The evolution of Metrorail, 1976-2010

Budget

by David Alpert • February 8, 2010 10:29 am

During December's snowstorm, we wrote that the worst December storm since 1982 would (and did) create a Metro system with about the same number of stations as in 1982, as did this weekend's storm.

This raises the question, what exactly did the rail system look like in 1982? Or other years? To answer that, I created a little slideshow:

The Metrorail system may have been about the same size as in 1982 during the recent storms, but if Metro has to make drastic cuts to bus and rail service in July as planned, it'll indefinitely revert to a state far worse than it was in 2005. Sign CSG's petition to ask local officials to support Metro and maintain our vital service.

Notes on the maps:

Most of the data comes from the excellent nycsubway.org timeline of the Washington Metro. I tried to identify the dates of station renamings from Wikipedia's pages on individual stations and other online sources. To keep the number of maps manageable, and because many stations' exact renaming dates are not available, I grouped station renamings in with the next major service change.

We know that around 1982, Orange and Blue trains operated a strange service pattern where Orange trains ran to New Carrollton, then turned around as Blue trains to run to National Airport; Orange trains the other way went to Ballston, then turned around as Blue trains to Addison Road.

According to coneyraven, this balanced the capacity as the New Carrollton and National Airport branches had higher ridership than the Ballston and Addison Road branches, while keeping the termini the same as their ultimate configurations (i.e. to get to New Carrollton, get on an Orange train).

I don't have information on whether Metro used this pattern for the entire time between when the line to Addison Road opened on December 1, 1979 until the Yellow Line opened on April 30, 1983; the maps above assume that is the case.

The maps do not show the Green Line Commuter Shortcut, where from January 27, 1997 until the inner Green Line opened in September 17, 1999, rush hour Green Line trains on the Greenbelt segment used the switch at Fort Totten to continue to Farragut North. Metro maps from that era do not appear to show this service except in an info box.

43 comments — Share	— tags: maps, service cuts, snow, WMATA

A new late-night map to soften the blow of Metrorail cuts (Dec 23, 2009)
A cheaper route to Metro core capacity, part 3: More complex service patterns (Jul 1, 2009)
A cheaper route to Metro core capacity? (Jun 29, 2009)
What was up with the one-way Orange-Blue? (Oct 7, 2008)
Proposed "Blue Line split": why blue? (Mar 12, 2008)

Comments

Wow, great slideshow, David. Not a bad way to spend your Snowpocalypse.

by Alex B. on Feb 8, 2010 10:41 am

This is great! At the London Transit museum, they have a similar display about the London Underground, and I was hoping that a similar chart for DC would be made eventually.

Thanks!

by Erik on Feb 8, 2010 11:17 am

Great work. It's always nice to see the evolution of a system. Whether it be the Washington Metro or Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Canada).

Too bad your license is CC-BY-NC so Wikipedia can't benefit from these images.

by Fritz on Feb 8, 2010 11:20 am

That's an awesome map, David! However, during these snow storms, Metro has been running service between Glenmont and Forest Glen, even though their press release admits that their snow map doesn't show it.

by Eric F. on Feb 8, 2010 11:27 am

The snowstorm map is wrong it is correct for December but this time Glenmont thru Forest Glen was open.

Why was the Rhode Island Ave - Farragut North Stretch opened first.

I still dont see the logic of the blue/orange line thing

What took so long for trains in SW & SE & in Petworth/Columbia Hgts; why not add those first before the northern PG county green line.

by kk on Feb 8, 2010 11:34 am

What is interesting is that the Red Line only operated to Van ness in '82 .... plus, in comparison to this weekends storm, we must not forget the accident with the first customer fatalities in the systems history ... An Orange Line train, for lack of a better word, became crumpled agains one of the walls between the tracks at the switch between Federal Triangle and Smithsonian...and since the Yellow Line didn't make it's debut till the following year, there was no other alternative way to get past the accident

by coneyraven on Feb 8, 2010 11:37 am

kk - The Red line opened first for several reasons. One, they needed a stretch of track with a rail yard on it - and that was the Brentwood yard and shops. Two, they needed a large outdoor staging area to easily get materials into the tunnels that were under construction - which was the portal at Union Station.

by Alex B. on Feb 8, 2010 11:41 am

kk ... The "Blue & Orange Line Thing" --- was a direct result of a car shortage of the time and in the name of efficiency ... read my post (you can click on it above) to explain in detail .... the car shortage is also the reason the Huntington branch was changed to Yellow from the originally planned Blue ... and then eventually made permanent (which I feel was a mistake to make permanent)

by coneyraven on Feb 8, 2010 11:44 am

Wow, the map is amazing, GREAT JOB! I wish our Metro here in Miami had a similar expansion story. Great map though.

by Kevin on Feb 8, 2010 11:44 am

I've added the Forest Glen-Glenmont segment with a note saying that it was only open during this storm.

by David Alpert on Feb 8, 2010 11:57 am

The future weekend looks absolutely terrible.

by NikolasM on Feb 8, 2010 12:19 pm

Metro will be in a perpetual state of crisis so long as it: (1) does not have a dedicated portion of each jurisdictions sales tax (2) stays in the parking business where it is forced to maintain expansive lots and garages at the expense of station platforms (3) continues to overpay employees (a bus driver with a high school eduction such not be making 6 figures) and satisfy destructive labor unions with unrealistic contracts (4) allows funding formulas to favor expansion of the system (i.e. the Silver Line) rather than improvements (i.e. the downtown pedestrian connectors) and (5) creates red tape for transit-oriented redevelopment of WMATA property that could produce lucrative ground lease income and developer-provided station enhancements.

by Cyrus on Feb 8, 2010 12:32 pm

Thanks for sharing this! It is nice to be able to show the out-of-towners what an impact this really has had!

by Dee on Feb 8, 2010 12:50 pm

I know it's hard to think about the future in these tough budget times, but it's a shame that our current maps don't show any "future stations". Since the map is such a notional representation of Metro, showing planned service gives riders something to aspire to, rather than the current image of Metro as completed and static.

by Gavin Baker on Feb 8, 2010 12:54 pm

This is amazing! Thank you for putting it together. It's incredible to see how recent some of the development I take for granted really is.

It would be really cool to overlay each slide of this with some sort of economic development metric (average rent/home sale prices? per capita income? sales tax revenue?) to see how neighborhoods with metro stations compare to those without.

by stacy on Feb 8, 2010 12:59 pm

I thought Green Line service on severe snow days went only as far north as Georgia Ave?

by Reza on Feb 8, 2010 1:30 pm

Quite cool.

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 8, 2010 2:12 pm

One of the coolest posts I have seen on this site! It's crazy there was a 6 year gap in building the inner green line segment by which I currently live.

by Shawn on Feb 8, 2010 2:41 pm

Cool map.

A petition that only calls for more money and completely ignores the need for better management, better customer service and better communication with the riding public is weak.

by Unsuck DC Metro on Feb 8, 2010 3:25 pm

Fantastic slide show. Having made it to work on the truncated snowpocalypse Red line schedule, now I'm worried about getting home. Unimaginable to think our region would abandon fully funding our transit system after building it. We need to make better choices with limited resources - fund Metro rather than the ICC and the laundry list of road expansions!

by ccort on Feb 8, 2010 3:32 pm

For some reason, you're not allowed to sign the linked petition without signing up for email alerts. They made that a 'required field'.

bah.

by Jesse on Feb 8, 2010 3:43 pm

Yeah. I was ready to sign the petition, but they lost me signature by trying to require me to sign up for email alerts.

by Jimmy on Feb 8, 2010 5:02 pm

I've contacted them to see if they can remove that. I suspect it's an error. They switched backend systems after that petition was first created.

by David Alpert on Feb 8, 2010 5:11 pm

Or you could just sign it with a throwaway email address (e.g. from mailinator.com). Or copy the text and send a letter on your own. Don't let your beef with CSG's form stop you from contacting your representatives about this.

by Gavin Baker on Feb 8, 2010 5:20 pm

Speaking of Greenbelt Commuter Shortcut -- I've been told by many people they wish Metro still operates that Shortcut during rush hours. Is it possible for Metro to operate both Green Line and Green Shortcut Line same time? At least, it'll help relieve the pressure on Red Line between Brookland/Rhodes Island/NY Ave and Dupont Circle.

Also, did DC Government or Metro ever consider one time having a garage build at Rhodes Island and/or New York/Florida Ave? Because so many commuters from Maryland could take the Metro to/from work.

by Dave on Feb 8, 2010 10:01 pm

Great for nostalgia- I remember my first trip on Metro- a junior high field trip - from Silver Spring to DC, accessed via a Ride-On bus (from White Flint). Circa 1978.

by Lib on Feb 8, 2010 10:07 pm

I live in NYC. It's so freaking EXCITING to see a subway system that's actually grown since, I dunno, 1973.

More subways! Everywhere!

by anonymiss on Feb 8, 2010 11:44 pm

Awesome map.

by Jasper on Feb 9, 2010 6:47 am

Too bad you can't sign up for the petition without allow CSG to SPAM you. Dumb move. Lost a vote right there and then.

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by Jasper on Feb 9, 2010 8:43 am

Jasper, Jimmy, Jesse etc: CSG has fixed the petition. You now can sign without having to sign up for any email lists if you don't want to. Thanks for flagging this issue.

I would still encourage everyone to sign up for their general list; they send out very important action alerts, and not too frequently.

by David Alpert on Feb 9, 2010 5:45 pm

Signed and submitted.

by Jasper on Feb 9, 2010 8:45 pm

Fantastic work, David! Thanks for doing this!

by JasonP on Feb 9, 2010 11:16 pm

An interesting thing that I'm not sure other people have thought of:

The Metro system has always been shown in its entirety, even when lines were merely planned or their routing was still up in the air (think Green Line in the 80s), the system map still showed those lines and stations, just in a way to convey that they were not operational.

This slideshow shows the system as it expanded from its conception, without the distraction of the yet-to-be finished segments. Truly an evolution to behold.

by Reza on Feb 10, 2010 1:35 am

Reza,

Interesting that you mention the maps that showed the entire system (finished and planned) --- Remember in the 80's when the southern branch of the Green Line was, for a time, planned to go outside the beltway to Rosecroft? Those maps weren't up for too long.

by coneyraven on Feb 10, 2010 8:43 am

David, would it be possible to include the planned Purple Line in this timeline as well?

by Jasonp on Feb 10, 2010 12:30 pm

The Purple Line would only be speculation as they don't have assured funding.

by Fritz on Feb 10, 2010 1:19 pm

I thought the Purple Line will be run by MTA, not Metro.

by Gavin Baker on Feb 10, 2010 1:30 pm

Gavin, MTA will be 100% responsible for building the Purple Line. Once that is finished, it's up to MTA decide who to runs it -- I read that it's likely MTA will contract out to Metro.

by Dave on Feb 10, 2010 3:34 pm

The purple line should not be apart of the metrorail system if it can not fully function seamlessly within the current system.

If the purple line consist of people going outside and leaving stations to transfer to either the red, green or orange lines than it should not be a line since it is inherently different from the others; if its transfer points are like other typical metrostations (Le'Enfant Plaza, Ft. Totten, Gallery place, Metro Center)than it should be considered a line.

by kk on Feb 10, 2010 6:32 pm

@kk: Good point. It's only conjecture on my part, but I foresee the Purple Line, in the form of an on-road light rail as it's now being planned, being more like a speedier Metrobus---different / non-seamless fare system (unless one is using a SmarTrip card).

by JasonP on Feb 12, 2010 10:12 am

David,
Your slideshow shows the evolution of what was actually built and the service that was implemented.

What your slideshow fails to show is the evolution of the alignment changes, additions, subtraction and how the service that exists today differers from what was shown on the system map when Phase I opened on 03 27 1976.

by Sand Box John on Feb 18, 2010 10:01 am

Sand Box John: That's true. I didn't have that information. If you want to provide me with a list I can try to make such a map at some point.

by David Alpert on Feb 18, 2010 12:16 pm

Was reading another post and got bored with the perpetual megalomania "for and against streetcars" convo so I thought I would check out the "Metro evolution map" for the first time since February. Have you thought about adding the Silver Line to the map sometime?

by Shipsa01 on Aug 17, 2010 4:18 pm