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Frustrating Track Work on Metro This Weekend
I was visiting my brother in Maryland this weekend and we chose to spend today (Sunday 11/1) in D.C. To accomplish this we drove to New Carrollton Metro Station and rode the train in.
Unfortunately, between Cheverly and Stadium-Armory they're running on the Orange Line on a single track. This meant 15 minutes sitting outside Cheverly going inbound and then 25 sitting outside Minnesota Avenue on the outbound. The worst part was that during our sit on the way back to New Carrollton the conductor kept saying "we're only waiting for two trains to pass us" and a grand total of six passed us.
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My upgrades this year: You Wouldn't/Possibly Care = Unless you were me%
There is track work on the metro nearly every weekend, including times when there have been complete shut downs on some segments on holiday weekends. You can check www.wmata.com to find out what is happening any given weekend, though they don't usually post the info until Friday morning.
It's a pain in the neck, but it is still usually better than dealing with driving in (and, especially, parking in) the District.
I suppose that a best scenario for Metro maintenance (from the riders' perspective) is to do the work overnight. However, if they're not going to do that, weekends are Plan B.
Is it true that they only post weekend disruptions on the website on Friday? The station message boards often have that information during the week.
It's worth pointing out that WMATA does do some track work while the system is closed for the night. I don't think they generally bother to announce it, though, since it doesn't affect any customers.
1. Metro's previous policy of not doing maintenance worked out very badly.
I would rewrite this to say: Local governments' failure to adequately fund Metro which resulted in a policy of delaying maintenance worked out badly. Sure, Metro management hasn't always been the greatest, but part of their problem is the amount of effort they need to put into convincing four different govenments to provide funding.
Aside - As I write this, there are Vote for McDonnell (Virginia GOP-governor) banners on both the top and side.
Programs: AA Gold, United Premier Executive, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 2,420
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
Two responses:
2. What's so bad about 15 minutes one way and 25 the other? If you had known the exact delay beforehand, would you have driven instead?
I was heading to BWI after returning to New Carrollton and ended up worrying a little more than I would have liked to. Plus 40 minutes stuck on a train is a long time for me. That's as long as the ride SHOULD take one-way.
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My upgrades this year: You Wouldn't/Possibly Care = Unless you were me%
I suppose that a best scenario for Metro maintenance (from the riders' perspective) is to do the work overnight. However, if they're not going to do that, weekends are Plan B.
Is it true that they only post weekend disruptions on the website on Friday? The station message boards often have that information during the week.
They've started posted some general info on which lines are affected that month at the beginning of the month. But you have to wait until late Thursday afternoon or early Friday for the details. Except for very major work (e.g. closure of stations as a result) I never see that info on station message boards at Crystal City, Rosslyn, or Vienna during the week.
By the way, they are trying to shift to doing more work overnight, but that means starting at 9:30 p.m. That's kind of a hassle if you go out to cultural or sports events in the city after work. If they'd had the forethought (and, alas, funding) to build the system with multiple tracks, they could do the maintenance in a less disruptive way, but it's too late for that.
