Red Line riders might want to start making alternate plans now: Five stations at the eastern tail of the Metro line will be closed for the entire Labor Day weekend.
The major rehabilitation project, involving more than 500 track workers plus three contracting companies, is the transit system’s largest maintenance shutdown ever.
The Takoma, Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont Metrorail stations will all be closed from 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, until 5 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. The agency will run free shuttle buses between the stations during that time.
Two Metro workers suffered serious electrical burns Tuesday afternoon after they were shocked while working on a piece of equipment in a power room at the Anacostia Metro station.
The two men were replacing electrical equipment in a room at the station on Howard Road in Southeast D.C., according to D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Pete Piringer. An electrical arc shocked the men around 1:20 p.m., causing serious electric burns.
Both were rushed to the Washington Hospital Center burn unit, said Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff, with injuries that were not considered life threatening. The agency contacted its safety oversight group, the Tri-State Oversight Committee, as required, both Woodruff and TOC Chairman Matt Bassett said.
The incident “did not affect power at the station but it did cause some power problems,” Woodruff said, briefly closing the garage entrance to the Green Line station.
Last summer, a subcontractor was electrocuted Aug. 18 while fixing equipment at the Bladensburg Metrobus garage in Northeast D.C. – Kytja Weir
Metro officials announced the work Tuesday — a month in advance — trying to give fair warning to riders to anticipate 40-minute delays, shuttle bus rides and other hassles because of the closures.
Last year the agency ran into trouble when it closed three stations, including Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, on Labor Day weekend. Riders and officials sounded off on closing access to the airport without much notice during the popular travel weekend.
The three-day work weekends save time and money for Metro, instead of stretching out the work in overnight hours, the agency says. In this latest case, Metro officials estimate they will save $1 million by doing the work in one weekend, rather than 150 nights of single-tracking.
The work entails replacing two track switches at the Silver Spring station, rebuilding sections of track, adding new safety lights and installing cables for upgraded cell phone service.
