Budget
24 hours until McDonnell delays Silver Line, safer railcars
If Governor Bob McDonnell does not relent on his withholding of Virginia's capital match within 24 hours, new 7000-series railcars for the Silver Line and to replace dangerous 1000-series cars will be delayed.
Photo by tracktwentynine on Flickr.
At today's WMATA Board meeting, General Manager Sarles broke with his usual very controlled and even demeanor and let some anger creep into his voice. He explained that WMATA needs to give a "Notice to Proceed" to Kawasaki by July 5 to get the cars in time for the opening of the Silver Line. That requires a "preapproval authority" from the FTA verifying that the funds are there, and that is being held up because of the uncertainty concerning Virginia's payments.
Virginia has to pay by July 1, but Sarles explained that the whole order will be postponed fairly significantly unless McDonnell at least reaffirms to FTA his commitment to pay the funds as promised.
Update: I got clarification on the issue of what delay we're talking about. WMATA has to give Kawasaki the go-ahead by July 5th under their contract. If they don't, Kawasaki could back out or renegotiate. Maybe they'd just give WMATA an extension, but maybe they wouldn't or WMATA would have to pay more money. It's a risk we shouldn't have to take.
Some members pointed out that there's definite debate about whether McDonnell is even legally allowed to withhold this money. As a condition of the federal appropriation, DC, Maryland, and Virginia had to certify that the funding from a "dedicated source" was set aside. McDonnell may be on shaky ground now threatening to take it away after telling Congress the money was there.
As expected, the Board also passed its budget including the very large fare hike that has been discussed previously. The only change was to amend the budget to reduce the cost of SmarTrip cards from $5 to $2.50. The differential between SmarTrip and cash will increase on bus and a new differential is being added on rail, making SmarTrips even more important. However, some lower income riders have a harder time affording the SmarTrip cards.
 | David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.   |
Comments
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by Canaan on Jun 24, 2010 2:56 pm • link • report
Area is way above my pay grade in law, but can WMATA even sue Virginia? Or could Maryland and DC sue Virginia for any increase in the contract clause.
Surprised I have not seen more noise about this. As I've said before, I think McDonnel has a good argument to ask for seat. I think he has a piss-poor argument for his timing.
by charlie on Jun 24, 2010 2:59 pm • link • report
by Dave Murphy on Jun 24, 2010 3:01 pm • link • report
by thm on Jun 24, 2010 3:03 pm • link • report
by jim on Jun 24, 2010 3:07 pm • link • report
That means that this really is all on McDonnell. He has to make a decision now about whether he will hold things up to get his way.
by BeyondDC on Jun 24, 2010 3:09 pm • link • report
The cards need to cost something, otherwise people would just take the free cards and then lose them. They aren't free to WMATA.
by Michael Perkins on Jun 24, 2010 3:11 pm • link • report
All we're saying is that approval of the money is critical path, right?
Or is the situation that something terrible and non-linear happens if there's a delay? Like you can only deliver cars during car delivery season (hypothetical), and a one-day delay means they can't move until two months from then?
This kind of thing happens at my work, where small delays can mean big end results. Is this the case here?
by Michael Perkins on Jun 24, 2010 3:14 pm • link • report
Sure, it's a complicated scheme to run over and over but I have no doubt that unscrupulous "entrepreneurs" will take advantage of the situation.
by Adam Lewis on Jun 24, 2010 3:17 pm • link • report
by MLD on Jun 24, 2010 3:20 pm • link • report
SO what is the deadline here? The 1st? The 5th (is that a holiday this year?)
by charlie on Jun 24, 2010 3:20 pm • link • report
by ah on Jun 24, 2010 3:21 pm • link • report
There are four parties in this deal, and it actually seems like none of them are exactly thrilled about committing the money. Virginia just seems like the one who chose the short straw and might take the fall.
by Lou on Jun 24, 2010 3:25 pm • link • report
If they didn't allow a negative balance, Metro would have to upgrade all the Exit Fare machines to allow for Smartrip users to add the necessary fare... and that's not happening anytime soon.
by Adam Lewis on Jun 24, 2010 3:26 pm • link • report
I think you have to have minimum fare on your smartrip for it to let you into the system. But you can go into the negative if the fare is more than that.
by MLD on Jun 24, 2010 3:27 pm • link • report
They're not turned on, though.
by Michael Perkins on Jun 24, 2010 3:30 pm • link • report
That's great, but until they're available and activated everywhere, Metro could still fall victim to scamming.
@MLD
I know that I've used my SmarTrip with a balance under a dollar... don't think having the minimum fare on the card is a requirement, though it is something that Metro could/should definitely look into.
by Adam Lewis on Jun 24, 2010 3:37 pm • link • report
That'll show his GOP ass who's in charge.
by Redline SOS on Jun 24, 2010 3:40 pm • link • report
The board is completely dysfunctional. I'm surprised they didn't break for a 3 hour "lunch" again.
by StuckinDC on Jun 24, 2010 3:40 pm • link • report
And the benefits coordinator isn't answering my e-mails.
by Tim on Jun 24, 2010 3:51 pm • link • report
by jcm on Jun 24, 2010 3:51 pm • link • report
Theoretically Metro could solve this by giving away free or reduced SmarTrip cards one day per year, or from one particular location.
by BeyondDC on Jun 24, 2010 4:10 pm • link • report
by Lou on Jun 24, 2010 4:19 pm • link • report
by Bossi on Jun 24, 2010 4:42 pm • link • report
by Bossi on Jun 24, 2010 6:25 pm • link • report
by Bossi on Jun 24, 2010 6:25 pm • link • report
This would mean that National Cemetary would need to be addressed perhaps by a "looping" Metro that circled between Rosslyn and Pentagon. What do you think?
I suggest this because then you'd have two lines (Orange and Silver) going through the Rosslyn-Foggy Bottom tunnel and two lines (Blue and Silver) going over the Pentagon-L'Enfant Plaza bridge. That seems like a much more balanced solution than Having a CLOGGED Orange-Blue-Silver mess all through Rosslyn. Thoughts?
I'd love to see a GGW map of such an idea for discussion. Also be interested in maybe a simulation or estimate of the number of passengers this would impact? Would this reduce the congestion?
Thx.
by MetroThinker on Jun 24, 2010 7:13 pm • link • report
by Lou on Jun 24, 2010 7:53 pm • link • report
The Silver Line is not meant to be another Orange Line. Currently, 100,000 people work in Tysons Corner but only 20,000 people actually live in the area. When the first segment of the Silver Line opens in 2013, planners expect people to commute to Tysons Corner from points east by taking advantage of the under-capacity trains that run in the reverse direction during the traditional rush hour commutes.
To ensure that the Silver Line doesn't become just another Orange Line, only one of the five new stations currently under construction has any parking. Wiehle Avenue station will have a garage underneath an adjacent new multi-use development, but it's unclear how many of those parking spaces will actually be available to commuters. When the second segment of the Silver Line opens in 2016, parking facilities will primarily be located at the stations west of Dulles, with the expectation being that the vast majority of these people will be commuting to the new commercial developments planned for Tysons Corner instead of all the way into the District.
by Adam Lewis on Jun 24, 2010 8:51 pm • link • report
If the cost of smart card is reduced below the highest fare, the negative balance can no longer exist. Pay 2.50 for a smart card. Add .5 cents. Take $4.50 ride. Discard and repeat.
Clearly, the amendment was passed by someone who does not ride metro.
by J on Jun 24, 2010 8:53 pm • link • report
Thanks for the comment, but it doesn't answer my thoughts about re-routing the Blue line via Pentagon-L'Enfant. It's my understanding that the Silver line will pick-up at East Falls Church, follow the Orange line to Rosslyn, and from Foggy Bottom on repeat the same path as the Blue Line into the district, right? So why do we need a Orange-Blue-Silver line that (1) risks crowded the tunnel further, and (2) confuses folks?
Also, I hear what you're saying but in reality, from 0630 to 0930 the Orange Line from Vienna in is extremely crowded, reaching standing room only at West Falls Church BEFORE the intended link up with the Silver == that spells trouble. Same with rush hour out, from 1630 to 1900 the Orange line from McPherson Square out to West Falls Church is standing room only and in several cases passengers trying to get out at Farragut West or Foggy Bottom or Rosslyn have to wait 2-3 trains before they can sandwich in == existing trouble.
I'm actually GLAD the Silver Line has been stopped, though not glad new cars aren't being built, because it makes no sense to build new track when EXISTING track is over-capacity, cars are breaking down, and you haven't solved the Rosslyn-Foggy Bottom bottleneck. Thus the suggestion I made to try and aleve this?
by MetroThinker on Jun 24, 2010 11:35 pm • link • report
Give us a break with your once a year, one-day slumming, as if that gives you even a clue as to what real poor folks are experiencing. Surely you don't believe that because you have been able to panhandle "more than enough for food" that you have solved the dilemma of the affordability of the SmarTrip card for low income, working poor and the homeless, which is what your post suggests.
by KevinM on Jun 25, 2010 6:22 am • link • report
Sometimes we talk about touchy subjects about race and income and I'm not going to let this forum devolve into a bunch of "you don't know what it's like for other folks" anytime we do. Educate, not attack. Please.
by David Alpert on Jun 25, 2010 8:00 am • link • report
And even if the money is in the budget passed by the Assembly, I think the Governor has a lot of discretion about actually writing the check. Might be different standard than the federal standard.
by charlie on Jun 25, 2010 8:27 am • link • report
Actually I totally agree with you- one day isn't enough. Though it is eye-opening even for such a short duration; you meet a lot of interesting people & learn quite a bit about a world very different from ours. And the point was that the price of SmartTrip cards aren't the burden; food & and fares themselves are.
by Bossi on Jun 25, 2010 9:06 am • link • report
Would it be feasible to add a third platform to Rosslyn or Court House, and use that to turn trains around, a la DCA or WFC?
by andrew on Jun 25, 2010 9:29 am • link • report
by KevinM on Jun 25, 2010 9:50 am • link • report
by NW on Jun 25, 2010 10:10 am • link • report
I've also seen previously that some people who currently take the Orange Line would switch to Silver once that opens, somewhat alleviating the pressure on Orange Line trains. I've also seen discussions on this site looking at maybe running a shuttle train to Arlington Cemetery and using the Yellow Line bridge more (I think this was in connection to discussions regarding the Brown Line or maybe that map that graphically showed the breakdown of train headways)
by Steven Yates on Jun 25, 2010 10:26 am • link • report
The tunnel is capable of 26 trains per hour. This will likely be split 10 for silver, 10 for orange, and 6 for blue. I might have the numbers slightly off. The current split is 16 for Orange and 10 for blue, I believe.
Under the old distribution, 104 railcars left per hour from West Falls Church, and somewhat fewer left from Vienna because some of the trains are trippers used to handle the load. The new distribution will have 80 railcars leave from Vienna and 80 from Wiehle Ave, so rather than 104 per hour through East Falls Church to Rosslyn and DC, there will be 160.
Much of the ridership through the Eye/12th street tunnel (current orange/blue) originates between Ballston and Rosslyn, so that segment will actually get better service.
I'm putting up the Matt'-signal here for additional help. (It's like the bat signal but it's shaped like a wee-z bond).
by Michael Perkins on Jun 25, 2010 10:57 am • link • report
Michael's analysis (above) is sound. I don't disagree, however, that there are going to be some tradeoffs. For a bit of an overview, see this article of mine:
http://tracktwentynine.blogspot.com/2008/11/understanding-blue-line-reroute.html
by Matt Johnson on Jun 25, 2010 11:36 am • link • report
Impressive analysis and very informative. I really appreciate you both posting this -- and wonder where is the Washington-Post and other conventional news outlets on fostering this discussion and educating the rest of D.C. Kudos to David Alpert for this site because without it, I think we'd all be in the dark (and maybe some politicians would prefer us to be).
Here's a few thoughts: Will having a bifurcated Blue Line confuse tourists? Would it make more sense just to have it go north-south through L'Enfant all the time?
Then you could have (insert color here) going back and forth between Rosslyn and the Pentagon. Very few folks *work* at National Cemetery, it's more of a stop to pay homage to those who paid the ultimate price for our country. You could have two trains each on a track shuttling back and forth throughout the day?
And personally I'd suggest calling such a shuttling service between Rosslyn and the Pentagon the "Purple Line" after the "Purple Heart" awards.
Lastly -- I think the data needs to be updated on where the majority of riders come-in on the Orange Line. I'd suggest, following the price-shock of gas prices a few years back and changing Fairfax demographics -- the bulk are Vienna and West Falls Church -- namely a lot of commuters who park and then take the train in to the District vs. motor along I-66.
Recognizing 2010 Census data hasn't be released, but I'd be interested in an updated assessment of where the most riders for the Orange Line get on -- with my money on West Falls Church and Vienna because of the parking decks?
::MetroThinker::
p.s. Thank you again for a most enlightening discussion!
by MetroThinker on Jun 25, 2010 1:03 pm • link • report
You can find the estimated volume of riders on any part of the Metro system here:
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=4068
and here:
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=4079
Note that in the AM Peak, the Orange Line sees a surge in inbound riders at West Falls Church. Many of those riders are transferring from buses coming from Tysons Corner and upper Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. Many of those riders will shift to the Silver Line once it opens.
by Matt Johnson on Jun 25, 2010 1:10 pm • link • report
Thanks -- hmm... I think those numbers are off because several of my friends and myself have been on the Orange Line in the AM Peak where the train is standing room only by Dunn-Loring, *before* West Falls Church. This begins at Vienna. So I'm wondering how fresh the data is?
One way to reverse-engineer this and check the data would be to count how many parking spaces there are at Vienna and when it reaches capacity (fairly early). Add to this the large amount of people who park along Country Creek Road, near Oakton High School, and other places and then walk to the Metro. Add to this folks walking localling into the area and you could see if the estimates correlate with your estimates.
Or just have Metro assess how full trains are before West Falls Church -- I'm not buying that the bulk only starts at WFC in. I think gas prices and people living further out because of cheaper home prices has stretched this further to Dunn Loring and Vienna. But we need more recent data to see if this is so beyond observations...
by MetroThinker on Jun 25, 2010 1:19 pm • link • report
Is this a case where Metro just doesn't have the cars to add?
Thanks in advance for any information.
by MetroThinker on Jun 25, 2010 1:22 pm • link • report
The numbers are from Metro and are from May 2009. They're 13 months old. The numbers represent the total number of trips (average) taken during the entire AM Peak period.
Just because one train is full at Vienna does not mean that *all* trains leaving Vienna are full. Obviously there's some room on the trains, because people are able to get on at the closer-in stations.
Consider this:
The number of inbound trips taken during the AM Peak between Vienna and Dunn Loring is 1/3rd the number of trips taken during the AM Peak between Court House and Rosslyn. (Some of those trips are the same person - i.e. someone traveling from Vienna to Metro Center).
by Matt Johnson on Jun 25, 2010 1:25 pm • link • report
Metro both lacks the extra cars to run all 8-car trains and they lack the power to do so. They've been upgrading substations to provide more electricity, but that process isn't complete (last time I checked).
Here's WMATA's capital needs inventory on the subject (FY11-FY20):
http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/capital_needs/project_details.cfm?I=077
by Alex B. on Jun 25, 2010 1:31 pm • link • report
Gotcha, thanks -- that's helpful info.
Matt, one specific question about the info at http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=4079 ... I tried backwards engineering it to consider a hypothetical Silver Line that replaced the Blue Line at New Carrollton and then ran west all the way East Falls Church, Tysons, Dulles, and beyond.
However I hit a snag because for the data on the Blue Line, there seems to be a typo in the last, bottom figure: the Yellow Line and the Blue Line going north share 5 stations until C7, but I really think that should be sharing 6 stations until C6 (King St., Braddock Rd., Nat'l Airport, Crystal City, Pentagon City, Pentagon) right?
Gotcha on the Vienna point and I agree with you, however but the data here: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=4068
... Does show that Vienna is the #3 largest when you sort by Entries for the AM Peak table. WFC is #6. If everyone is saying that Tyson's Corner really is about commuter workers and not residents, then I'm not seeing how the Silver Line helps those stations if it starts at East Falls Church?
Also, if we play this out 5-10 years with the Silver Line. Right now it may be commuter workers, but the plethora of stations they have planned (Tysons Center 7, Tysons Center 123, Tysons East) will surely become mixed-use with some residents, adding to the volume of congestion.
I'd really like to see an estimate of Orange+Silver Line AM capacity and PM capacity, and what would happen if the Blue Line opted instead to only go from Pentagon-L'Enfant.
Thanks!
by MetroThinker on Jun 25, 2010 2:22 pm • link • report
The link volumes (e.g. C5, L1) refer not to stations but to the line in between each station. There are 5 common links where the Yellow shares with the Blue. There are 6 stations in that stretch.
So, the 5 common links are:
1. [King St - Braddock Rd]
2. [Braddock Rd - Nat'l Airport]
3. [Nat'l Airport - Crystal City]
4. [Crystal City - Pentagon City]
5. [Pentagon City - Pentagon]
###
Also, the Blue Line does not serve New Carrollton station. That is a function of the Orange Line. The Blue Line serves Largo Town Center instead.
###
The Silver Line will not serve Vienna, Dunn Loring, or West Falls Church. However it will "help" those stations because a lot of the riders who board there are coming from the corridor which the Silver Line will serve. So, there will be lessened demand at those stations.
###
I also don't know what you mean about the Blue Line. Are you suggesting that the Blue Line run between Pentagon and L'Enfant (over the Yellow bridge) only? What do you think that would solve?
by Matt Johnson on Jun 25, 2010 2:55 pm • link • report
I follow your logic, but we need to know how many riders to Vienna, Dunn Loring, or West Falls Church are coming from northern Fairfax vs. western and southern Fairfax.
Because once you put in place the Silver Line, then you may take some of the northern Fairfax riders that would have done the Orange Line, but you'll also gain riders from even *further* north of the Silver Line (as well as further west of the Silver Line).
Example: If Vienna's ridership in the AM is 10,000 before the Silver Line
... it's not as if, when the Silver Line starts, Vienna will be 10,000 - X Silver Line riders... and Silver Line will be just X. The Silver Line will get X + Y local riders who didn't normally take the Metro but now that it's close enough do.
So that by the time you get to East Falls Church, you're going to get on the Orange Line 22,174 - X and on the Silver Line X + Y. I guess what's missing from this is running the trains faster, but I've not heard that discussed. What I've heard is it will be same speed as present, just split between Orange vs. Silver. Which doesn't seem to solve anything.
In sum: Silver Line will not only take some riders away from the Orange Line, but gain some of their own, which will come to a bottleneck at East Falls Church onwards. How do we solve that?
####
You're right about New Carrolton, my confusion (apologies, multitasking). What I'm suggesting is that Largo Town Center change from Blue to Silver, and then west all the way East Falls Church, Tysons, Dulles, and beyond.
The *new* Blue Line then runs from Franconia-Springfield, over the bridge from Pentagon-L'Enfant and returns.
What am I trying to solve? Well the numbers here in the bottom-most diagram: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=6319
... show that when the Orange Line *connects* with the Blue Line at Rosslyn, capacity surges from 30,992 an in-bound Orange Line train to 44,719
In short: the Blue Line train adds about 13,700 to an already crowded Orange Line train. Instead of doing this, I suggest just keep Orange and Silver Line trains running as often as they can through the Rosslyn-Foggy Bottom tunnel, with no need to do switching and signalling to switch Orange-Blue.
The Blue Line instead can go from the Pentagon to L'Enfant and folks wanting to go west can switch (sorry) to the Orange/Silver Line there. OR can take a modified Pentagon-Rosslyn shuttle Metro that's just bouncing between those stations as fast as needed there.
We can also see that Orange Line trains from L'Enfant heading west are not as crowded as those going east, so this would balance the load better.
Does this make sense? Apologies that just writing text makes it hard to illustrate the proposal here...
Thanks for all your info and ideas btw!
by MetroThinker on Jun 25, 2010 3:48 pm • link • report
The thing is - ridership will be increasing east of East Falls Church, but so will the number of trains. East Falls Church, Ballston, Virginia Square, Clarendon, and Court House will see trains every 3 minutes on average (up from 4 currently). That's slightly less than the Red Line, which has trains every 2.5 minutes between Silver Spring and Grosvenor.
Just to be clear, the Silver Line will continue through downtown. Riders are not going to have to get off at EFC and change to an Orange Line train. They can stay on the same train they catch at Tysons Central 7 all the way to Metro Center or L'Enfant Plaza or anywhere else west of Stadium-Armory.
I like this idea. Especially since half of Blue Line trains are going to be going to Greenbelt anyway. Why not use the River Terrace pocket track to turnback Blues and send all Silvers to Largo (and all Oranges to New Carrollton) instead of sending some Oranges to Largo in addition to some Blues? Well, Metro's proposal has half of Blue Line trains doing this, and then continuing to Greenbelt. Trains could not turn back at L'Enfant Plaza during rush hour. There is a crossover north of the station, but due to the headway during peak, a pocket track (3rd track in the middle) would be needed. The nearest pocket is at Mount Vernon Square and is already used to turn back Yellows. No. You're misreading the data.Capacity is not surging, ridership is. Just to be clear. But I understand what you mean.
What is happening here is not happening to an individual train or even line. *If* the Blue Line ended at Rosslyn, you would be correct. But it doesn't. It continues downtown too.
There are 30,992 riders over the duration of the AM Peak inbound between Court House and Rosslyn. Some of those riders alight and leave the station at Rosslyn. Some alight and change to the *outbound* Blue Line.
There are 17,016 riders on the inbound Blue Line over the duration of the AM Peak between Arlington Cemetery and Rosslyn. Some of those riders alight and leave the station at Rosslyn. Some alight and change to the *outbound* Orange Line.
The link between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom inbound sees 44,719 riders over the duration of the AM Peak.
Some of those riders boarded a train at Rosslyn. If that was the case, they either took whichever train came first or they took the train taking them to their destination (like Landover, only on Orange).
Your hypothesis seems to be that the [17,016 riders from the Blue Line] - [those alighting at Rosslyn] try to cram onto Orange Line trains carrying [30,992 riders] - [those alighting at Rosslyn]. That is not the case.
People on the Blue Line before Rosslyn who aren't going to Rosslyn or the outbound Orange Line just stay on the Blue Line. Same for the Orange Line.
Since Orange Line trains make up 60% of the trains passing through Rosslyn, and Blue Line trains make up 40% of the trains passing through Rosslyn, we would hope that the balance from each line matches those numbers. If they're off, crowding would be more severe on one line or the other.
For instance, if 80% of the ridership was on Orange, but only 60% of the trains were, we would expect overcrowding on the Orange Line (and under use on the Blue).
But, here's the thing: The inbound ridership split at Rosslyn is 65% Orange and 35% Blue. That means we would expect Orange Line trains to be a little more crowded, but not severely imbalanced.
To further explain, let's compare the ridership versus capacity.
Between Court House and Rosslyn, the Orange Line carries 30,992 over the duration of the AM Peak. Between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom the number for *both* the Blue and Orange Lines is 44,719.
That is an increase of 44%. Sounds pretty tough. Except that the capacity also increases. That's because the Blue Line is joining up. Capacity is increased by about 60-66%.
That actually sounds really good. Except that we have to factor in those pesky riders from the Blue Line.
So let's consider the ridership on both inbound legs prior to Rosslyn with the ridership on the inbound leg after Rosslyn.
Orange (K1-Trk1): 30,992
+
Blue (C5-Trk1): 17,016
=
K1_1+C5_1: 48,008
Which we compare to C4-Trk1 (Rosslyn-Foggy Bottom): 44,719.
[!] It's not an increase! It's a decrease!
It's a decrease because a bunch of people get off at Rosslyn or transfer from Inbound Blue to Outbound Orange or Inbound Orange to Outbound Blue. And those numbers are larger than the number of Inbound Blue or Inbound Orange riders boarding at Rosslyn.
It might be possible to modify Pentagon station to allow trains to turn back there. It would require using the Columbia Pike stub tunnels and building new tracks toward Bailey's Crossroads a little bit. Not a whole spur, just enough to level out the tracks and have a crossover.However, it is not possible under the current design to turn back trains at Rosslyn. There are only two tracks, and they're on different levels. Trains would have to travel at least as far as Foggy Bottom to access a crossover, and even then, the headways would mean that a pocket would be needed for turnback operations.
And the nearest pocket? You guessed it. East of Stadium-Armory (at River Terrace).
And even if there were a crossover at Rosslyn, the shuttle train would take up platform time.
Metro trains can operate over switches every 135 seconds. That means that in a 12 minute period, you can see 5 trains in one direction.
Right now, that space is allocated as 3 Oranges and 2 Blues.
If you add a shuttle train operating every 12 minutes, you get: 4 Oranges and 1 Shuttle. This would decrease the number of trains serving Foggy Bottom to Stadium-Armory. Because the Shuttle wouldn't be going Downtown. It would be going out of service and returning to Pentagon. And it takes up a space currently allotted to a Downtown-bound train.
Until a separate platform is built at Rosslyn, anything that goes there is better off continuing through Downtown.
by Matt Johnson on Jun 25, 2010 4:48 pm • link • report
Thanks for the great walkthrough -- would be great if there was a Java applet or a Google Docs spreadsheet that could simulate increasing the frequency + number of cars of a train.
I've got your logic that if you have more trains running at a faster frequency you can address the bottleneck. I guess the only reason why this isn't happening now with the crowds at peak AM and PM times is because of the lack of cars + lack of sufficient electricity.
Since cars can't turn around at Rosslyn -- hmmm, almost makes you think they should just make National Cemetary accessible by shuttle buses then?
Then havet Largo Town Center change from Blue to Silver, and then west all the way East Falls Church, Tysons, Dulles, and beyond -- and like you said, use the River Terrace pocket track to turnback Blues and send all Silvers to Largo (and all Oranges to New Carrollton) instead of sending some Oranges to Largo in addition to some Blues?
Thanks again for a great discussion. Maybe David Alpert could dedicate a blog post on this subject complete with maps (I'd love a Google Doc spreadsheet too so folks can play with the numbers)... ?
Hope you have a great weekend!
by MetroThinker on Jun 25, 2010 6:01 pm • link • report
All trains coming from south of Washington into Central Washington have to cross one of two switches: the Rosslyn switch (currently crossed by Blue and Orange) or the L'Enfant Plaza switch (currently crossed by Yellow and Green). Each of those switches can carry 26 trains per hour, so 52 trains per hour can travel from south of the District into Central Washington. It appears that Metro is planning to allocate those 52 slots as 10 Silver, 10 Orange, 6 Blue through Rosslyn, 6 Blue across 14th St Bridge, 10 Yellow, 10 Green.
But this allocation is the Day 1 allocation. Metro will be watching the ridership and will change frequency depending. If Silver Line trains are lightly loaded and Orange overloaded, Silver may go to 8 tph and Orange to 12. If Blue to Rosslyn is badly overloaded because there really are a lot of people want to go between Franconia-Springfield and Farragut West, then Orange and Silver may be dropped to 9 tph and Blue via Rosslyn raised to 8. There will be a juggling act going on as Metro tries to react to how people use the expanded system.
by jim on Jun 25, 2010 8:00 pm • link • report
I strongly disagree with all the Orange Line posters here who unilaterally declare that Metro should now re-route 100% Blue Line trains through the L'enfant bridge (so that many thousands of Blue Liners suddenly lose all direct rail to their workplace). We already have enough of that, it's called the YELLOW line.
by Blue Line rider on Jun 27, 2010 6:56 pm • link • report
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