Metro is adjusting its track maintenance policy to ensure that no line is overburdened with weekend delays after a series of projects frustrated Red Line riders for 11 straight weekends.
“There’s concern that if we schedule it in a way that we’re sort of dogging the same riders over and over again, we’re going to hurt our ridership,” Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said.
The item appeared on Zimmerman and General Manager John Catoe’s joint list of goals for 2008.
While Metro has had to schedule single-tracking — in which trains moving in both directions share one track — for all of the lines, the Red Line has been hit particularly hard.
Track switch replacement projects at the Medical Center and Van Ness stations and a platform-related project at Metro Center meant that Red Line passengers were subjected to half-hour delays every weekend from the beginning of the year through March 16.
The transit agency has used a “zone” system for maintenance projects for the past several years, concentrating on finishing all the work that is needed in a selected geographic area before moving on, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
“I think right now we’re kind of in the assessment phase in terms of how we’re going to plan this,” Taubenkibel said. “We have to try to come up with a fresh approach and figure out how to make it viable and feasible but avoid doing so many consecutive weeks of work in one particular area.”
Metro riders were granted a temporary reprieve from delays beginning last weekend.
Metro has suspended weekend track work on all the lines through April 13 due to the beginning of the Washington Nationals baseball season, the Cherry Blossom Festival and the National Marathon today.
[email protected] is adjusting its track maintenance policy to ensure that no line is overburdened with weekend delays after a series of projects frustrated Red Line riders for 11 straight weekends.
“There’s concern that if we schedule it in a way that we’re sort of dogging the same riders over and over again, we’re going to hurt our ridership,” Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said.
The item appeared on Zimmerman and General Manager John Catoe’s joint list of goals for 2008.
While Metro has had to schedule single-tracking — in which trains moving in both directions share one track — for all of the lines, the Red Line has been hit particularly hard.
Track switch replacement projects at the Medical Centerand Van Ness stations and a platform-related project at Metro Center meant that Red Line passengers were subjected to half-hour delays every weekend from the beginning of the year through March 16.
The transit agency has used a “zone” system for maintenance projects for the past several years, concentrating on finishing all the work that is needed in a selected geographic area before moving on, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
“I think right now we’re kind of in the assessment phase in terms of how we’re going to plan this,” Taubenkibel said. “We have to try to come up with a fresh approach and figure out how to make it viable and feasible but avoid doing so many consecutive weeks of work in one particular area.”
Metro riders were granted a temporary reprieve from delays beginning last weekend.
Metro has suspended weekend track work on all the lines through April 13 due to the beginning of the Washington Nationals baseball season, the Cherry Blossom Festival and the National Marathon today.
