Metro briefed its board of directors on expansion proposals to address crowding and capacity limits on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines.
The transit agency can run 26 trains per hour in either direction through the tunnel between the Stadium Armory and Rosslyn stations.
“Under that 26 train per hour limitation, we can’t provide the same level and services and frequency on all three lines if we’re providing headways or frequencies better than seven or eight minutes,” said Mark Phillips, director of regional mobility planning.
A service disruption on any of those lines can also have implications for the Yellow and Green lines.
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Reconfiguring things will help reliability for all customers. Change will have to come if there’s any hope of keeping up with regional growth, equity concerns and climate change.
Metro wants riders have a say.
“Letting people know about the study, passing out information, engaging then with an online survey and in person, even letting them draw on maps their own ideas,” Phillips said.
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Possibilities include making bus lines a larger part of the equation, realignment of the Silver Line, a station in Georgetown, express trains and realignment of the Blue Line, having it turn south to serve National Harbor. Support for stations in Georgetown and National Harbor is growing.
Five reconfigurations and a do-nothing option are on the table.
“If you look at the six alternatives in terms of benefits, only the positive impacts, the Blue Line to National Harbor performs the best, and the Silver Line express in Virginia performs second best,” Phillips said.
Any changes are decades away, but beginning the planning process now is vital to getting the federal funding needed.
More public comment is needed before anything is done.
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