Today’s the first weekday with SafeTrack in effect, with single tracking between Ballston and East Falls Church. One result is that trains headed toward DC aren’t always showing up on the same platform at Ballston.

Greater Greater Washington contributor Svet Neov takes Metro from Ballston to Navy Yard each morning. Here’s how his commute went today:

I immediately noticed that there were lots and lots of WMATA staff on hand, handing out SafeTrack fliers and helping direct people outside the station and around the bus bays. Underground, there was more staff on either side of the fare gates.

There was one guy with a loudspeaker telling passengers which side DC-bound trains were on and which side outbound trains were on— the sides he directed everyone to were the typical platforms during normal service. After this piece of direction, things broke down a bit like this:

  • I saw a DC bound train leaving the “correct” platform just as I descended down the escalator. Neither side was particularly crowded, just normal rush hour crowds.
  • After a short 3-5 minute wait, a DC-bound Orange Line train appeared on the OPPOSITE side. Some folks looked confused and a few who were close to the escalators made a dash to go up and over.
  • After another minute, a DC-bound Silver Line train appeared on the OPPOSITE side. More folks looked more confused. This time a slightly larger group made a run for it to the escalators. The trains held for a normal time so unless you were very close to the escalator chances were you wouldn’t make it over in time if you made a decision right when you saw the train pull in.
  • After another minute or two, a DC bound Orange Line train appeared on the OPPOSITE side for the third time. At this point most people were confused and a large group made a run for the escalators.
  • The next train on the OPPOSITE side was an Orange Line train to Vienna.
  • Finally, an Orange Line train serviced the “correct” platform, which I was on. At this point it had become a bit crowded, but certainly no crush. It was a six-car train so everyone at the “front” of the platform had to go towards the “back” to get on. All told my wait was about 13 minutes.
  • When we got to Rosslyn the train had a mechanical problem so we had to offload. Now it became crushingly crowded and when the next train came, it could not take everyone.

From all this, I would say the biggest complaint was platform directions at Ballston. A lot of people seemed very upset at the fact that three trains in the correct direction but on the opposite side passed us— they weren’t that crowded either.

This is all a result of where trains can crossover on either side of Ballston, and it almost makes Ballston like a “skip stop” station for all trains coming from Vienna or Reston headed downtown because of the directions people were given.

I predict that tomorrow, if people learn that quickly, there will either be some serious crowding at the escalators so people can make a move across quicker or people will try to stand at the mezzanine and wait to see which side the train comes on. I think there has to be a more efficient way to direct folks so they don’t see multiple trains pass them.

This is happening because extra trains are running eastbound from Ballston

Stephen Repetski explained what’s happening:

Right now, the outbound track from Ballston to East Falls Church is the track that trains can use to travel between these two stations. Trains inbound from Vienna or Wiehle arrive on the Ballston outbound platform (the “wrong” one), and then cross over to the right track at the interlocking just east of the station, before Virginia Square.

Diagram by Svet Neov.

What’s screwing people up is that Metro is running extra Orange Line trains between Ballston and New Carrolton.

Every ~third Orange Line train, running every 18 minutes, will berth at the outbound platform at Ballston, and continue on to Vienna. Those turning back toward New Carrollton will use the other (inbound) platform at Ballston, when it is available. So the train would load up at Ballston on the “right” track and leave on out from there. But if the inbound track isn’t free, WMATA may decide to berth the Orange Line train (still planning to turn around at Ballston) on the outbound track, and reverse it at the interlocking east of the station. So it’s possible that you could have Orange Line trains on each platform headed into DC at the same time.

Also, there are 35mph speed limits between Ballston and East Falls Church since trains are traveling near personnel.

Matt Johnson added further detail:

To elaborate on what Stephen said (all of which is correct), WMATA is encouraging people starting at Ballston headed toward downtown to board the trains starting there and NOT trying to board the trains from Vienna or Wiehle.

The reason for this is because those trains are already very crowded and will get more crowded.

Additionally, even turning trains at Ballston takes a lot of tight scheduling at Ballston because the terminating trains need to cross over, and may be stuck behind trains waiting to go through to Vienna.

As for which track trains use, it depends on the direction the single-track is operating. If trains in the single-track zone are moving toward downtown, a Ballston terminating train can’t enter that section, even just to platform.

However of the single-track zone is moving toward Vienna, trains terminating at Ballston can pull into that platform and terminate. But it makes more sense to be consistent.

“The crowding issue definitely makes sense because trains from Vienna and Reston have larger headways,” said Svet. “But people don’t like getting ‘skipped,’ especially by trains that stop at the station and open their doors on the other side of the station. Also, the trains from Vienna/Reston at that hour (7:30ish am) were not more crowded that typical, and all were eight-car trains.

“This really only creates confusion for Ballston riders and no one else. Short of a guy calling out which side the next train will come to, I’m not sure there’s an easy way to alleviate this other than to communicate with people the reasoning behind it.”