Metro News Release

For immediate release: October 12, 2004

Columbus Day weekend track work continues into Tuesday

Work on the Red Line associated with next month’s planned opening of the New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station that was supposed to run from last Friday night through Monday night extended into Tuesday, causing delays of six to 20 minutes to some Red Line riders this morning. The length of a customer’s delay varied depending on which station the individual entered, which direction he/she was headed and what time the person entered the rail system. The majority of Red Line riders experienced no delays at all. " This new Red Line station is the first station that Metro has ever constructed between two existing stations," explained James Gallagher, Metro’s Deputy General Manager. " Typically we have added new stations to the end of the lines, and historically there has been little to no inconvenience to our customers associated with constructing a new station. However with this " in-fill" station, our customers have had to endure four extended weekends in which we have had to close stations adjacent to the one under construction to line up the tracks and install critical electronic circuitry. " We are sorry for the inconvenience that unfortunately goes along with this progress and we are very sorry that this past weekend’s scheduled work trickled into Tuesday," Mr. Gallagher said. " We did everything in our power to return to automatic train control operations as quickly as possible, and until that happened, we had to continue to operate at slower speeds to ensure our customers" safety." Metro personnel and outside contractors installed a new double crossover (rail switch) between Union Station and the new York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U station during the past four days and nights, but some of the electronic work associated with the automatic train operations was not completed in time to allow trains to run in their typical automatic mode until Tuesday afternoon. Because the electronics were not working as expected, trains operated manually through 1,000 feet of track between the Rhode Island Ave station and Union Station, resulting in trains moving at significantly slower speeds than usual (15 mph compared to 35 mph). A double crossover is the portion of track that allows trains to switch from one track to another if there is a mechanical problem or an emergency. Personnel have been working in shifts around the clock to complete the project. Unfortunately due to the complicated nature of the electronic work associated with the project, the automatic train control system was not able to be brought back on line by Tuesday’s 5 a.m. system opening. Some of the circuitry that is being integrated is 30-years-old and is part of the original train control system. The New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station is scheduled to open on Saturday, November 20. At least one more extended weekend of track work is expected to take place prior to the station opening.

News release issued on October 12, 2004.