The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has released its final track-work maintenance plan aimed to improve the safety of the 40-year-old system.
The effort, known as “SafeTrack,” will see its first maintenance program officially begin June 4. Single-tracking along the Orange and Silver lines between Ballston and East Falls Church will be in effect for 13 straight days, Metro said in a news release Thursday.
That track work had been scheduled for late November, but the changes follow urgent safety recommendations given by federal safety officials this month demanding work be moved up.
The second grouping of track work, called “surges” by Metro, begins June 18 and runs until July 3, resulting in the shutdown of the Blue, Orange and Silver lines from the Eastern Market station to the Minnesota Ave and Benning Road stations. This work had originally been set to begin in late August.
The third surge begins at 8 p.m. July 5 and lasts through July 11. Yellow and Blue line service will be shut down between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Pentagon City.
The last surge is set for March 6-19, 2017, and will be 14 days of continuous single-tracking along the Orange and Silver lines from East Falls Church to West Falls Church.
There are 15 maintenance surges planned throughout the whole Metro system, which includes electrical repairs and rail-tie replacements.
Metro estimates about 73,000 daily commuters will be affected by the near year-long work.
Work is scheduled to stop only during the week of the presidential inauguration in January, and on weekends during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Memorial Day weekend will also be the last time trains run after midnight.
According to Metro, three years of maintenance work is being accelerated into approximately one year.
Data compiled by FiveThirtyEight found that Metro catches fire a little over four times per week.
“I am encouraged by the region’s response to SafeTrack and appreciate the support of business and community leaders, jurisdictional officials, our Congressional delegation and most importantly the riders, who have rallied to help us get through this challenging work,” Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said in a statement announcing the final SafeTrack schedule. “I also want to recognize FTA for their collaboration and guidance, which is reflected in the final plan.”
The complete surge schedule is available here.
