Red Line Woes To Continue Into 2015

WASHINGTON -- Patience, patience, patience. Red Line users will have to endure at least three more years of major rehabilitation work on Metrorail's busiest line. That'll be mean more shutdowns, single tracking and escalator rehabs. And it'll mean longer waits and added frustration.

As the Examiner reports, "... by 2015, Metro expects that crews will have finished track work to fix safety problems dating back years, including the replacement of all track circuits and the addition of special rails to prevent derailments."

The Red Line's segment between the Rhode Island Avenue and Farragut North station, which dates to 1976, was the first to open in the entire Metrorail system.

The news about the Red Line's maintenance schedule is the latest bad headline for commuters on the critical route linking downtown D.C. with Maryland's Montgomery County. The Dupont Circle station's busy south entrance closed this week to undergo at least eight months of escalator rehabilitation, forcing commuters to find alternate -- and longer -- routes to where they need to go.

This weekend, Red Line trains will share the same track in two sections -- beween the Van Ness and Friendship Heights stations and between the Rhode Island Avenue and New York Avenue stations.

Orange and Blue Line commuters will face a complete shutdown of the tunnel linking the Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom stations. Free shuttle buses will replace trains between Foggy Bottom and the Court House and Pentagon stations. The Rosslyn and Arlington Cemetery stations will be closed. The work will get started around 10 p.m. Friday.

Complete track work details can be viewed here.