If you ride Metrorail, heads up for track work and other projects planned over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
Here’s what to know about travel changes for Friday, Jan. 12 through Monday, Jan. 15.
The big headlines on Blue, Orange, Silver and Red line closures:
- The Rosslyn (🔵🟠⚪) and Court House (🟠⚪) stations are closed from Friday through Monday. Buses will replace trains between Foggy Bottom-GWU and Arlington Cemetery on the Blue Line and Foggy Bottom-GWU and Clarendon on the Orange and Silver Lines.
- The Silver Spring (🔴) station on the Red Line will be closed on Saturday and Sunday. Buses will replace trains between Takoma and Forest Glen.
- Arlington Cemetery Station will stay open until the Metro system closes to accommodate shuttle buses. Shuttle buses will be available for connections to the last trains on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines.
- Metro will run normal service on the Yellow and Green lines.
Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said this about the system’s buses: “One thing that kind of bothers me sometimes with our conversations around rail shutdowns – we kind of forget that we have an amazing bus system, and 400,000 people will take the bus today. And sometimes, quite frankly, we have some people that kind of forget the bus or look down upon the bus. And the bus is fantastic.”
Blue Line Service: Blue Line trains operate in two segments: between Franconia-Springfield and Arlington Cemetery every 12 minutes (daytime) and 15 minutes (evening); and between Foggy Bottom-GWU and Downtown Largo every 10 minutes (daytime) and 15 minutes (evening).
Transportation
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Orange Line Service: Orange Line trains operate in two segments: between Vienna and Clarendon every 10 minutes (daytime) and 15 minutes (evening); and between Foggy Bottom-GWU and New Carrollton every 10 minutes (daytime) and 15 minutes (evening).
Silver Line Service: Silver Line trains operate between Ashburn and Clarendon only, every 10 minutes (daytime) and 15 minutes (evening).
Red Line Service: Red Line service will be impacted with no train service between Takoma and Forest Glen due to MDOT MTA Purple Line Project on Saturday, Jan. 13 and Sunday, Jan. 14.
Orange/Silver Line Express Shuttle:
- Express service between Ballston and Foggy Bottom-GWU.
- Customers traveling into DC should exit at Ballston-MU for an Express Shuttle Bus to Foggy Bottom-GWU. Do not stay on the train to Clarendon.
- Serves Clarendon, Court House, Rosslyn, and Foggy Bottom-GWU.
Blue/Orange/Silver Line Express Shuttle:
- Express service between Arlington Cemetery and Clarendon.
- Customers traveling to/from stations south of Arlington Cemetery and west of Clarendon on the Orange and Silver lines should use the Express Shuttle Bus between Arlington Cemetery and Clarendon to transfer between the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines.
Blue Line Local Shuttle: Serves Arlington Cemetery, Rosslyn, and Foggy Bottom-GWU.
Metrobus: 38B Ballston – Rosslyn – Farragut North & West stations, and 4B Seven Corners – Court House – Rosslyn
What if I’m traveling to Virginia?
Blue Line customers traveling to/from Virginia and the District should consider using the Yellow Line instead. Customers may transfer back to the Blue Line at L’Enfant Plaza.
Yellow Line trains will operate every 6 minutes during peak periods on Friday, and every 8 minutes all other times including the federal holiday.
People headed to Dulles International Airport are advised to plan for an additional 30 minutes of travel time.
Why is Metro closing?
Crews will work on the tracks themselves and do things like replace the concrete pads that support the rails.
Metro has been making efforts to complete maintenance on many of their service lines, including their December Red Line construction. According to Metro: “We're making critical safety repairs on the Red Line this December. The work includes repairing a deteriorated concrete ceiling in the tunnel near Farragut North and other maintenance work to minimize future customer disruptions.”
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Clarke, the Metro general manager, spoke about the need for track work across the system.
“The pain has been spread around. We have a system that is new compared to Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, but not new compared to, like, Phoenix and L.A. It needs to be looked after,” he said.
Metro said that without the shutdowns, the same work would have required multiple weekends of single-tracking, with big impacts to service.
