Metro News Release
For immediate release: December 15, 2008
Metro upgrades public address system
38 underground stations get improved service
Metrorail riders at Gallery Pl-Chinatown, Van Ness-UDC, Farragut West and 35 other underground stations may have noticed that station announcements sound a little different. That’s because Metro has turned on its new public address system, as the transit agency has completed a $7.5 million initiative to replace the public address system in 38 underground Metrorail stations.
“The new public address system will benefit our customers on a daily basis as they use the system, and will also serve as a valuable tool to share information during an emergency,” said Gerald Francis, Metro’s Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer.
Metrorail customers will notice that the new public address system plays two chimes prior to the start of a station announcement to get people’s attention.
As part of the new public address system, Metro installed public address speakers on most of the station platform pylons. Installing speakers on the pylons greatly enhanced the sound quality inside underground stations. Under the original design of the Metrorail system, speakers were installed behind the parapet walls, adjacent to where customers stand on the platforms. Depending on the size and design of each individual station, the sound quality was not optimal and in some stations, the sound would bounce off the parapet walls, thus diminishing the sound quality.
In addition to installing speakers on the platform pylons, Metro also replaced the communications radio system inside its Rail Operations Control Center. The original equipment dated back to the beginning of the Metrorail system in 1976 and the sound system declined in performance and reliability over the course of the past 32 years.
The following Metrorail stations have the new public address system: Friendship Heights, Pentagon City, Ballston-MU, Farragut West, Crystal City, Rosslyn, Capitol South, Metro Center (lower level), Gallery-Pl Chinatown (lower level), Tenleytown, Van Ness-UDC, Bethesda, Medical Center, U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo, Shaw-Howard U, Columbia Heights, Georgia Ave, Waterfront-SEU, Archives-Navy Mem’l-Penn Quarter, Congress Heights, Anacostia, Federal Triangle, Federal Center SW, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Eastern Market, Navy Yard, Potomac Ave, McPherson Square, Clarendon, Virginia Sq-GMU, Benning Road, Court House, Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan, Cleveland Park, Glenmont, Wheaton, Capitol Heights and Stadium-Armory.
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News release issued at 11:37 am, December 15, 2008.