Metrorail, commonly called
Metro, is the rapid
transit system in Washington, D.C.
and its surrounding suburbs. It is
administered by the
Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which also
operates
Metrobus
service under the Metro name.
In Maryland, Metro provides service to
Montgomery
County
and Prince George's County
; in Virginia, to Fairfax
County
, Arlington County
, and the City of Alexandria
. Since opening in 1976 the network has grown
to include five lines, 86 stations, and of track.
Metro is the
second-busiest
rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger
trips, after the
New York City
Subway. There were 215.3 million trips, or 727,684 trips per
weekday, on Metrorail in fiscal year 2008. In June 2008, Metro set
a new monthly ridership record with 19,729,641 trips, or 798,456
per weekday. Fares vary based on the distance traveled and the time
of day. Riders enter and exit the system using a
stored-value card in the form of a paper
magnetic stripe farecard or a
proximity card known as
SmarTrip.
Metro stations were designed by Chicago architect
Harry Weese, and are examples of late-20th
century
modern architecture.
With their heavy use of exposed
concrete
and repetitive design motifs, Metro stations also display aspects
of
brutalist design.
In 2007,
the design of the Metro's vaulted-ceiling stations was voted number
106 on the American Institute of
Architects
' list of "America's
Favorite Architecture".
History
During the 1960s, there were plans for a massive freeway system in
Washington, but
opposition to this freeway
system grew.
Harland
Bartholomew, who chaired the
National Capital Planning
Commission, thought that a rail transit system would never be
self-sufficient because of low density land uses and general
transit ridership decline. Finally, a mixed concept of a
Capital Beltway system
along with rail line radials was agreed upon. The Beltway received
full funding; funding for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system
was partially reallocated toward construction of the Metro
system.
In 1960, the federal government created the National Capital
Transportation Agency to develop a rapid rail system. In 1966, a
bill creating WMATA was passed by the federal government, the
District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland,with planning power
for the system being transferred to it from the NCTA.
Interior of a rehabilitated Breda
car
WMATA approved plans for a regional system in 1968, and
construction began in 1969, with groundbreaking on December 9. The
system opened March 27, 1976, with available on the Red Line with
five stations from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North, all in
the District of Columbia. Arlington County, Virginia was linked to
the system on July 1, 1976; Montgomery County, Maryland on February
6, 1978; Prince George's County, Maryland on November 20, 1978; and
Fairfax County, Virginia and Alexandria, Virginia on December 17,
1983.
The , 83-station system was completed with the opening of the Green
Line segment to Branch Avenue on January 13, 2001.
This did not mean the
end of the growth of the system: a extension of the Blue Line to
Largo Town Center
and Morgan Boulevard
opened on December 18, 2004. The first in-fill
station, New York Ave–Florida Ave–Gallaudet
U
on the Red Line between Union
Station
and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood
, opened November 20, 2004, and planning is underway
for an extension to Dulles Airport
.
Station display indicating approximate
wait-time for upcoming trains
Metro construction required billions of federal dollars, originally
provided by Congress under the authority of the National Capital
Transportation Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-143). This act was
amended on January 3, 1980 by Public Law 96-184, "The National
Capital Transportation Amendment of 1979" (also known as the
Stark-Harris Act), which authorized additional funding of $1.7
billion to permit the completion of of the system as provided under
the terms of a full funding grant agreement executed with WMATA in
July 1986. On November 15, 1990, Public Law 101-551, "The National
Capital Transportation Amendments of 1990", authorized an
additional $1.3 billion in federal funds for construction of the
remaining of the system, completed via the execution of full
funding grant agreements.
The highest ridership for a single day was on the day of the
inauguration of Barack
Obama, January 20, 2009, with 1,120,000 riders. It broke the
previous record, set the day before, of 866,681 trips. June 2008
set several ridership records: it set the single-month ridership
record of 19,729,641 total riders, the record for highest average
weekday ridership with 772,826 weekday trips, had five of the ten
highest ridership days, and had 12 weekdays in which ridership
exceed 800,000 trips.
In
February 2006, Metro officials chose Randi Miller, a car dealership
employee from Woodbridge, Virginia
, to record new "doors opening", "doors closing",
and "please stand clear of the doors, thank you" announcements
after winning an open contest to replace the messages recorded by
Sandy Carroll in 1996.
Metro network
Since opening in 1976, the Metro network has grown to include five
lines, 86 stations, and of track. The rail network is designed
according to a
spoke-hub
distribution paradigm, with rail lines running between downtown
Washington and its nearby suburbs. The system makes extensive use
of interlining – running more than one service on the same
track. There are five operating lines and one line under
construction:
There are 40 stations in the District of Columbia, 14 in Prince
George's County, 12 in Montgomery County, 11 in Arlington County, 6
in Fairfax County, and 3 in the City of Alexandria.
The Silver Line will add 11 new
stations, 8 in Fairfax County and 3 in Loudoun
County, Virginia
.
About of Metro's track is underground, as are 47 of the 86
stations. Track runs underground mostly within the District and
high-density suburbs. Surface track accounts for about of the
total, and aerial track makes up .
At below the surface, the Forest
Glen
station on the Red Line is the deepest in the
system. There are no escalators; high-speed elevators take
20 seconds to travel from the street to the station platform.
The
Wheaton
station, next to Forest Glen station on the Red
Line, has the second-longest continuous escalator in the world, the
longest in the Western
Hemisphere
, at . The Rosslyn
station is the deepest station on the Orange/Blue
Line, at below street level. The station features the
third-longest continuous escalator in the world at ; an escalator
ride between the street level and the mezzanine level takes nearly
two minutes.
The
system is not centered on any single station, but Metro
Center
is at the intersection of the Red, Orange and Blue
Lines, the three busiest lines. The station is also the
location of WMATA's main sales office.
Metro has designated
five other "core stations" that have high passenger volume,
including: Gallery Place–Chinatown
, transfer station for the Red, Green and Yellow
Lines; L'Enfant Plaza
, transfer station for the Orange, Blue, Green and
Yellow Lines; Union Station, the busiest station by passenger boardings;
Farragut
North
; and Farragut West
. In order to deal with the high number of
passengers in transfer stations, Metro is studying the possibility
of building pedestrian connections between nearby core transfer
stations. For example, a passage between Metro Center and Gallery
Place stations would allow passengers to transfer between the
Orange/Blue and Yellow/Green Lines without going one stop on the
Red Line. Another tunnel between Farragut West and Farragut North
stations would allow transfers between the Red and Orange/Blue
lines, decreasing transfer demand at Metro Center by an estimated
11%.
Metro runs special service patterns on holidays and when events in
Washington may require additional service.
Independence Day activities
require Metro to adjust service in order to provide extra capacity
to and from the National
Mall
. WMATA makes similar adjustments during
other events, such as
presidential
inaugurations. Metro has altered service and used some stations
as entrances or exits only to help manage congestion.
Rolling stock
Metro's fleet consists of 1,126 rail cars, each long. Trains have a
maximum speed of , and average including stops. All cars operate as
married pairs (consecutively numbered
even-odd), with systems shared across the pair. Metro currently
operates 850 cars during rush hours. 814 cars are in active
service, and the remaining 36 cars compose gap trains to serve as
backup should a train experience problems.
Metro's rolling stock was acquired in six phases, and each version
of car is identified with a separate series number. The original
order of 300 rail cars (290 of which are in operation ) was
manufactured by
Rohr Industries, with
final delivery in 1978. These cars are numbered 1000–1299 and were
rehabilitated in the mid-1990s.
Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie
(Breda) manufactured the second order of 76 cars delivered in 1983
and 1984.
These cars, numbered 2000–2075, were
rehabilitated in the early 2000s by Alstom in
Hornell, New
York
. A third order of 288 cars, also from Breda,
were delivered between 1984 and 1988. These cars are numbered
3000–3291 and were rehabilitated by Alstom in the early 2000s. An
order of 100 cars from Breda, numbered 4000–4099, were delivered
between 1992 and 1994. A fifth order of 192 cars was manufactured
by
Construcciones y
Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) of Spain. These cars are
numbered 5000–5191 and were delivered from 2001 through 2004. A
sixth order of 184 cars from Alstom Transportation was delivered
between 2005 and 2007.
The cars have body shells built in Barcelona, Spain
with assembly completed in Hornell, New
York.
The 7000 series of cars, currently in development, are planned to
go into service beginning in 2012. The new cars will be different
from previous models in that they will operate as quads instead of
pairs. The new design will allow for increased passenger capacity,
elimination of redundant equipment, greater energy efficiency, and
lower maintenance costs. Metro plans to eventually purchase up to
748 cars to increase system capacity and replace its older rolling
stock.
Signaling and operation
During normal passenger operation on revenue tracks, trains are
controlled by an integrated
Automatic Train Operation and
Automatic Train Control
system that accelerates and brakes the trains automatically without
operator intervention. However, all trains are manned with train
operators who close the doors (they can be set to open
automatically), make station announcements, and supervise their
trains. The operator can manually drive a train when
necessary.
Security
Metro planners designed the system with passenger safety and order
maintenance as primary considerations. The open vaulted ceiling
design of stations and the limited obstructions on platforms allow
few opportunities to conceal criminal activity. Station platforms
are built away from station walls to limit vandalism and provide
for diffused lighting of the station from recessed lights. Metro's
attempts to reduce crime, combined with how the station
environments were designed with
crime
prevention in mind, has contributed to Metro being among the
safest and cleanest subway systems in the United States.
Metro is patrolled by its own police force, which is charged with
ensuring the safety of passengers and employees. Transit Police
officers patrol the Metro system and
Metrobuses, and they have
jurisdiction and arrest powers throughout the Metro service area
for crimes that occur on or against transit authority facilities,
or within of a Metrobus stop. The Metro Transit Police Department
is the only U.S. police agency that has local police authority in
three different "state"-level jurisdictions (Maryland, Virginia,
and the District of Columbia).
Each city and county in the Metro service area has similar
ordinances that regulate or prohibit vending on Metro-owned
property, and which prohibit riders from eating, drinking, or
smoking in Metro trains, buses, and stations; the Transit Police
have a reputation for enforcing these laws rigorously.
One widely-publicized
incident occurred in 2000 when police arrested a 12-year-old girl for eating french fries in the Tenleytown-AU
station. In a 2004 opinion by
John Roberts, now the
Chief Justice of the United
States, the
D.C.
Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld the girl's arrest. By then WMATA had answered
negative publicity by adopting a policy of first issuing warnings
to
juveniles, and arresting them only
after three violations within a year.
Metro's
zero-tolerance policy on
food, trash and other sources of disorder embodies the "
broken windows" philosophy of crime
reduction. This philosophy also extends to the use of station
restroom facilities. A longstanding policy, intended to curb
unlawful and unwanted activity, has been to only allow employees to
use Metro restrooms. Station managers may make exceptions for
passengers with small children, the elderly, or the disabled. Metro
now allows the use of restrooms by passengers who gain a station
manager's permission, except during periods of heightened
terror alerts.
Random bag searches
On October 27, 2008, the
Metro Transit Police
Department announced plans to immediately begin random searches
of backpacks, purses, and other bags. Transit police would search
riders at random before boarding a bus or entering a station. It
also explained its intent to stop anyone acting suspiciously. Metro
claims that the
United
States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decision in
MacWade v. Kelly, which upheld random searches on
the New York City Subway, allows Metro Transit Police to take
similar action. Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn stated
that, if someone were to turn around and simply enter the system
through another escalator or elevator, Metro has "a plan to address
suspicious behavior". Security specialist
Bruce Schneier characterized the plan as
"
security theater against a
movie plot threat", implying that
he does not believe that these random searches will actually help
improve security.
Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council recommended to WMATA’s board of
directors that Metro hold at least one public meeting regarding the
search program. , Metro had not conducted a single bag
search.
Accidents
Several collisions have occurred on Washington Metro, resulting in
injuries and fatalities, along with numerous derailments with few
or no injuries. WMATA has been criticized for disregarding safety
warnings and advice from experts. The Tri-State Oversight Committee
oversees WMATA, but has no regulatory authority. Metro's safety
department is usually in charge of investigating incidents, but
cannot require other Metro departments to implement its
recommendations.
Collisions
During
the Blizzard of 1996, on January 6,
a Metro operator was killed when a train failed to stop at the
Shady
Grove
station. The four-car train overran the
station platform and struck an unoccupied train that was awaiting
assignment. The
National Transportation
Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found that the crash was a
result of a failure in the train's computer-controlled braking
system. The NTSB recommended that Metro grant train operators the
ability to manually control the braking system, even in inclement
weather, and recommended that Metro prohibit parked rail cars on
tracks used by inbound trains.
On
November 3, 2004, an out-of-service Red Line train rolled backwards
into the Woodley Park–Zoo/Adams Morgan
station and hit an in-service train stopped at the
platform. No one was killed, but 20 people were injured. A
14-month investigation concluded that the train operator was most
likely not alert as the train rolled backwards into the station.
Safety officials estimated that had the train been full, at least
79 would have died. The train operator was dismissed and Metro
officials agreed to add rollback protection to more than 300 rail
cars.
On June
22, 2009 at 5:02 p.m., two trains
on the Red Line collided
. A southbound train heading toward Shady
Grove stopped on the track short of the Fort Totten station, and
another southbound train collided with its rear. Four of the cars
were stacked on top of each other, and passengers were trapped in
the train. Nine people died and more than 70 were injured, dozens
of which were described as "
walking
wounded". According to WMATA, trains were not single-tracking
in the area when the crash occurred, but the trains were on the
same track. Red Line service was suspended between the Fort Totten
and Takoma Park stations, and New Hampshire Avenue was closed. One
of the dead was the operator of the train that collided with the
stopped train.
On November 29, 2009 at approximately 3 a.m., two trains collided
on the Orange Line at the West Falls Church train yard. One train
pulled in and collided into the back of the other train. No
customers were aboard, and only minor injuries to the operators and
cleaning staff were reported.
Derailments
Green Line train following the January
7, 2007 derailment
On
January 13, 1982, a train derailed at a
malfunctioning crossover switch south of the Federal
Triangle
station. In attempting to restore the train
to the rails, supervisors failed to notice that another car had
also derailed. The other rail car slid off the track and hit a
tunnel support, killing three people and injuring 25.
Coincidentally, this
accident occurred as Air Florida Flight 90
crashed into the 14th Street
Bridge
during a major snowstorm.
On
January 7, 2007 a Green Line train carrying approximately 120
people derailed near the Mount Vernon Square
station in downtown Washington. At the time
trains were single tracking, and the derailment of the fifth car
occurred where the train was switching from the south to northbound
track. The accident injured at least 18 people and prompted the
rescue of 60 people from a tunnel. At least one person had a
serious but non-life-threatening injury.
The Mount Vernon Square accident was one of a series of five
derailments involving
5000-Series cars,
with four of those occurring on side tracks and not involving
passengers. On June 9, 2008 an Orange Line train (2000-series)
derailed between the Rosslyn and Court House stations.
Safety measures
On July 13, 2009, WMATA adopted a "zero tolerance" policy for train
or bus operators found to be texting or using other hand-held
devices while on the job. This new and stricter policy came after
investigations of several mass-transit accidents in the U.S. found
that operators were texting at the time of the accident. The policy
change was announced the day after a passenger of a Metro train
videotaped the operator texting while operating the train.
Fare structure
Front face of a Metro farecard,
listing declining-balance value remaining
Metro fares vary based on the distance traveled and the time of day
at entry. During regular hours (weekdays from opening until 9:30
a.m. and 3–7 p.m., and Friday and Saturday nights from 2:00 a.m. to
closing), fares range from $1.65 to $4.50, depending on distance
traveled. At all other times, fares are $1.35, $1.85, or $2.35,
based on distance traveled. Discounted fares are available for
school children, the disabled, and the elderly. Metro charges
reduced fares on
federal holidays
except those during which it provides rush hour service, including
Columbus Day,
Veterans Day,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and
Presidents Day.
Standard self-service vending machines
for passes and farecards located at each station
Riders enter and exit the system using a
stored-value card in the form of a paper
magnetic stripe farecard or a
proximity card known as
SmarTrip. The fare is deducted from the balance of
the card upon exiting the system. Farecards are purchased primarily
at vending machines in each station. Farecards can hold up to $45
in value and are reused until the value of the card reaches zero,
upon which the card is "captured" by the exit kiosk. Alternatively,
passengers may purchase passes at most farecard vending machines.
The passes are used the same way as farecards but grant riders
unlimited travel within the system for a certain period of time.
Some Metro passes restrict the times and distances that the pass
may be used.
Users can add value to any farecard, but riders must pay an
exit fare if the cost of a trip is higher
than their card's balance. SmarTrip users are allowed to exit the
system with a negative balance but must add the fare to the card
before re-entering the system. Riders may transfer for free,
provided they do not exit through the faregates. SmarTrip users
receive a $0.50 discount on bus-to-rail and rail-to-bus
transfers.
Future expansion
Map of what the Metro system might
look like in 2030, based on an April 24, 2008 proposal to the Metro
board.
In addition to the Silver Line, map shows several light rail
lines, service modifications, and a re-aligned Blue line.
WMATA expects an average of one million riders daily by 2030. The
need to increase capacity has renewed plans to add 220 cars to the
system and reroute trains to alleviate congestion at the busiest
stations. Population growth in the region has also revived efforts
to extend service, build new stations, and construct additional
lines.
Silver Line
The most
prominent expansion is the Silver Line, a extension from
the Orange Line into Loudoun County, Virginia by way of Tysons Corner
and Washington Dulles International
Airport
. Rail to Dulles has been discussed since the
system opened in 1976. The current Silver Line project was formally
proposed in 2002 and initially approved by the
Federal Transit
Administration in 2004. After several delays, federal funding
for the Silver Line was secured in December 2008 and construction
began in March 2009.
The line will be constructed in two phases:
to Wiehle Avenue in
Reston,
Virginia
in 2013, and to Virginia Route 772, beyond
Dulles Airport, in 2015.
Blue Line realignment
Blue Line trains share a single tunnel with Orange Line trains in
order to cross the Potomac River. The current tunnel limits service
in each direction, creating a choke point.
A 2001 proposal would
have rerouted the Blue Line between the Rosslyn and Stadium-Armory
stations by building a bridge or tunnel from
Virginia to a new station in Georgetown
. The proposal was later rejected due to
cost.
In
October 2008, Metro released a study on the possibility of
rerouting some Blue Line trains over the 14th Street
Bridge, currently used by Yellow Line trains. This
Blue Line realignment would increase service directly to downtown
and relieve congestion at the Rosslyn tunnel. If implemented, the
new service between Franconia–Springfield and Greenbelt stations
may be referred to as a new line.
Fort Belvoir and Fort Meade extensions
In 2005,
the Defense Department
announced that it would be shifting 18,000 jobs to
Fort
Belvoir
in Virginia and at least 5,000 jobs to Fort Meade
in Maryland by 2012, as part of that year's
Base Realignment and
Closure plan. In anticipation of such a move, local
officials and the military proposed extending the Blue and Green
Lines to service each base. The proposed extension of the Green
Line could cost $100 million per mile, and a
light rail extension to Fort Belvoir was
estimated to cost up to $800 million. Neither proposal has
established timelines for planning or construction.
Potomac Yard station
In 2008,
officials began to explore the possibility of adding a station in
the Potomac Yard area of Alexandria on
the Blue and Yellow Lines between the National Airport
and Braddock Road
stations. The project remains in the
exploratory stages, and construction funding (estimated at $150
million) has not been approved.
Non-Metrorail projects
A number of
light rail and urban
streetcar projects have been proposed to extend or
supplement service provided by Metro. Like the Silver Line in
Virginia, the proposed
Purple
Line has been in planning since the 1980s. The project was
originally envisioned as a circular heavy rail line connecting the
outer stations on each branch of Metrorail system, in a pattern
roughly mirroring the
Capital Beltway.
The
current proposal would create a light rail system in Maryland
between the Bethesda
and New
Carrollton
stations by way of Silver
Spring
and College Park
. Such a plan would connect both branches
of the Red Line to the Green and Orange Lines, and would decrease
the travel time between suburban Metro stations. The project is
still undergoing regulatory approval but has received significant
backing from local officials and Maryland lawmakers in January
2009.
The
Corridor Cities
Transitway (CCT) would link Clarksburg, Maryland
in northern Montgomery County with the Shady Grove station on the Red Line. The CCT is
currently scheduled to open in 2016.
In 2005, a Maryland
lawmaker proposed a light rail system to connect areas of Southern Maryland, especially the
rapidly-growing area around the town of Waldorf
, to the Branch Avenue
station on the Green Line. The project is
still in the planning stages.
In Washington, a new
DC Streetcar
system is under construction to link various neighborhoods to
Washington Metro stations.
The first tram line will connect Bolling Air
Force Base
to the Anacostia
station and is expected to open in late
2009. Streetcar routes have been proposed in the
Atlas District, Capitol
Hill
, and the K
Street corridor. In Virginia, the Pike Transit Initiative is a
streetcar project that will link Annandale, Virginia
along Columbia
Pike to the Pentagon City
station in Arlington. The streetcars are
expected to begin service in 2011.
See also
References
- Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Frequently Asked Questions, accessed July 2009: "What
do I need to know to build near Metro property? Metro reviews
designs and monitors construction of projects adjacent to Metrorail
and Metrobus property..."
- Hedgepeth v. Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority, 386 F.3d 1148 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (Argued September 17, 2004 decided
October 26, 2004)
- Appeals court decision: Original complaint:
External links
Transit enthusiast sites
Maps
Equipment
- Largo Town Center
- New Carrollton
- Fort Totten
/ Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention
Center
- Greenbelt
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