Transit

From WMATA:

To Our Green Line Customers,

We apologize for the extraordinary delays you experienced last night, and in particular, to those who had such an alarming experience on the two trains that lost power.

While we have improved the speed with which we respond to incident trains, there is more that can and will be done to better assist our customers during such incidents. We are working to improve our internal communications and interagency coordination. I want to thank DCFD for their actions in support of our customers and employees last night. The responsibility for improvement rests squarely on our shoulders at Metro.

I agree with our customers that what happened last night was unacceptable and we are going to make further specific changes to improve our emergency response.

Richard Sarles
General Manager & CEO

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

From WMATA:

The ongoing effort to rebuild and upgrade the Metrorail system to provide safer and more reliable service will continue over the weekend of January 25-27 on the Red, Orange and Green lines.

There is no scheduled work this weekend on the Blue or Yellow lines.

Red Line
• From 10 p.m. Friday through noon on Sunday, Red Line trains will single track between Farragut North and Judiciary Square to allow for track maintenance, tie renewal, structural and ceiling repairs.
• During this time, trains between Shady Grove and Glenmont will operate every 20 minutes.
• Between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, and between 9 a.m. and noon on Sunday, additional Red Line trains will operate between Shady Grove and Farragut North, providing service about every 10 minutes between those stations.
• Customers should add about 10 minutes to their travel time while track work is in effect.
• Note: Normal Red Line service will be restored at noon on Sunday.

Orange Line
• From 10 p.m. Friday through closing on Sunday, Orange Line trains will single track through two work zones: between East Falls Church and West Falls Church for Silver Line testing, and between Stadium-Armory and Cheverly to allow for platform reconstruction.
• Orange Line trains will operate every 24 minutes throughout the weekend.
• Customers should add 20 minutes to their travel time.

Green Line
• From 10 p.m. Friday through closing on Sunday, Green Line trains will single track between College Park and Greenbelt to allow for construction of a test track for new 7000-series railcars.
• Green Line trains will operate at regular weekend intervals. However, during daytime hours, every other train will begin and end at College Park, rather than Greenbelt.
• Customers should add about 10 minutes to their travel time.

Check out the “Plan for the next generation of Metro” after the jump. (more…)

From MPD:

Street Closures Start at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, January 25

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has provided the following information associated with the 2013 March for Life event scheduled for Friday, January 25, 2013. For more information about this event please visit: http://www.marchforlife.org/. In conjunction with this event there will be several street closures that motorists should take into consideration.

On Friday, January 25, 2013, the following streets will be closed from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm.

• Maryland Ave NE from Constitution Avenue to 1st Street NE
• 1st Street NE from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue SE
• 3rd Street NW from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue NW
• 4th Street NW from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue NW
• 7th Street NW from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue NW

The following streets will be closed from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.

• F Street NW from 7th West to 12th Street and South to Constitution Ave NW

The following streets will be closed from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
• Constitution Ave NW from 3rd Street to 9th Street NW
• Constitution Ave from 3rd Street to 1st Street NE
• 3rd Street NW from C Street to Constitution Avenue NW
• 6th street NW from Pennsylvania Avenue to Constitution Avenue NW
• 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, no traffic east on Pennsylvania Avenue
• 7th Street NW from Pennsylvania Avenue to Constitution Avenue NW

Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

From WMATA:

Metro will operate for 22 hours on Inauguration Day, opening three hours early at 4 a.m. and remaining open until 2 a.m. From the time the system opens, trains will operate at rush-hour service levels for 17 consecutive hours, until 9 p.m., to accommodate expected crowds.

The following is a summary of Metro service plans for Inauguration Weekend 2013:

On Saturday, January 19:

Metrorail and Metrobus service will operate on a regular Saturday schedule.
Metrorail will open at 7 a.m. and close at 3 a.m. with no scheduled track work anywhere on the system.
Parking will be free at Metro-operated facilities, and off-peak fares will be in effect.

On Sunday, January 20:

Metrorail and Metrobus service will operate on a regular Sunday schedule.
Metrorail will open at 7 a.m. and close at midnight with no scheduled track work anywhere on the system.
Parking will be free at Metro-operated facilities, and off-peak fares will be in effect.
The only planned service change on Sunday will affect Judiciary Square Station, where the F Street entrance will close at 4 p.m. for the remainder of the day due to an event at the National Building Museum. Customers will be able to enter and exit the station using the 4th Street entrance. Elevator service will remain available at all times.

Continues for Inauguration Day after the jump. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Sandra Sitar

From WMATA:

Metro has awarded a $151.1 million contract for the replacement or modernization of 128 of the system’s 588 escalators by 2020 — a key part of General Manager Richard Sarles’ multi-year capital rebuilding effort known as Metro Forward. The contract was awarded to KONE Corporation through a “best value” procurement that allowed Metro to consider factors other than price, including technical excellence and past performance.

“Today’s contract award advances our commitment to improve escalator reliability for our customers for years to come. This is about reconstructive surgery, not Band-Aid solutions,” said Richard Sarles, Metro General Manager and CEO. “While we have already seen improvement in escalator availability as a result of better maintenance practices and resources, there are some escalators that are beyond their useful life and need to be replaced or completely overhauled.”

For a list of escalators to be replaced or modernized, as well as additional detail, please see the news release after the jump (more…)

Photo of Chinatown at 8:40am by PoPville reader LR

From WMATA:

Update 8:35 a.m. — Metro has restored normal two-track operations on the Red Line between Farragut North and Union Station. Trains are no longer single tracking. Customers should expect delays to continue for about 45 minutes as Metro restores normal service.

____________________

Update 8:22 a.m. — Red Line trains continue to single track between Union Station and Farragut North. Work crews are beginning the clearing process. Expect delays to continue through the AM rush hour.

Every other Red Line train is offloading and turning back at Farragut North and NoMa-Gallaudet.

Customers can use Green Line service as an alternate route between Fort Totten and Gallery Place. Customers transferring between the Red and Blue/Orange lines can avoid Metro Center delays by transferring between Farragut North and Farragut West (walk across Farragut Square).

*** ORIGINAL RELEASE FOLLOWS *** after the jump (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

Dear PoPville,

On Wednesday, the Metro Riders’ Advisory Council elected a new set of officers and started work on its plan for 2013.  While the RAC has no formal decision-making authority, it represents an important voice and advocate for riders within the Metro decision-making process.  The sprawling complexity of Metro services (MetroRail, MetroBus, and MetroAccess) requires that the RAC prioritize and focus its efforts on the issues that matter most to riders. 

People could say that we need to focus on improving a specific part of Metro’s service (rail, bus, MetroAccess), or we should hold Metro accountable on certain themes (safety, reliability, on-time performance, transparency, release of data), we could look at frequent customer service issues and complaints (track work, employee quality), or we could concentrate on future plans (preparations for the Silver Line, additional metro lines, bus service changes). Metro is such a complicated beast – in order to maximize the RAC’s efforts we really have to narrow down our list of concerns to the ones that impact the riding public the most. Everyone has their idea of what’s needed to “fix” Metro. What the RAC wants to know is where the riding public wants its (admittedly limited) leverage to be concentrated.

Our question to PoPville is:  What issues should the RAC focus on in 2013?  What does the riding public want the RAC to accomplish, given its limited mandate?