Metro News Release

For immediate release: November 3, 2004

Weekend track work to support the New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station

In preparation for the opening of the New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station on the Red Line on Saturday, November 20, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) will conduct a major track project on the Red Line between Union Station and Fort Totten, resulting in the shutdown of the Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland-CUA stations this weekend. Customers are advised to plan accordingly. Over the long weekend, personnel will be aligning and connecting the existing outbound track through the New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station, then conduct extensive testing. At the end of the weekend, trains bound for Silver Spring and Glenmont will pass through the new station.

The schedule

Below is the scheduled dates and times for this weekend’s partial shutdown between Union Station and Fort Totten: " Friday, November 5, (8 p.m.) to Monday, November 8, (5 a.m.)

Metro’s weekend service plan

During the scheduled shutdown between Union Station and Fort Totten, Metro will institute the following weekend service pattern:" Metrorail Red Line service will be suspended between Union Station and Fort Totten, resulting in the closure of the Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland-CUA Metrorail stations." Metrorail Red Line service will operate between Shady Grove and Union Station, and between Glenmont and Fort Totten." Free shuttle buses will operate every five minutes between Union Station and Fort Totten with stops at the Brookland-CUA and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail stations. Customers who normally board at Brookland-CUA or Rhode Island Avenue will need to take a free shuttle bus from those stations to either Union Station or Fort Totten, depending on their direction of travel." Metrorail Red Line trains will operate every 8-10 minutes during the day, and every 12-15 minutes during the evening between Shady Grove and Union Station, and between Glenmont and Fort Totten." Customers traveling between Glenmont and Takoma on the Red Line can transfer to the Green Line at Fort Totten, travel to Gallery Place-Chinatown, and transfer back to the Red Line toward Shady Grove. Customers traveling on the Red Line to Takoma and all stops to Glenmont can transfer to the Green Line at Gallery Place-Chinatown, travel to Fort Totten, and transfer back to the Red Line. [Customers attending this Saturday’s Washington Wizards home basketball game against Miami at the MCI Center are encouraged to utilize this travel option if they are traveling from the Glenmont and Silver Spring areas.] "We are now in the final stages of work as we prepare to open this new station," said John Thomas, Project Manager for the New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U station project. "This weekend, we will realign the outbound portion of track through the station, and on Monday, November 8, customers traveling the Red Line to Silver Spring and Glenmont will pass directly though the station." The New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station is known as an "in-fill" station because it will be the first station in Metro’s 28-year history to be constructed between two existing, operating rail stations - Union Station and Rhode Island Avenue. The train station will have two entrances - M Street, N.E., and Florida Avenue, N.E. The station will have two sets of elevators and improved signage and lighting. Funding for this project ($103.7 million) was made possible through a partnership that includes the District of Columbia, the federal government, and a special assessment district of area private land owners. While the station will not add any miles of track to the rail system, it will increase the total number of Metrorail stations in the regional system to 84. Metro is also designing and constructing the portion of the Metropolitan Branch Bike Trail with the station contract. The trail will enhance access to the station by pedestrians and bicyclists. The Trip Planner, located on Metro’s Web site, will not reflect the impact of this track work on its schedules. Customers should allow more time for their trips because of this work. For more information on traveling by Metrobus or Metrorail, call (202) 637-7000 or TTY (202) 638-3780.

News release issued on November 3, 2004.