Metro’s board of directors gave preliminary approval to an extensive rehabilitation plan for the Red Line on Thursday but asked staff to return with details about the delays riders will face during the project.
The four-year plan to replace the aging infrastructure on the system’s oldest rail line would be the first in a series of years-long projects planned for every line in the system, and would involve running trains on single tracks after the evening rush hour to allow contractors to work on the track for long stretches of time.
Metro planners said the work would occur during the least-disruptive hours for passengers — after 10 p.m. in areas within the downtown core and after 8 or 9 p.m. near farther-out stations.
The first project would stretch between the Dupont Circle and Silver Spring stations and be broken into four 12- to 15-month phases.
“The people who live on that side of the line would be affected for about five years,” said Montgomery County board representative Peter Benjamin, asking staff to provide estimates of the delays at each station. “I think 30-minute headways on nights and weekends for five years is unacceptable — we’re not going to be able to do that.”
Metro rail chief Dave Kubicek said that headways, or the time between trains, would not reach 30 minutes, but would likely hover between 15 and 20 minutes, and could reach 25 minutes along some stretches.
Officials said there could be few or no delays when contractors are working on smaller sections of track, such as between the Judiciary Square and New York Avenue stations.
Allowing contractors to work during the evening hours as opposed to limiting them to the three-hour window when the system is closed will amount to a “tremendous” increase in productivity, Metro capital projects chief Dave Couch said.
The work would halt during major sports events or other high-traffic nights.
Extensive rehabilitation projects are not optional for Metro. As the system passes its 32nd birthday, officials are scrambling to keep its rails in good working order and to fund urgently needed repairs to its crumbling station platforms and aging ventilation systems.
The Red Line project is scheduled to begin in April 2009, followed by a six-year project to rehabilitate the Orange Line beginning 2010 and a three-year one on the Green Line starting 2011.
