Tag Archives: train

Metro Info

Metro weekend track work: Delays on blue, yellow, orange and red lines

WASHINGTON (AP) – Metro says passengers will wait longer for trains on the blue, orange, yellow and red lines this weekend.

Metro says beginning Friday at 10 p.m. and continuing through system closing on Sunday, trains on the blue, orange and yellow lines will operate every 24 minutes. Trains on the red line will also run every 24 minutes between Shady Grove and Glenmont, with trains every 12 minutes between Farragut North and Silver Spring from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Metro says the green line will have regular weekend service.

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/01/metro-weekend-track-work-delays-on-blue-yellow-orange-and-red-lines-99699.html#ixzz2rn5GPiLL 
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Metro News

First Silver Line test run complete, but no results or service start date yet

Tracks are seen stretching out from the McLean Metro station in this Nov. 4, 2013, photo.

Officials say they are analyzing data collected from the first full test run of Silver Line train service conducted over the weekend but still have no firm date for when work on the $5.6 billion rail project will be completed.

“Rail project officials, the contractor Dulles Transit Partners and WMATA are now tabulating, evaluating and analyzing all the information obtained from the demonstration,’’ officials with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said in an e-mailed statement. “There is a huge amount of data and information to be dealt with and discussed by all the parties involved. When those evaluations are completed, we look forward to discussing the findings.”

Officials would not say when the analysis would be completed.

People familiar with the test run said it turned up a number glitches, including ones linked to the system’s automatic train control system, a key safety component that controls train movement and speed and ensures proper spacing between trains — an issue that had delayed completion of the project for several months. The individuals asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In at least one instance during Saturday evening’s testing, they said, a train encountered a red signal, indicating that it should stop, yet still received speed commands directing it to move forward. Marcia McAllister, spokeswoman for the rail project, said officials would not comment beyond their e-mail statement.

But whether this and other issues that surfaced during the test are considered minor glitches that can easily be addressed or are signs of more serious problems that could result in additional delays remains to be seen.

As part of the test conducted in the overnight hours of Jan. 25, officials ran 10 trains along 11 miles of track and through the five stations that make up the first phase of the Silver Line. The first phase of the much-anticipated rail line has four stops in Tysons and one in Reston at Wiehle Avenue.

The automatic train control system is critical to trains’ safe operation. It was the failure of this system to detect the presence of a train on the tracks that was blamed in part for the2009 Red Line crash, which killed nine people and injured dozens of others.

Software problems linked to the ATC system forced MWAA to delay handing over the Silver Line project to Metro in November, as originally planned. It was the second time in six months that MWAA, which is building the rail line, had to delay the planned turnover. While MWAA is overseeing construction of the rail line, it will be managed and operated by Metro.

Earlier this month, Pat Nowakowski, executive director of the rail project said that enough of the software issues tied to the ATC system had been dealt with for this past weekend’s test to be completed, but he acknowledged that some issues still remain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/first-silver-line-test-run-complete-but-no-results-or-service-start-date-yet/2014/01/28/b5e9a1b4-8860-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html

Metro Info

Metro delays on Green Line, weather causes road problems

Updated at 7:10 a.m.

Metro riders on the Green Line should expect delays in both directions Wednesday morning.

Trains are sharing a track between Fort Totten and Prince George’s Plaza stations because of a disabled train outside the West Hyattsville station.

There was an earlier problem on the Red Line because of a disabled train but that problem has been resolved.

Original post at 6:03 a.m.

Light snowfall in the D.C. region overnight created challenges for commuters Wednesday morning, as some schools closed and others announced delayed openings, airlines canceled flights and police closed a usually busy ramp onto the southbound lanes of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway because of downed wires in the roadway.

U.S. Park Police said the wires toppled overnight onto the ramp that leads to the parkway from Route 193 in Greenbelt. They are not sure when the ramp will re-open, as they are waiting on a repair crew.

Police warned drivers throughout the region to use caution because some roads are slick and icy.

Metro had a disabled train on its Red Line outside the Tenleytown station around 6:30 a.m. but the train was moved by 6:51 a.m. Trains had to share a track between Friendship Heights and Van Ness stations. Just before 7 a.m., trains were no longer sharing a track but Metro officials warned that delays could continue in both directions on the rail line.

VRE sent an email alert Wednesday morning to its passengers warning that power is out at its stop at the L’Enfant Station at 6th and C streets SW. VRE officials said riders should use caution when getting on and off trains because the platforms are dark.

Schools are closed in Prince William, Stafford and Culpeper counties. Schools in Fairfax, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard, Frederick and Arlington counties, and in Alexandria, are opening two hours late.

Air travel has been impacted by the latest round of snowfall. About 250 flights across the country were delayed and another 950 were canceled as a result of the winter weather, according to FlightAware.

Eighteen flights were canceled at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Another 15 were canceled at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and four were canceled at Washington Dulles International.

For more transportation-related stories, click here. For updates on the Washington weather forecast, go to the Washington post’s Capital Weather Gang.

Alt Transportation, Metro News

Dale Drive station will be built at same time as Purple Line, officials say

Maryland transit officials say they will build a Purple Line station at Wayne Avenue and Dale Drive in Silver Spring when the 16-mile light-rail line is built between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

Maryland Transit Administration officials previously said they would design the Purple Line to allow for a future station at Dale Drive but wouldn’t build it until there was community consensus for it, as the Montgomery County Council had requested.

Some residents had opposed the station, saying they were concerned it would bring commercial and higher-density residential development to the neighborhood east of downtown Silver Spring. Those who favored it said a station would help residents reach the Silver Spring Metrorail station more easily.

Michael Madden, the MTA’s manager for Purple Line planning, said Tuesday that planners recently decided to build the station with the rest of the line because community support for it has grown. After releasing the project’s final environmental impacts study, he said, the state received 16 comments, including a petition signed by 203 people, favoring a Dale Drive station. The state received four comments from those opposed, he said.

A $2.2-billion Purple Line does not have full construction funding. State officials are pursuing federal aid, as well as private funding. Construction would begin in 2015 at the earliest, with the line opening in 2020, officials said.

A station at Dale Drive is projected to serve about 960 Purple Line passengers daily in 2040, Madden said. It would be the second lowest-ridership station along the 16-mile line. The lowest-ridership station, in Long Branch, would have an estimated 890 daily passengers in 2040, he said.

Even so, Madden said, a Dale Drive station would serve that community by helping people reach the Metrorail system more easily. Its costs were already included in the project’s overall $2.2-billion cost estimate, Madden said.

“We always assumed we’d build it,” Madden said. “The only question was when.”

Madden said the County Council has said it has no intention of increasing zoning densities around a Dale Drive station.

Jean Cavanaugh, who lives in the area, said she and some other residents are still concerned that those intentions could change in light of the county’s overall approach to concentrating new development around transit stations. She said the state has done no survey or other study to scientifically measure community sentiment about a Dale Drive station.

“The very fact that they’re putting a transit station in a neighborhood leads one to think the neighborhood will become more dense,” Cavanaugh said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/01/28/dale-drive-station-will-be-built-at-same-time-as-purple-line-officials-say/