Why the Blue Line needs to keep calling at Rosslyn

Transit

Why the Blue Line needs to keep calling at Rosslyn

by Matt Johnson • July 1, 2010 1:35 pm

When discussing capacity constraints at Rosslyn, some suggest truncating the Blue Line at to make room for more Orange Line trains at Rosslyn. However, that is not the right approach.

Photo by andedam.

For many commuters, the Blue Line is the quickest and most direct route to get to work. From Alexandria and points south and from southeastern Arlington, trains take riders directly to the job centers around Farragut Square and Metro Center.

As I pointed out, the Yellow Line bridge does not offer a quicker trip for those bound for the western side of downtown. Eliminating the entire Blue Line route through Rosslyn would severely inconvenience riders, and could affect ridership.

And at any rate, the Blue Line has ridership which, at present, is commensurate with the service levels at Rosslyn. Approximately 38% of trains at Rosslyn are Blue, and are carrying approximately 35% of the riders continuing through Rosslyn.

So the demand is certainly there for Blue trains via Rosslyn. At some point, as I discussed previously, it may become necessary to redirect some Blue trains via the Yellow Line bridge to make way for the Silver Line. Metro will probably make that decision based on the ridership patterns once the Silver Line opens and starts to build a rider base.

But it is still necessary to keep some Blue Line trains serving Rosslyn, mainly to meet the demand of riders headed to the western portion of Downtown and out the Orange or Silver Line corridors.

And if the service continues to Rosslyn, it must continue on to downtown DC. There are two primary reasons.

First and foremost, Rosslyn is incapable of serving as a terminal. It has two platforms and two tracks. There is no crossover at the station. In fact, any train that went out of service at Rosslyn would have to continue to Foggy Bottom and then enter the crossover just east of that station before turning around. And of course, as was pointed out with regard to the Yellow Line, headways are such that a pocket would be necessary anyway.

The other reason that any train serving Rosslyn must continue toward downtown DC is that it is already taking up one of the "slots" on the Orange/Blue subway. The switch at Rosslyn is capable of handling 26 trains per hour in each direction. If, say, 4 of those slots were given to Blue Line trains going out of service at Rosslyn, that would mean 4 fewer trains making it Downtown, period.

So barring a complete redesign of the station at Rosslyn, anything that makes it that far has to continue on to downtown DC. The first feasible place to turn back a train on the Blue/Orange subway is the pocket just east of Stadium-Armory.

With that in mind, some of you may be wondering whether the Blue Line even needs to go to Rosslyn. It does. Aside from the fact that the ridership shows that there is demand, there is more to Blue Line service through Rosslyn.

It is currently possible to travel from any one of Metro's 86 stations to any of the other 85 by taking no more than 2 trains. That's because every single line intersects every other line. In some cases, this happens twice. That adds redundancy to the system and makes Metro more convenient.

Cutting the Blue Line back to Arlington Cemetery would hurt not only Blue Line riders, but those in the core, too. This is because riders coming from Alexandria and south headed for Rosslyn, Ballston, or Tysons and vice versa are able to make that trip without entering the core. While giving all 26 slots at Rosslyn to the Orange and Silver Lines might seem to reduce crowding, the fact is that riders who currently change from the Orange at Rosslyn to the Blue would have to stay on trains all the way to L'Enfant - exacerbating problems in what is already the most crowded part of the system.

Crowding on the Metro is not going to ease any time soon. There are some steps that can be taken to reduce the current impact and stave off the time when the system runs out of capacity. These strategies include increasing the number of 8-car trains and better balancing of the multiplexed lines. But the only long-term solution will be to build a separated Blue Line, including exclusive platforms at Rosslyn.

31 comments

Tags: Blue Line, Rosslyn, Silver Line, Virginia, WMATA

Metro FAQ: How will Silver, Orange, Blue fit at Rosslyn? (Jun 30, 2010)
A cheaper route to Metro core capacity, part 2: Virginia service patterns (Jun 30, 2009)
Proposed "Blue Line split": why blue? (Mar 12, 2008)
What was up with the one-way Orange-Blue? (Oct 7, 2008)
A cheaper route to Metro core capacity? (Jun 29, 2009)

Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington region since mid-2007. He has a Master's degree in Community Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He has worked in the planning field since 2006 and lives in Greenbelt, where he serves on the city's Advisory Planning Board.

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Not to sound like a broken record, but you are missing another important point.

It is for people on the orange line who need to get to the Pentagon, National Airport or Alexandria.

Removing blue line trains from Rosslyn is going to make transfer times longer and longer.

So for the theoretical benefit of taking a silver line train to Dulles, you are going to make it harder for residents of North Arlington, Georgetown, West End, Dupont, and downtown to take the metro to National.

MWAA estimates that only 5% of passengers will take rail to dulles. I don't know the figure for National but it far far higher.

The real, ultimate answer, is to stop the Silver Line at Falls Church and let people transfer -- and not run in into Arlington/DC. Until you solve the tunnel and/or timing gaps, running a third line into the orange/blue crush is stupid.

by charlie on Jul 1, 2010 1:56 pm • link • report

Just out of curiosity, why is Rosslyn the sole focus of the possible Silver Line snags?

I mean, in theory doesn't EVERY station between Stadium / Armory and Rosslyn have the same problem? Or does it have more to do with Rosslyn's 'switch' issue? The Blue and Orange lines run on the same paths through twelve other stations... Surely the Silver Line planners took this into account (or at least I hope so).

by Josh C. on Jul 1, 2010 2:03 pm • link • report

Start digging!

by M.V. Jantzen on Jul 1, 2010 2:05 pm • link • report

Why can switches only be switched every 2 minutes and 18 seconds? Do faster switches exist?

by Tim on Jul 1, 2010 2:13 pm • link • report

@charlie: Stopping the Silver Line at East Falls Church would slow down the Orange Line. There are only two tracks at EFC, so trains would have to use an Orange Line track, switch directions, then find a crossover (I don't know where the nearest one is) to switch to the other track.

Now, if the Silver Line went to West Falls Church, which has three tracks, you might be able to configure it to use a track that the Orange Line isn't using, thus not disrupt the Orange Line. The Silver Line is extremely close to WFC, but not quite there.

by Tim on Jul 1, 2010 2:19 pm • link • report

The switches move much faster that than, Tim - the effective headway is a product of more factors - signaling systems, safe distances between trains, etc. My understanding is that the max headway possible is 90 seconds between trains, but this leaves little to no leeway in operations for delays on the platform, or in the case of Rosslyn, 'zippering' two lines together as they enter DC. Like a zipper, you need the trains to be spaced out appropriately, or the zipper won't zip.

Hence, the max headway WMATA references is 135 seconds between trains.

by Alex B. on Jul 1, 2010 2:19 pm • link • report

RE: Charlie's comment about terminating Silver Line trains at WFC. Does the track geometry allow for this? I thought the Silver Line comes in such way that it wouldn't make the pocket track without going to EFC and coming back.

Maybe it could go to the yard turn off, but that doesn't really make sense.

by kidincredible on Jul 1, 2010 2:22 pm • link • report

@Tim, then I'd kindly suggest it is cheaper to build a new track at EFC -- and screw up the development plans there -- than building a new tunnel at Rosslyn.

The curse of the Silver Line.

by charlie on Jul 1, 2010 2:22 pm • link • report

Your "analysis" fails to consider the reverse commuters who might go from Alexandria who work in Rosslyn, Courthouse, Balston and potentially Tyson's Corner and Reston/Herndon.

As it is, it will be a heroic act of faith for those commuters that give up the car and take transit from Alexandria to Tyson's. If you make these people pass through L'enfant Plaza to get on a silver line train, it won't be as transformative we all have hoped.

Another glaring omission is the Orange line passengers that use Metro to get to DCA and the Pentagon.

by tom on Jul 1, 2010 2:23 pm • link • report

@ charlie The Silver Line isn't some kind of Dulles Express. There's 100K people commuting to Tysons every day, and who knows how many commuting from Reston/Herndon/Whatever is past Dulles to inner suburbs and DC. The line would be in great demand even if there's weren't an airport in the middle of it. It's going to steal a bunch of Orange line riders, that's for sure.

by jcm on Jul 1, 2010 2:27 pm • link • report

@Jcm; I seriously doubt many people from Tysons/Reston/Herndon/Dulles will be commuting into DC on the Silver Line. It will be long, expensive, hot in the summer b/c it outside, and once you get to EFC very very crowded. Likewise reverese commuters to Tysons, minus some of the crowding issues. Vienna levels or less.

I am sure there willl be some commuters from Reston to Tysons, and a much larger number from Ballston and EFC to Tysons. Also a lot of people who metro to Tysons to shop.

(I won't be snarky and point out to boondoogle was sold to the public at rail to dulles, not rail to Reston)

The Orange line and north Arlington is one life support. The system is barely usable. Until it is switched to all 8 car trains, spacing is improved, and some solution to the tunnel is brought forward, running Silver line cars on it will be a disaster.

by charlie on Jul 1, 2010 2:33 pm • link • report

Is this a case of let's build infrastructure but not think about the operational side of things as so often seems to be happening in big infrastructure projects?

The more metro lines join together at some point, the bigger the headache becomes.

If the planners had looked around a little, they would have thought about the circle/district/metropolitan line in line and seen what TFL has decided to do to avoid all the problems associated with shared tracks. Instead it seems that funding was such a concern that they didn't care anymore about the rest.

by Vincent Flament on Jul 1, 2010 3:29 pm • link • report

Charlie, it sadly takes pain for anything to happen. Once the Silver line goes in, the congestion at Rosslyn will prompt the need to separate the Blue line.

by NikolasM on Jul 1, 2010 4:09 pm • link • report

@ charlie Are you trying to claim that the metro outside EFC is lightly used? That's not right. Vienna is the 14th busiest station in the system. It has the 3rd most entries during the morning peak. WFC is the 18th busiest station.

Frankly, I don't care how the train was sold to the public. To me, the really useful part of it is Phase 1. The airport is just gravy, although it wouldn't surprise me if it winds up seeing decent use from ridership in the VA suburbs to the airport.

by jcm on Jul 1, 2010 4:33 pm • link • report

I think it would be cheaper and easier to build conner tracks (courthouse-ANC connector, even yellow to green near LF) and Pentagon. It could do what happens in many cities (think NYC) where you create many lines with less track. Now you could have a line from Dulles to Springfield or Branch Ave.

by Will on Jul 1, 2010 4:40 pm • link • report

Why is there no mention of how this might effect people on the eastern end of the Blue Line ?

by kk on Jul 1, 2010 4:42 pm • link • report

@Charlie:

"MWAA estimates that only 5% of passengers will take rail to dulles."

Look at the experience in Chicago, where ORD and MDW are both served by CTA heavy rail. The airport ridership on those lines contains a far higher proportion of airport workers than of passengers. There's nothing wrong with that, since both markets contribute passengers to the line, but it's my expectation that the outcome here will be similar even though the Silver Branch is thought of by many as oriented to air passengers.

The extent to which Metro will be a reasonable choice for them will depend on things like how well the subway terminal integrates into the airport passenger facilities, travel time, service reliability: these are Metro's weaknesses, not its strengths. IAD is way out there at the end of what will be a long branch which I suspect is being built to the same standard as the rest of the system (no third main or passing siding and sparse pocket tracks) which will not lend itself to an airport express operation even if Metro could figure out how to run one.

So yeah, 5% is probably about right.

The line will have plenty of riders, no doubt about that, but few of them will be doing an air/rail intermodal transfer.

by intermodal commuter on Jul 1, 2010 5:05 pm • link • report

I say build a 3rd track at Rosslyn adjacent to the lower-level outbound platform more or less directly under the upper-level inbound rails. It would be fed by blue line trains from Arlington Cemetery and would dead-end. This third platform would effectively be a pocket track for blue line trains which would then turn back towards Franconia-Springfield (or maybe even out towards orange/silver land).

I'm sure this wouldn't be cheap.

by Steve on Jul 2, 2010 8:58 am • link • report

I think a lot of people will use rail to IAD. I think it might be a good idea for the FAA to look at the gate slots allocated between DCA and IAD and adjust them to take some of the congestion away from DCA.

The trip out of IAD will be a lot like SFO. I haven't looked on the map but the distance is probably roughly the same. Side note: BART and Metro also use the same magnetic fare cards. I think they are the only two systems using the IBM type.

by Lou on Jul 2, 2010 9:08 am • link • report

@intermodal; are we disagreeing? 5% of Dulles passengers, with a majority probably coming in from Tysons or Reston.

@Lou; dulles -- 25 miles from downtown. SFO -- 13 miles from downtown.

According to BART, there are about 5500 people using the SFO station daily. And the FAA rules have more to do with stopping large jets from landing at DCA for noise reasons. MWAA does have their internal rules that might be adjusted, but again Arlington residents are the ones who demand that DCA flights be kept down.

by charlie on Jul 2, 2010 9:24 am • link • report

The FAA is not really stopping "large" jets from using DCA. The runway can't handle anything over a 757.

But that point aside, I use DCA exclusively for the sole reason that Metro is available. I don't have to pay parking or rely on anybody to pick me up. My preferred carrier offers flights out of both. With Metro going to IAD, it literally becomes a 50-50 proposition for me. I can take advantage of any lower fare out of IAD. I bet a lot of fliers feel the same way.

by Lou on Jul 2, 2010 9:51 am • link • report

@Lou; actually, you are right. It is DOT that puts up the perimter restrictions, not MWAA.

You must not fly international much; that is why I use IAD. I love using DCA b/c of the metro access. However, as I've said, given the distance, crowding and cost I doubt I will be using the Silver Line out the dulles. The terrible thing is I'm sure MWAA will kill the Washington Flyer bus as soon as the line opens, and I'll be forced to take a cab or drive.

The crowding is the big problem. When I travel to IAD, I have to cab to falls church to get on the flyer -- impossible to take bags onto the orange crush. And since IAD is international, you sort of are guaranteed to have some luggage with you.

by charlie on Jul 2, 2010 10:05 am • link • report

@charlie,

"are we disagreeing?
5% of Dulles passengers, with a majority probably coming in from Tysons or Reston."

Not disagreeing at all.
The MWAA estimate seem reasonable. Like the rest of the region NoVa needs transit infrastructure and if routing the line out to the airport and calling it an airport service is what it takes to get it built and funded, that's perfectly fine - I just don't expect air passengers (particularly from downtown as you noted) to be a significant component of what will likely be high ridership on the line.

by intermodal commuter on Jul 2, 2010 10:14 am • link • report

How about a small 1/2 mile viaduct in Rosslyn as a Blue Line Separation Starter Project? Probably wouldn't cost as much as any tunneling would, but it would be a major pressure release valve for the whole system and would be a small start on an eventual new crosstown route.
See here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=113262488393877820698.00048a48f3605231b7424

Thoughts?

by stevek_fairfax on Jul 2, 2010 10:26 am • link • report

No one with a brain and a schedule in DC takes the blue line to the airport other than students at GW. The blue/orange line is just too slow. The yellow line is a much better choice after transferring at L'Enfant.

The blue line should be a "Virginia Only" line and follow the Potomac to Dulles and encompass the silver line. I have no opinion as to whether it stays at Rosslyn or not.

The blue line in PG should end at the armory and be recolored as chartreuse.

Having to make a connection is not like having a appendage removed. Faster, more efficient lines will make transfers faster and more efficient.

by Jimbo on Jul 2, 2010 11:12 am • link • report

If the blue line runs exclusively in Virginia from Franconia-Springfield to Vienna/Fairfax-GMU, people in Alexandria would have one-seat Metrorail access to both the Ballston-Clarendon corridor & Fairfax (and vice versa) and have a relatively short wait for the 20 per hour orange & silver line trains heading into the District through Clarendon. How much extra time would a one-transfer trip for someone traveling from Alexandria to Farragut take compared to the time it currently takes without having to transfer? Are we talking just a few extra minutes? At 20 silver & orange line trains an hour through Clarendon (10 each), that's a train every 3 minutes. Squeeze in 6 blue line trains within those three minute gaps and the wait for blue line to inbound orange/silver line trains would be rather small. Of course creating a connection so that trains can travel from Arlington Cemetary to Clarendon would be costly, but certainly much less than building a brand new subway through DC for the blue line to travel through. In this scenario, the majority of transfers would be moved from Rosslyn to Clarendon. I guess for those who live in Alexandria and working in Rosslyn it would be frustrating to be forced into transfering just to travel one station further, but still it's only about 2 extra minutes.

by Aaron on Jul 2, 2010 1:46 pm • link • report

Jimbo and Aaron: Won't work. If there are twenty Orange and Silver trains per hour running from Ballston to Rosslyn then there are also twenty Orange and Silver trains per hour running from Rosslyn to Ballston (or Vienna and Wiehle Ave would soon run out of trains to send north). So you'd only be able to fit six Blue Line trains in, whichever direction they went. There's room for six going north through Foggy Bottom; there's room for six going south through Clarendon.

TANSTAAFL (which stands for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Loanercar).

by jim on Jul 2, 2010 2:42 pm • link • report

@jcm writes: "Vienna is the 14th busiest station in the system. It has the 3rd most entries during the morning peak. WFC is the 18th busiest station."

Here here! People seem to miss these facts. I really think it's sad and short-sighted to do the Silver Line in advance of solving the congestion problems. Quality of serve will continue to decline while Metro makes fare hikes. Not a way to create a "Greater Greater Washington"

@Tim wries: "...Now, if the Silver Line went to West Falls Church, which has three tracks, you might be able to configure it to use a track that the Orange Line isn't using, thus not disrupt the Orange Line. The Silver Line is extremely close to WFC, but not quite there..."

Why wasn't this considered for the Silver Line? I know there was a 'stub' at EFC, but it seems short-sighted to not consider how a short-term gain will cause long-term pain. Can WMATA be pressured to reconsider and fix their short-sightedness here?

@Vincent writes: "...Is this a case of let's build infrastructure but not think about the operational side of things as so often seems to be happening in big infrastructure projects? The more metro lines join together at some point, the bigger the headache becomes. If the planners had looked around a little, they would have thought about the circle/district/metropolitan line in line and seen what TFL has decided to do to avoid all the problems associated with shared tracks. Instead it seems that funding was such a concern that they didn't care anymore about the rest."

::: Agree wholeheartedly ::: I couldn't have said it better. Someone should be asking hard hitting questions of WMATA, because this is NOT good urban planning, it is the antithesis of it and we at GGW should be mad that WMATA is taking 3 steps backwards here.

by A. Walker on Jul 2, 2010 6:42 pm • link • report

I see everyone's concern with traveling from Alexandria/Springfield to Arlington/Falls Church and vice versa. That, I feel, is the most important key in keeping Rosslyn an Orange-Blue station (more important then western District travel (people at Foggy Bottom and other points west can ride Orange->Metro Center->Red and Red->Gallery Place->Yellow and get across the river faster than riding Orange->L'Enfant Plaza->Yellow).

However, the Rosslyn transfer station would also become less crowded if Metro or VDOT created a "purple line"-like system from Van Dorn through Landmark through Annandale/Burke and up to Dunn Loring. Residents around Alexandria can get on and ride up to Falls Church without having to go through Rosslyn.

by Sam on Jul 3, 2010 7:54 pm • link • report

Yeah that's a good idea. I doubt that the 3 lines can push through. Already crowding. I think the Blue Line should go to Huntington and the Yellow Line should end at Franconia-Springfield. Then the Blue goes to Foggy Bottom, because Rosslyn in double-level and I believe their is interlocking. The Silver Line should go to Ballston and U-turn and come every 8 minutes. The Orange can go to Largo and New Carleton. Come every 6 minutes. Blue is annoyingly long. Everyone should use the Yellow Line to go to Regan. More Yellow trains instead of splitting Blue and go all the way to Greenbelt. Probably the best idea.

by Eli Manning on Apr 23, 2011 12:46 pm • link • report

I don't live in the DC area, but I work for the government and love using the Metro. Would it be possible to run the Silver Line to Arlington Cemetery instead of Rosslyn, then cross the Potomac on the Yellow Line (building a transfer station near the Jefferson Memorial), switch again to the Green Line to the Navy Yard, then build a new, short (less than 2 mile) tunnel north under 1st or 8th St East to Union Station where it could follow the Red Line to Glenmont? This would add more flexibility to the system, maybe add couple stations east of the Capital, and relieve the stress of trying to run three lines from Rosslyn to RFK Stadium. It would take some of the peak traffic between the Pentagon and Union Station outside the Metro Center-L'Enfant Plaza-Chinatown mess by having the Silver Line have be only one stop away from the Pentagon in both directions.

by Steve K on Jan 19, 2012 8:56 pm • link • report