Red Line riders who have been stymied by lengthy weekend service delays over the past two months will get a temporary reprieve — thanks to the Washington Nationals.
Metro officials said they were taking a one-month break from weekend track maintenance work to ensure that trains run smoothly throughout the system for the baseball team’s Sunday home opener March 30 and the following weekend games, which are expected to draw about 24,000 Metro riders each.
Metro, D.C. and Nationals officials have been encouraging Nationals fans to ride the train to the 41,000-seat ballpark, as parking near the stadium is severely limited.
The upcoming cherry blossom season is also expected to drive up weekend Metro ridership, officials said.
“We are reviewing our maintenance plans right now, keeping in mind the fact that the Nationals are opening their new stadium, and we have to take a look at our plans to see where we’re going to be doing work not just on the Green Line but elsewhere in the system,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
Metro will resume some lighter weekend maintenance work on the Orange and Yellow lines toward the end of April that will cause delays of about 20 minutes, Taubenkibel said.
Metro had tentatively scheduled this month the start of a four-weekend project to replace a section of critical track at the Friendship Heights Red Line station that would have led to half-hour delays in weekend service. That project has been delayed and has not been rescheduled.
Red Line riders have been subjected to half-hour weekend delays since January as the agency completed similar projects at the Medical Center and Van Ness stations.
The 32-year-old transit system is due for track replacement at several of its oldest stations.
The Silver Spring station will be next in line after Friendship Heights, officials said.
