Metro won’t be digging up downtown D.C. anytime soon to expand its underground train system, but it says it is planning on opening a “virtual” tunnel by this fall. The transit agency plans to allow transfers between the Farragut North and Farragut West stations, connecting the Red Line with the Orange and Blue lines. Riders would still have to leave the stations and walk about a block along Farragut Square, but they wouldn’t be charged for the re-entry into the system.

An additional virtual tunnel could be added later. The Farragut location will serve as a test case for whether the agency should open a second one between Metro Center and Gallery Place/Chinatown to connect all the system’s lines, the agency wrote in testimony submitted to the D.C. Council.