djp98374

I almost had to do one last year. I as traveling for work. My flight got delayed so I’d miss a connection. AA coukdnt rebook me. I had to call my work Travel agent to-be rebooked on a different airline. In the rebooking process flying out of IADand BWI was explored. I ended up on a United to denver out of DCA and connect thru there.

cmn.jcs

This was the "Rush Hour Promise." The short version was that if your trip took 15--then later 10--minutes longer than it should have (according to some table that WMATA developed, though I don't know what the actual numbers are) during rush hour, your fare would be refunded.

I don't think this is accurate. I once entered a station, then waited for a group of friends at the platform. They took... some time arriving, such that by the time we arrived at our destination, I had exceeded the threshold for the travel time between the 2 stations. My fare was refunded, even though there were no mechanical or other issues.

djp98374

I took silver to Dulles this morning.

i live south of DCA.

it took me 45 minutes on silver from Rosslyn to Dulles.

exit one side of metro station.
walk a corridor with 3 moveable walkways.
thrn a fork in the path. There are airline signs on the wall denoting which side to go
I’m flying United
you follow the signage thrn you enter the main terminal at bottom levrl
up the incline and across the np baggage claim hallway is the up escalators for the check bag airline stations and security.

IIRC this was door 6 on united side. Door 4 was where you had yo get the SILVER line bus from.my guess is door 2 on the other side of the main for the other entry/ exit to metro.

the point you entered at 6 from metro was on the side of the exit do to the outside. Likely the other side is similar.

whlinder

Yes it is Doors 2 and 6 to get to the Silver line from the ground/baggage level. They align with the escalators to the ticketing level.

SandBoxJohn

DCA writer
• Before you reach the first of three moving sidewalks going from the terminal to the station, you'll see this metal model of IAD's main terminal, the Metro track, that garage and a few other buildings. (The only time I've seen that few cars in the hourly lot was at the start of the pandemic.) Once again, the walk didn't take more than four or so minutes.



Prior to the plans used to place the Metrorail station where it is today, plans call for the Metrorail station to be in subway in front of the terminal. The entrance into the Metrorail station would have been to the right of the bronze relief map pictured above. The arched vault of the station would have crossed through this part of the passageway allowing a view of roughly 160' of the west end of the station platform below to the left.

mhnadel

I used the Silver Line to IAD got the first time on Thursday morning. I live in Vienna, so need to take the Orange Line to East Falls Church first. I had not thought to check the schedule, so arrived at EFC after taking the first train early in the morning only to see a 45 minute wait for the Silver Line. That is, the first train doesn't leave EFC until 5:52 a.m.

Fortunately, I had the time. And I should have thought to look at the schedule. It took about 40 minutes to IAD, by the way, so I am skeptical of claims of 45 minutes from Rosslyn.

Also, note that there is summer track work approaching and the early part of it (starting June 3rd) will have the stretch of the Silver Line from McLean to Ballston closed, presumably with a bus bridge.

djp98374

most of June ballston out yo vienna and to McLean will be closed.

McLean is being closed because of easier bus routing from Tysons station than from McLean.

the work is needed on the orange line outside track snd some stations work.

late June the silverline will reopen but into late July the outer orange is closed.

buses replace trains.

as for what you experienced…

Bus line 401/402 runs from Tyson station to Dunn loring station to Springfield mall to Franconia-Springfield station. The bus between dunn loring and Tyson’s runs along Gallows and is pretty quick. It might be faster todo that.

I’ve done the line from Roslyn to Dulles once and did the Roslyn-Reston many times. The 45 minutes is on average the rude time from getting on and getting off. . Sure youcan get underground slowdowns with orange and silver close to each other in Virginia or they need to slow down because of some work around the stations/ rails.

Next week I’ll be riding this again.

mhnadel

Bus 5A got killed when the Silver Line extension opened.

Also, WMATA themselves claim Rosslyn to IAD is 54 minutes, so no way would I believe anyone who claimed they did it in 45.

mhnadel

.

It is 23 days, from June 3 through 26. (The Orange Line closure extends another 21 days, through July 17.



Which doesn't do any good when one is coming from Vienna, which is about 3.5 miles from Dunn Loring.

The Fairfax Connector bus 463 does run from Vienna to Tyson's, and the first train from Tyson's leaves at 5:42, so would get to IAD a bit earlier than the first one from EFC.

DCA writer

On my first ride on the Silver Line from IAD, the ride from the Dulles Airport station to Clarendon took 41 minutes, and the WMATA trip planner specifies a 44-minute ride from the IAD station to Rosslyn outside of walking time at either end. I have seen the trip take longer because of long dwell times at some stations or slower speeds betweeen them.

The Dulles delay I'd rather talk about: the fancy new baggage scanners, which have really slowed down throughput at the TSA Pre checkpoint the last two times I've been through it.

djp98374

there are variables in this. For example….

—at rush hour times where cars sit longer to load/ unload can create time variations. St AM incoming you have people in silver loading trains from Dulles to Tyson’s then you start seeing both unloads and loads from Tyson’s to Roslyn. Then it’s primarily unloads till you get to transfer stations like metro center. Instead of doors being open 90sec they are open120 sec. Add this up over 10 stations you get 5 minutes. Then you have the door closing issues thst can add snother 20 seconds.

—if silver and orange are a station apart you get slow downs and holds at stations or between station

—slowdowns at places where lines merge/ split you can get the luck of trains needing to stop because of right of way rules

— hot summer days when outside exposed tracks expand you will have lower speed limits to prevent derailments that can occur.

I’ve done numerous Roslyn to whole/Reston that was around 30-35 min. It’s 10-15 min to Dulles station. I misted my experience upthread when I took it over the holidays.


metro closure periods get changed. The yellow line bridge was sept- mid May. It’s now end of May. The south DCS track closure in fall was extended 2-2 weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another delay in the orange line work.

diburning

It was about 45 mins when I rode it mid-day from IAD to Rosslyn where it was pretty much empty. It was over an hour during the evening rush from Rosslyn to IAD where the train was mostly packed until about Herndon. I want to say dwell time at stations is also a factor in travel time.

whlinder

FYI, it only took ~6 months for service interruptions to occur, with station closures after the Silver and Orange lines come together, so no direct train service to DC from IAD for the next 3 weeks. Trains are still running on the open section of the Silver line and there are temporary express buses in place.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...rport/3359208/

danib62

It's pretty ridiculous that WMATA is doing a full shutdown for routine track replacement and fiber optic cable installation. I feel like they should be able to manage this with overnight and weekend shutdowns.

djp98374

the are doing outdoor track work in the area where orange and silver line merged outside east falls church ststion thst existed long before silver line was built.

it really has nothing to do with silver line track.

of course there is poor coordination with other construction work going on in Roslyn which is causing significant problems in bus lines. They are in essence re-running the Roslyn- Dulles bus with a Tyson’s stop.