteners, 600 new anchor bolts, repair 200 feet of grout pads on the aerial structure, and make track circuit upgrades between the Grosvenor-Strathmore and Medical Center Metrorail stations. In addition, workers will repair 60 to 80 water leaks in the tunnels and stations and install 300 new tunnel lights.

According to metro, "From Friday, Jan. 15, to Monday, Jan. 18, the last Red Line train departing the Shady Grove Metrorail station for the White Flint Metrorail station will leave 30 minutes earlier than usual." Of course, that isn't really true, the last trains won't leave earlier, they just won't run. This is metro's spin way of saying they are closing early.

Bethesda Metro Station escalator to be refurbished

I know what you are thinking, the long escalators have been pretty flaky this year, but no, it isn't one of them. One of the short escalators between the platform and the mezzanine is scheduled for rehabilitation starting Wednesday and continuing for 10 weeks. Get ready to walk up and down the other one with all your fellow passengers. According to WMATA, it takes a long time to refurbish them because:

Metro is committed to running all available escalator units for customer convenience. However, mechanical parts may not always be off the shelf parts that are readily available, and some parts have to be custom-made or rebuilt, a process that typically adds time to the repair schedule. Some of the work required to repair the units is done off-site, such as refurbishing steps and rebuilding gearboxes and motors.

Now, for what you are really interested in, the long ones. According to Metro, the escalator between bus terminal and mezzanine is getting a major repair and won't be back in service until the end of the month. Remember, exercise is good.

Just a bit of trivia, the longest escalator on the Red Line is 508 feet long at Wheaton metro station. It isn't only the longest on the Red Line, it is the longest on the whole metro system. And it isn't just the longest in the whole metro system, it is the longest in the whole Western Hemisphere! Bethesda Metro Stations escalators are in second place at only 475 feet long.

[where: Bethesda, MD]

Bethesda Metro cleaning

Bethesda Metro station will be getting a thorough cleaning sometime in the first six months of the year. It is scheduled to have a "mini enhancement" which includes a pretty significant amount of work. According to WMATA:

A mini enhancement includes the cleaning of masonry surfaces, painting interior surfaces, repairing interior masonry surfaces, painting exterior surfaces, fabricating, installing or repairing signs, refinishing bus and station platform shelter benches and spot finishing bronze surfaces such as railings.

All work will be done at night when the station is closed and it will take a couple of months to finish.

Red Line train wreck, morning update

Photo by twitpic user davidcorndc.

There is still a significant impact from yesterday's accident on metro's Red Line. The red line between Brookland-CUA and Silver Spring is still closed and will remain so for at least the morning rush hour but probably for the whole day. There will be no service at the Takoma or Ft. Totten stations. (The metro website says that Brookand will not have service, but a more recent message on twitter says that it will be open.) release There will be no MARC Brunswick line service today. Shuttle buses will operate between Silver Spring and Rhode Island Avenue stations, but that will not be able to handle a normal rush hour volume.

Your alternatives are fairly limited. They do have bus service but a bus holds about 50 people and a single metro car holds 100+ so it will be a slow trip. You may be able to find a regularly scheduled metro bus line that goes near you want to go, check out the metro link at the bottom of this post. Some roads near the accident are closed.

It appears that one train was stopped waiting for permission to pull into a station when another train ran into the back of it just after 5 pm yesterday. Computers are supposed to act as a fail-safe and prevent trains from getting too close to each other but that didn't work.

Seven people are confirmed dead and more than 70 people were transported to area hospitals. This is only the second crash in Metro's history where passengers were killed. The other one was January 13, 1982 when three people died, the same time as the Air Florida flight 90 disaster

Update 8:35 AM: The death toll was revised down from Nine to Seven.

Sources:

• Metro
• Twitter
• WTOP
• ABC 7
  

Another Red Line derailment, 2 dead

At least two people has died and several people are trapped and injured after a Metro Red Line train derailed and collided with another Metro train, officials say.

The six-car train derailed and then collided with another train between the Takoma Park and Fort Totten stations around 5 p.m. Monday.

Naturally, the metrorail red line alerts e-mail are euphemistic to the point of being a lie. "Trains are turning back at Rhode Island Ave and Silver Spring stations due to a train experiencing mechanical difficulties outside of Fort Totten station." A train derailing then another train hitting it is a bit more than "Mechanical difficulties".

Sources:

• WTOP
• Washington Post
• Metro Twitter feed
• Twitter #redline
  

Update 6:40pm, added a couple of screen grabs from channel seven. Channel 7 also reports that there are 3 people still on the train, no word on if they are dead, injured, or just trapped.

Woman killed by a train at Bethesda metro station

Yesterday a woman was killed by a metro train at the Bethesda Metro station around 1pm. The station was closed for about 20 minutes and there were single tracked for some time after that. Everything is now cleared up. It appears that the woman intentionally got on the tracks.

Sources:

• Washington Post
• WTOP

Train derails at Bethesda Metro station (aboveground photos)

Following up my last post about the incident at Bethesda, MD Metro station...

According to metro officials, around 4:30 a train traveling towards Glenmont with 84 people on it had mechanical problems and another train was sent to help. The last car of the original train and the first car of the helper train derailed (I guess that means the second train was pushing the first).

As you might imagine, this caused major problems. Although no-one was injured, they had to single-track around it and closed Bethesda's subway station. The fire/rescue response also caused backups on the surrounding roads.

The only mention I see of this on the wmata site right now (11:15pm) is:

Disruption at Bethesda. Trains are sharing the same track between Medical Center and Friendship Heights due to track maintenance. Expect delays in both directions.

No mention of the problem that caused them to do the track maintenance, though most of the local news places have a story about it.

Here are some more pictures I took earlier today.


update 3/28 7:50am
It looks like track repair will take a while so if you are using the red line today or tomorrow be prepared for delays. I find it interesting that metro's alert now says they are single tracking for "scheduled track maintenance", Yeah, scheduled around 5pm yesterday when the train derailed. Their alerts go to great lengths to minimize what happened.

Incident at Bethesda Metro

Twitter tells me that a metro train derailed near Bethesda Metro station (Bethesda, MD) Lots of emergency equiptment on the scene.

It closed the metro station as well as the bus bays (fire/rescue parking there), two southbound lanes of MD-355 (Wisconsin Ave) and one lane of Old Georgetown Road northbound.

WTOP reports that the last car of one train and one car of another train derailed coming into Bethesda station.

Better Cell service coming to Metro

Cell phone service will be getting better on Washington DC's metrorail system soon. Instead of just Verizon, there will be service from Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. Also coming access to the internet and wi-fi. Twenty underground stations will have expanded coverage by the end of this year and the whole system will be finished by 2012.

That is good news for riders, but there is good news for metro too. They will get a second network for its operations for free and will get a minimum of 25 million dollars during the 15 year contract.

WMATA: Metrorail wireless service to expand.
WTOP: Deal will expand cell service on Metro