Prepare for more delays, Metrorail riders.
Just after the transit system caught flak for closing three stations — including the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport station — over Labor Day weekend, it is gearing up to close the L’Enfant Plaza station and two adjacent stops on the even busier Columbus Day weekend.
Metro closed three stations along the Blue and Yellow lines over the weekend to complete major track work:
» The rail system posted lower ridership than last year’s holiday weekend. ¥ Monday’s ridership was about 165,000 trips, compared with about 227,000 last year. ¥ Saturday and Sunday ridership figures were also down compared with last year, with 237,179 trips from 261,404 for Sunday and 300,563 from 335,945 for Saturday. » More than 68,000 people used free shuttle buses to go between the closed stations. » Metro had 68 extra employees and police helping direct customers.
And more long weekend closures and weeknight delays loom elsewhere in the system, according to Metro. The agency will need to perform major track work on the Smithsonian, Foggy Bottom and other core downtown stations. It also has long-term rehabilitation projects planned during the next six years that promise weeknight delays as the transit system runs trains on a single, shared track.
“We have a rail system that is 33 years of age. We are a two-lane country highway and we are pounding our system day in and day out,” said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. “We cannot put the work off. It has to be done.”
The transit system will begin preparation work Sunday for the Columbus Day closures, with work beginning at 9:30 p.m. on weeknights. Then on Oct. 9, Metro will close the L’Enfant, Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter stations through Oct. 12. The agency warns riders on those lines to add 45 minutes to their travel plans on weeknights and the holiday weekend.
The closures are expected to disrupt even more riders than the Labor Day shutdowns as more people typically ride the system over Columbus Day weekend and many private-sector employees have to work on the Monday holiday.
Beyond that, Taubenkibel warns more work — and more delays — lie ahead.
Earlier this summer, Metro agreed to spend $177 million to rehabilitate the Red Line, including the crumbling platforms at the Shady Grove station and the troublesome escalators at Dupont Circle. That plan calls for running trains along a single track on some stretches Sunday through Thursday nights, starting as early as 8 p.m., beginning early next year.
And more could be on the way for the Orange and Blue lines. Metro’s board of directors is slated to hear a plan Thursday for a five-year, $380 million rehab of those lines. The work wouldn’t start until late 2010, Taubenkibel said, but it too would involve delays for riders on weeknights.
