Metro News Release

For immediate release: June 29, 2004

Metro announces the Summer portion of track work completed to support the Blue Line Extension to Largo

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) is pleased to announce that the spring/summer portion of track work to support the Blue Line extension to the Largo Town Center was successfully completed this past weekend. This weekend, all Blue Line service will operate normally between Stadium Armory and Addison Road-Seat Pleasant. "This past weekend, we successfully completed the major portion of work that was necessary as we prepare to extend the Blue Line to the Largo Town Center," said Colin Myers, Senior Project Manager for Maryland Projects. "This fall, we will need just one additional shutdown to finish the remainder of the work, which involves cutting over the final set of new circuits." Over four weekends in May and June, Metro personnel installed hundreds of new circuits to control train operations from Stadium Armory through the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant Metrorail stations to the new Largo Town Center station. When the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station was constructed, the automatic train control and track systems were not designed with extending rail service beyond Addison Road-Seat Pleasant in mind. While this safety-sensitive work was occurring, Metro operated free shuttle bus service between the Stadium-Armory and Addison Road-Seat Pleasant Metrorail stations with stops at the Benning Road and Capital Heights Metrorail stations. During the weekends of May 21-23, and June 11-13, 18-20, and 25-27, a total of 36,880 passenger trips were made on the free Metrobus shuttles operating between these points. "We would like to thank all of all our customers for their patience while we made the necessary upgrades in preparation for the Blue Line extension," said Mr. Myers. "By the end of this year, customers in Prince George’s County who live beyond the Capital Beltway will be able to enjoy the ease, comfort, and reliability of Metrorail service." The 3.1-mile, two-station, $456 million extension of the Blue Line from the current Addison Road-Seat Pleasant Metrorail station to the Largo Town Center station with an intermediate station at Morgan Boulevard achieves a number of "firsts" in Metrorail history: It is the first segment to be added to the 103-mile Adopted Regional System, bringing it to a total of 106.1 miles; and it is the first of four segments of the Metrorail system in Prince George’s County, MD, to extend beyond the Capital Beltway.

News release issued on June 29, 2004.