Metro News Release
For immediate release: January 16, 2010
Metro offers tips for getting around this weekend's Red Line station closure
Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail station closed
Today, Saturday, Jan, 16, until closing (midnight) on Monday, Jan. 18, the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail station is closed while Metro conducts major track rebuilding work. Customers using the Red Line should add 40 minutes to their travel plans to transfer to free shuttle buses to get past the affected work area. Throughout the weekend, extra Metro employees will be on hand to guide customers to their connecting shuttle buses.
Regular service will resume when the Metrorail system opens on Tuesday morning, Jan. 19.
Throughout the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend, the Red Line is split in two sections, the first between the Shady Grove and White Flint Metrorail stations, and the second between the Medical Center and Glenmont Metrorail stations.
During this weekend’s station closures, Metro is operating free shuttle bus service from the Medical Center Metrorail station to the Grosvenor-Strathmore and White Flint Metrorail stations. The shuttle buses will operate every 8 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes after 9:30 p.m. Last night, from 10 p.m. to closing (3 a.m.), 2,906 people used the shuttle buses to complete their trips.
“There are several major events occurring this weekend at the Verizon Center and the Washington Convention Center and despite the station closure at Grosvenor-Strathmore, Red Line riders still have a variety of options to get into Washington, D.C., either by train, or free shuttle buses,” said James Hughes, Metro’s Assistant Director of Intermodal Planning. “Planning ahead of time will make everyone’s travel commute a lot easier.”
Today, Saturday, Jan. 16, and Monday, Jan. 18, the Washington Wizards play at the Verizon Center. On Sunday, Jan. 17, the Washington Capitals play at the Verizon Center. This weekend, there is a health expo at the Washington Convention Center. Metro reminds customers riding or connecting to the Red Line to add at least 40 minutes into their travel time and to consider these travel options:
• People living on the Red Line between the Shady Grove and Medical Center Metrorail stations may consider using the Red Line on the opposite side of Montgomery County, if possible, to avoid the track work.
• For patrons who need to park that weekend, the Glenmont Metrorail station has more than 1,700 parking spaces, and the Wheaton Metrorail station has more than 950 parking spaces. On weekends and federal holidays, parking is free at all Metro stations.
During the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend, Metro will rebuild the trackbed, which means workers will replace 1,400 feet of rail, 310 ties, 200 tons of ballast, 300 track fasteners, 600 anchor bolts, repair 200 feet of grout pads on the aerial structure, and make track circuit upgrades between the Grosvenor-Strathmore and Medical Center Metrorail stations. In addition, workers will repair 60 to 80 water leaks in the tunnels and stations and replace 300 tunnel lights for worker safety.
A portion of this work on the Red Line is part of a larger, multi-year Red Line rehabilitation project that will run through 2013.
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News release issued at 10:34 am, January 16, 2010.