Metro Center’s sagging train platforms will get a lift this weekend in the first part of a major construction project that will slow Red, Blue and Orange line travelers by 30 minutes over the Martin Luther King Jr. and Presidents Day weekends.
The slight sag along the station’s upper loading platforms, where Red Line passengers board, poses no immediate threat to passengers, official said.
But fixing it now will prevent further damage and costlier repairs.
“Metro Center was one of the original five stations to open in 1976,” Metro’s engineering head Dave Couch said. “We’ve carried 610 million passengers through here since then.”
The sag in the platform is part of normal wear and tear in an old station and is the result of the deterioration of decades-old bearing pads, which act like cushions between layers of concrete and prevent cracks and damage.
Metro workers will use a jack to lift the concrete beams on the ceiling of the lower platform, where the Orange and Blue Line trains run, and slide new bearing pads between the beams and the wall.
The effort will raise the sagging floor above it on the upper platform. Workers will then replace and even out the disturbed marble and tiles.
“This normally would have taken four two-day weekends, but we’ve compressed it,” Couch said. “We specifically targeted the field work for this project for the two three-day weekends to be less inconvenient for our customers.”
Travel tips
» This weekend: Work will be performed from 10 p.m. Friday to midnight Monday.
» Presidents Day weekend: Work will be performed from 10 p.m. Feb. 15 to midnight Feb. 18.
» Metrorail riders on the Red, Blue and Orange lines should build 30 minutes of extra travel time into their schedules.
