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Metro to reopen with very limited service on 3 lines Monday Metro to reopen with very limited service on 3 lines Monday
(about 2 hours later)
After two days of being shuttered for snow, Metro will reopen Monday -- but with very limited underground service on only three lines, officials said Sunday. After shutting down the region’s mass-transit system for the weekend, saying it would improve the chances of service being available to start the work week, Metro on Sunday announced an “extremely limited” reopening that provides a lower level of service than it offered in the aftermath of 2010’s infamous “Snowmageddon.”
The system will open at 7 a.m. with limited service on the Red, Orange and Green lines as follows: the Orange Line will run between Ballston and Eastern Market; the Red Line will run between Medical Center and Union Station; and the Green Line will run between Fort Totten and Anacostia. With the federal and D.C. government closed Monday, demand for public transportation will be far lighter than normal. Still, tens of thousands of people trying to get to work in parts of the Washington region will be inconvenienced.
While other big subways in the snowed-under cities of New York and Philadelphia were able to maintain more service that of Washington, Metro officials said Sunday that they were pleased with the transit agency’s storm performance so far. And that their decision to not to operate during the blizzard was the proper one.
“Oh, my gosh, if we had tried to do that, we’d be nowhere right now,” General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said Sunday as Metro announced that the weekend inconvenience of no public transit will continue Monday for thousands of people. They system is set to creak back to life, but only for some underground service on three lines.
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Idling the subway while near-record amounts of snow fell in the region gave work crews unrestricted access to outdoor tracks, allowing them to get a big head start on plowing and de-icing, Wiedefeld said. In addition, running the subway and buses during the storm would have jeopardized the safety of riders.
“This would have been exponentially worse if we had tried to run service” Saturday and Sunday, Wiedefeld said. “We simply wouldn’t have been able to keep up” with the foul weather. “We’d have been in the mode of rescuing people and pulling out cars. That would have been our focus. And it’s tough enough as it is, what we’re wrestling with.”
But the sentiment was not universal.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he was disappointed that Metro did not stay open through the weekend and planned to offer only partial underground rail service Monday, while running buses on just 22 major routes. He said the transit system’s storm performance reinforces its reputation for being undependable.
“As a city, and as a region, we have to be able to rely on rail and the advantage should be that it can keep functioning when the road network cannot,” Mendelson said. “But that’ll have to be the goal. . . . Metro needs to recover from the mess it has gotten itself into over the last couple decades. Metro has to do better.”
Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who represents the District on Metro’s governing board, called Mendelson’s criticism “irresponsible.”
Evans said passenger safety had to be the prime concern and “far outweighed” the inconvenience of riders for the Monday workday.
“It’s an inconvenience for some, no doubt about it, but the big issue is getting the third rail de-iced,” Evans said. “We want to make sure that whatever trains we send out there we can get back without any problems.” He said it also is not clear how safe it would be for passengers to traverse steep stairs, escalators and potentially icy station platforms.
As for the limited bus service, he said: “We don’t want to send them out and get them stuck in the neighborhoods.”
Metro said the rail system will run from 7 a.m. to midnight with limited service as on the Red, Orange and Green lines. The Orange Line will run between Ballston and Eastern Market; the Red Line will run between Medical Center and Union Station; and the Green Line will run between Fort Totten and Anacostia.
Trains will run every 20 to 25 minutes, the agency said. Fares will not be charged.Trains will run every 20 to 25 minutes, the agency said. Fares will not be charged.
Buses will run on what Metro is calling “lifeline service” on 22 lines only, from noon to 5 p.m., every half hour. In snow-buried New York, the subway continued running underground during the blizzard. Aboveground service, suspended Saturday afternoon, was back in operation Sunday, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.
“This is unlike anything many of us have seen in our lifetimes,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said of the blizzard impact on Metro. “It’s going to take days to fully recover.” In Philadelphia, which also was plastered by the storm, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said the city’s subway, which is largely underground, “has been running on or close to normal schedules, and is expected to continue” doing so.
Six years ago, as the storm that became known as “Snowmageddon” bore down on the Washington area, Metro halted rail service at 11 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 5, but resumed operating underground on a limited basis at 7 a.m. the next day as the storm continued to howl.
That weekend, as Metro crews cleared snow and ice from tracks, aboveground service in many places remained suspended. Full service was restored on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
When pressed about whether Metro had done everything possible to get more of the system open, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) expressed no dissatisfaction with the transit agency’s performance.
“I think they’re dealing with the same things we’re dealing with,” Bowser said, referring to the cleanup task. “While I would love to have the system up and running, I know they are working hard to safely do so.”
D.C. Department of Transportation Director Leif A. Dormsjo also expressed understanding.
“I’m not surprised. It’s consistent with everything we’ve seen with other transportation services, whether you’re talking about roads, airports . . . regional bus impacts,” said Dormsjo, who is a member of Metro’s governing board.
Dormsjo said Metro has tried to coordinate the bus lines it will run with the areas that won’t have rail service. “If you look at the routes they selected, there’s obviously an effort to capture as large a transit market as possible,” Dormsjo said.
Buses will run on what Metro is calling “lifeline service” on 22 major road corridors from noon to 5 p.m., with buses departing every half hour.
“This is unlike anything many of us have seen in our lifetimes,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said of the blizzard’s impact on Metro. “It’s going to take days to fully recover.”
Wiedefeld said that if the subway had not shut down Friday night for the weekend, and instead had kept underground service operating Saturday and Sunday, work crews would have severely limited in their weekend snow-removal and de-icing efforts, meaning they would be “days” behind where they are now.
[Live updates as the region digs out from the blizzard][Live updates as the region digs out from the blizzard]
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said that if the subway had not shut down Friday night for the weekend, and instead had kept underground service operating, work crews would have severely limited in their weekend snow-removal efforts, meaning they would be “days” behind where they are now. “I’m definitely satisfied because, again, I think this was a logical approach, in terms of not putting our customers at risk over the weekend, and then beginning to rebuild the service,” Wiedefeld said. “It’s huge what we are up against. And just to get to the point where we’re able to provide limited service on bus and rail, I think, is very good.”
“I’m definitely satisfied because, again, I think this was a logical approach, in terms of not putting our customers are risk over the weekend, and then beginning to rebuild the service. ... It’s huge what we are up against. And just to get to the point where we’re able to provide limited service on bus and rail, I think, is very good.” Headways, meaning the time between trains — which can be as short as three minutes in some places during rush hours — will be 20 to 25 minutes at the start of the day.
The Monday service plan leaves thousands of riders, particularly in Virginia, out of luck. “We’ll try to ramp that up as the day goes along,” Stessel said. “Maybe as the day unfolds, we’ll try to get it to 15 minute headways.”
Headways, meaning the time between trains — which can be as short as three minutes in some places during rush hours — will be 25 minutes at the start of the day. In making the extraordinary decision Thursday, a day before the storm arrived, to shut down Metro subway and bus service for the weekend, Wiedefeld cited safety as the paramount reason. He said roads and train tracks almost certainly would be impassable, or at least dangerous to travel on, during the snowfall — which, at the time, had been predicted to possibly last well into Sunday.
“We’ll try to ramp that up as the day goes along,” Stessel said. “Maybe as the day unfolds, we’ll try to get it to 15 minutes. But that will depend on a number of factors.” The other big advantage to shutting down the subway, Wiedefeld said, was that snow-removal crews would have uninterrupted access to Metro’s outdoor rails, totaling 60-plus route-miles, or about 130 miles of tracks running in two directions.
In making the extraordinary decision Thursday, a day before the storm arrived, to shut down Metro subway and bus service for the weekend, Wiedefeld cited safety as the paramount reason. He said roads and train tracks would almost certainly be impassable, or at least dangerous to travel on, during the snowfall, which, at the time, had been predicted to possibly last well into Sunday. At the same time, officials said, about 900 of Metro’s approximately 1,135 rail cars could be sheltered in the idle tunnels and would not have to be dug out from heavy snow after the blizzard. But the agency wound up sheltering only about 350 cars, Stessel said.
The other big advantage to shutting down the subway, Wiedefeld said, was that snow-removal crews would have uninterrupted access to Metro’s outdoor rails, totaling 60-plus route-miles, or about 130 miles of tracks running in two directions. At the same time, officials said, about 900 of Metro’s approximately 1,135 rail cars could be sheltered in the idle tunnels and would not have to dug out from heavy snow after the blizzard. In order to make room for snow-clearing equipment and other apparatus to move freely through about 50 route-miles of tunnels, he said, the agency limited the number of rail cars that were parked underground. As a result, work crews in rail yards have been laboring to dig out hundreds of other cars that were exposed to the elements.
In order to make room for snow-clearing equipment and other apparatus to move through the tunnels, however, only 356 rail cars were sheltered, Stessel said. Work crews in rail yards have been laboring to dig out hundreds of other cars that were exposed to the elements, mostly in Metro’s rail yards. “Just to be clear, if anyone thinks Metro just took the weekend off, that’s not the case,” Stessel said. “The system is closed to passengers. There have been hundreds and hundreds of employees and contractors working in the most extreme conditions on 12-hour shifts around the clock just to get us where we are now.”
“Just to be clear, if anyone thinks Metro just took the weekend off, that’s not the case,” Stessel said. “The system is closed to passengers. There have been hundreds and hundreds of employees and contractors working in the most extreme conditions on 12-hours shifts around the clock just to get us where we are now.” In removing snow, a major focus has been on parts of the rail system known as “interlockings.” These are groups of rail switches located at outdoor points where rail lines divide or converge. There are three big interlockings: near the Stadium-Armory, East Falls Church and King Street-Old Town stations.
In removing snow, one major focus are parts of the rail system known as “interlockings.” These are groups of rail switches located at outdoor points where rail lines divide or converge. There are three big interlockings: near the Stadium-Armory station, involving the Orange, Blue and Silver lines; near the East Falls Church station, involving the Orange and Silver; and near the King Street-Old Town station, involving the Blue and Yellow lines. The outdoor groups of switches at those locations are almost constantly in operation as trains pass every few minutes from different directions, Stessel said. There are scores of other switches all along the rails that are used less frequently — for example, when a train needs to be moved from one track to a parallel track to avoid an unexpected obstacle.
The outdoor groups of switches at those locations are almost constantly in operation, as trains pass by every few minutes, headed in different directions, Stessel said There are scores of other switches all along the rail system that are used less frequently — for example, when a train needs to be moved from one track to a parallel track to avoid an unexpected obstacle.
[What schools will be closed on Monday][What schools will be closed on Monday]
Although the switches are equipped with heaters, “they’re really not designed for two feet of snow,” Stessel said. Not only do workers with tools have to remove the snow and ice, he said, they have to clear a wide area, to prevent snow from blowing back onto the switches. Although the switches are equipped with heaters, “they’re really not designed for two feet of snow,” Stessel said. Not only do workers with tools have to remove the snow and ice, he said, they have to clear a wide area, to prevent snow from blowing back.
De-icing outdoor third rails also has been difficult, he said.
“It’s physically scraping the third rails” with devices that are attached to large rail cards known as “prime movers,” Stessel said. “And we’re spraying the third rails” with a de-icing liquid. “Even then, in some cases, we make four, five, six passes, and we’re still seeing the ice building back up.”
As for bus service, many sidewalks and a great majority of bus stops remained covered with snow, making it very difficult for pedestrians to get around. High walls of snow blocked bus stops along Wisconsin Avenue NW Sunday, and even the covered bus bays at the Friendship Heights Metro station in upper Northwest Washington were difficult to access because of the conditions of the sidewalks
With sub-freezing temperatures expected overnight, the conditions are likely to be even more challenging Monday for riders to get on and off a bus.
D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) spent more than an hour Sunday shoveling a path from his front door on Capitol Hill to Metro’s nearby D6 bus stop, where he begins his commute to his office at the District Building.
After he came back inside, he learned that the route would not be running on Monday. Allen said he wasn’t surprised. One lane of plowed roadway was common on Capitol Hill Sunday afternoon, and bus stops were still buried.
“Roads are down to a single lane and even if the buses are running, there’s no place to stand” but in the street,” Allen said. “It is fairly dangerous and I’m not entirely surprised with the decision,” he said.