Metro News Release

For immediate release: July 13, 2004

Metro energizes final portion of Largo Town Center segment

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) would like to remind parents, children and residents living near the future Largo Town Center Metrorail segment that starting today, Tuesday, July 13, 2004, the tracks from Addison Road-Seat Pleasant to Largo Town Center will be energized. The third rail carries 750 volts of electricity and supplies the electrical power needed to operate Metrorail trains. The tracks are fenced-in to keep people at safe distances. Now that the third rail is energized, crews will begin testing communications systems as well as automatic train control systems in preparation for the opening of the new rail stations. Prior to full energization, and as part of the Authority’s community outreach effort, WMATA visited elementary schools located near these Metrorail stations to explain the dangers of the third rail and to stress to youngsters the importance of staying away from the construction areas. The 3.1 mile, two-station, $456 million extension of the Blue Line from the current Addison Road-Seat Pleasant Metro station to the Largo Town Center with an intermediate station at Morgan Boulevard is scheduled to open at the end of this year. The extension of the Blue Line will achieve 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’s 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 July 13, 2004.