Well, at least they stopped calling it the blue line diversion - quite possibly one of the most confusing and misleading names for the idea. This is much more clear.

by Alex B. on Oct 6, 2008 9:07 am  

If Metro is going to the trouble of introducing a "new" service with its own color - I think it should operate more than just during peak rush periods. If it is peak only, I think WMATA should, as suggested here, call the Greenbelt to Frac-Springd trains peak-period Yellow Line service. The Orange Line will go to Largo during the peak periods but no added color/service for that peak period diversion.

by Transport on Oct 6, 2008 9:26 am  

Uhhhh...do they make brown LEDs? I'm wondering how they'll indicate a brown line train on those LED sideboards on the newer trains.

by Matt T. on Oct 6, 2008 9:46 am  

Why not make the yellow line terminate at Franconia Metro and shift the blue liner terminus to Huntington. It would save a ton on new signs and maps.

by RJ on Oct 6, 2008 10:01 am  

Matt, I was thinking about that yesterday. I suspect they'd use blue and red to make a maroon color...

It also looks like the map is getting too crowded. This may be a good time to thin out those lines.

by The King of Spain on Oct 6, 2008 10:21 am  

Oh, and as an aside, please do this Metro. At least, do it on the weekends. I'm getting tired of getting off at King St. and waiting for a Yellow Train for a more direct path into downtown.

I actually don't mind doing that in rush hour since I know a Yellow will arrive shortly. But on the weekends, well, it's a coin-flip usually whether a Yellow is just coming or has just left.

by Matt T. on Oct 6, 2008 10:34 am  

In re: The King of Spain,

I agree about the thinning. Add on the Silver Line to this and L'Enfant will have *six* lines running through it. That's a lot of colors and a lot of thickness.

by Matt T. on Oct 6, 2008 10:37 am  

Metro (or its consultants) actually created a thin-line version of the map for their Dulles rail presentation a while back:

http://www.dullesmetro.com/Dec8/project_overview/images/5_systemMap.jpg

by Joey on Oct 6, 2008 10:55 am  

Rey Espana,

Will they be able to get the same number of people on the thinner lines? Won't the trains become more crowded.

by Port on Oct 6, 2008 11:13 am  

Port: Actually, they just make the doorways narrower and anyone that can't fit through has to ask for the shuttle service that will be provided upon request.

by Michael P on Oct 6, 2008 11:22 am  

Why are they fighting so hard to not call it a split yellow line? Didn't you run a map of that in the past?

by Alex on Oct 6, 2008 11:22 am  

I agree that it should probably just be a split-yellow service, especially if it's peak-only.

Starting a convention of naming some service permutations with new colors will make other non-named splits even more confusing (such as the Largo-Vienna non-named service suggested by the report as part of this reconfiguration).

by Joey on Oct 6, 2008 11:37 am  

The decision to not split the lines, as was even suggested on official maps in the '60s and '70s, I think it actually a good one. The clarity of the color system really makes using Metro almost brainless. I think that's a good thing, as anyone who's ever tried to get from Columbus Circle to Queens on the Subway can attest to. The clarity isn't a terribly large problem, but it also isn't much of a bother to keep it that way.

On the other hand, this really looks like a band-aid until they split the Blue line or at least I hope this is the case.

The thin-line Dulles map is a good start, but the station markers need to be redesigned so it doesn't look like a rosary. Maybe 1 line: black dot, two lines, current ring, three lines, stretched ring as in GGW's map, and the transfer bullseye is good as it is.

by The King of Spain on Oct 6, 2008 11:50 am  

I agree with calling it a split yellow. I take the Green & Yellow lines often and some off-peak yellow line trains are currently going all the way out to Greenbelt anyway. If there's enough demand for the plan Metro is proposing, why doesn't Metro extend yellow line service to start from Greenbelt (both peak and off-peak) and have some trains terminate at Huntington and some go to Franconia? It seems to me that Greenbelt and Franconia are both important park-and-ride commuter stations, and the Green line between Fort Totten and Gallery Place could use more frequent trains during rush hour anyway.

by DC_Chica on Oct 6, 2008 4:37 pm  

The lines need to be thinner, just imagine how this would like with the silver and purple lines added in.

by Joshua on Oct 6, 2008 5:04 pm  

I agree with the split Yellow -- Let's go down memory lane here, originally the Franconia segment was to be Yellow and the Huntington segment was to be Blue...the only reason for the switch was a shortage of cars when the Huntington segment opened in 1983 -- this was supposed to be temporary alignment, in fact, if you look at some of the pylons at Huntington, look closely, you can see that the Yellow dot was a sticker that was placed over Blue ones. In a nutshell, Brown, not a good idea, I like the thined out map showing Dulles, and the split Yellow, the only affect would be to those going outbound...Plus, if they're going through the expense of printing new maps, they might as well include the Silver Line on them too.

by Mark on Oct 6, 2008 7:27 pm  

Maybe its just time for a new map and forget thining out the lines; and since metro is throwing out ideas how about bring back the green line commuter shortcut from Farragut North to Greenbelt and renaming it the Pink line.

What are they going to use after we finish with the basic colors we already have Red, Blue, Orange, Green Yellow, soon to be Purple, Silver, Brown I doubt there going to make a Black or White Line

so what next the Aqua, Apricot, Turquois, Buff, Amber, Ecru, Celadon & Tan lines It might be time to start either deciding on changing the colors to letters or numbers because if metro actually expands anymore with subways or trams where going to need a new system of naming the lines or where either going to have to many colors that are two similar.

by Kk on Oct 6, 2008 9:25 pm  

This idea is not new. If you look at PDF page 41 in chapter 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project FEIS it shows a map that diverts Blue Line trains to Greenbelt to accommodate Silver line service on the trunk east of Rosslyn. It also shows Orange line train running to Largo to accommodate the boarding on the east end of the Blue line lost to trains diverted to Greenbelt from the southwest.

As to splitting the Yellow line. The Yellow was originally split between separate Springfield and Franconia stations. The original location of the Springfield station was to be built where the VRE Backlick Road station is today. The Franconia station was to be built at Franconia Road and the CSX railroad right of way. Yellow line trains from both of these stations went to Greenbelt. The Blue line was to run between Huntington and Addison Road.

A deal was made between Fairfax County and the state of Virginia in the late 1970 that deleted the metrorail station at Backlick Road and moved the Franconia station south to the present location of the Franconia-Springfield station at Franconia-Springfield Parkway and Frontier Drive.

The swapping of the colors is another story related to the rolling stock shortage that existed when service was extended on the C route south of National Airport to Huntington on 12 17 1983. In order to best utilize the limited fleet WMATA had at the time Yellow line service was run to Huntington. Blue line continued to terminate at National Airport until the Van Dorn station opened on 06 15 1991.

by Sand Box John on Oct 6, 2008 10:27 pm  

Agreed on the thinner lines - much more visually appealing.

My question: when are they going to build a tunnel between the Farragut West and Farragut North stations?

by Red Liner on Oct 7, 2008 12:06 am  

This would make a lot more sense if instead of running between Gallery Place/Chninatown and Ft Totten they ran it along the red line instead.

by No Red Line on Oct 7, 2008 12:31 am  

I imagine that the idea is to get as many people from the Springfield Interchange (Interstates 95/395/495) into downtown DC as fast as possible. This alignment makes good sense, but I might propose new tracks that cover more of Arlington, Alexandria, and Northeast DC.

If only there was money to dig tunnels, I'd love to see run from L'Enfant to Union Station, and then perhaps follow the CSX tracks up to College Park adding a bunch of new stations along the way. But I suppose this new service alignment will take more cars off the Shirley Highway, a noble goal for now.

by Dave Murphy on Oct 7, 2008 2:47 am  

Red Liner: The tunnel is part of the 10-year $11B plan, under "Demand Focus". It's discussed in this WMATA committee report:

http://wmata.com/board_gm/board_docs/042408_RailCapacitypresentation.pdf

No Red Line: The Red line is already near capacity (24 trains per hour) during rush hour, as shown in this report:

http://www.wmata.com/board_gm/board_docs/021408_4BBlueLinerealignment.pdf

Any Blue line trains diverted to the Red line would necessarily reduce other red line trains in service. Also, I don't have access to a track map (WMATA has found and eliminated them since 9/11), but I don't believe there are simple connections between the Blue and Red lines. There may be maintenance connections, but none that are suitable for revenue service.

Dave Murphy: This is a "no build" change. It would be nice to have new tracks but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

by Michael P on Oct 7, 2008 6:25 am  

Michael P

106 Mile Metrorail System Track Schematic

by Sand Box John on Oct 7, 2008 8:12 am  

I agree with switching the terminus of the Blue/Yellow line (Springfield/Huntington).

But if not, why not just have a "Gold" line from Springfield to King Street, then Gold and Yellow merge, and, voila, no dirty brown line or crowded map. (alternately, you could just have yellow from Springfield to King Street and just list a different terminus on each train...its not that confusing, people!)

by anonymouse on Oct 7, 2008 10:57 am  

SBJ: Thanks! WMATA has been systematically hunting down and issuing C&D letters to owners of this map. Apparently it's a terrorism thing.

by Michael P on Oct 7, 2008 12:17 pm  

Count me on the side of having this just be a split yellow line, unless we are going to come up with another color for the Red line Grosvenor-Silver Spring, the Yellow line that ends at Ft. Totten, and all the other variations on the current system. It seems like a particularly bad idea to give a new color since to an occasional service, while all the other lines are full-time service. This will keep the tourists from waiting at the Pentagon on Saturdays for a Brown line train.

by Stanton Park on Oct 7, 2008 5:08 pm  

I do not care if the line is brown, blue, yellow, wide or thin. Service from Franconia/Springfield to downtown Washington is clearly the most direct route as previously designed and not implemented. Just implement the service and METRO can use a magic marker on all their old maps.

by Bob C on Oct 8, 2008 2:16 pm