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Matt, thanks for the correction on the number of Blue Line trains... somehow, my eyes glazed over the "just under half" and turned it into "half." Based on current ridership, I think 48 cars/hour could do the job.

Also, if Metro follows precedent, I think they will ultimately end up sending at least some of the Silver line trains on to Largo. Based on their practice a long time ago of signing trains Orange when headed to New Carrollton and Blue when headed to National Airport, even though they were going back and forth along the exact same route, it looks like Metro really doesn't want to have different terminus stations at the same end of a line (e.g. branches). That makes me think they don't want to split Orange Line trains between New Carrollton and Largo.

As for the newly redirected Blue Line/newly branched Yellow line, it's only a difference of two stations either way that are, one would think, almost entirely frequented by locals (with the exception of tourists taking transit to Mount Vernon). I think the confusion caused by introducing the "Yellow Line train to Franconia-Springfield" would be pretty limited.

@Transport. - I too have stood right next to the Welcome to Virginia sign and listened to the switch. You're right in that the audible part of the switch seems to take no more than 10 seconds, after which point the signal changes from Red to Flashing White (my experience is only with switches from Blue to Orange, since I needed to get on the Orange). It would be nice to have someone with technical expertise weigh in on this. Maybe the inbound switch is more complicated than the outbound?

by Dizzy on Jun 30, 2010 9:28 pm • link • report