Updated Metro map lists new Silver Line stations, but safety remains a concern
Metrorail has updated its map showing the six new stations in advance of the opening of the Silver Line anticipated for late October.
The new Silver Line stations are Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Loudoun Gateway, and Ashburn.
It will take more than a month to replace every map, including the more than 5,000 maps in stations and trains alone, Metro states. The new maps also reflect new names for five stations approved by the Metro Board of Directors. The Tyson Corner station has been renamed “Tysons.”
Meanwhile, Metro faces big challenges and might have to delay the Silver Line opening or cut service due to a shortage of railcars, the Metro leadership reports.
Following a derailment last fall, Metro has taken most of its 7000-series railcars out of service after investigators found a wheel problem that exposed a safety issue. That issue is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Now it appears the problem with the wheels is more serious than initially thought and it will be complicated to fix. More recently. a new problem surfaced involving the tracks.
The completion of the Silver Line is years behind schedule, as the price tag has soared to more than $3 billion. Ridership is increasing as more people return to in-person work, but it’s still way below pre-pandemic levels.
Simulated service on the 11.4-mile extension of the Silver Line – without riders – is scheduled for Oct. 3-17. The first phase of the Silver Line opened in 2014.
The cars communicate via analog beeps. That’s how they know where one another is. Like Morse code. Outdated and unsafe technology. Keep mass transit out of Mason.
A series of beaps is not unsafe. All digital communication is like “Morse code”, long and short are 1 and 0. The coding of the audio frequency wayside signaling is not an issue at all.
Digital codes can be sent via different physical layers. That can be the inductive coupling that the WMATA system uses or it could be RF like your phone. Do you ever have bad WiFi? Or a cell phone signal? What physical transport layer would you like to use?
If you have any technical knowledge it doesn’t come across in your claim without proof that the WMATA system is outdated and unsafe.
The main article is junk as well frankly. There are no major new safety issues with the system. There have been no wheels on the 7000 series that have moved measurably since they were put under the inspection scheme. The “track” issue sounds like a garbled reporting of the safety practice on the new segment needing to remove rust (that wouldn’t be there if the trains were running, which abrades the rust) to do part of the work.
If you have ever walked along a regular railroad you will see rust on the surface of the steel tracks, that is just normal. After the train passes buy it is silver and clean at the contact top of the track. It takes several days to rust again and some moisture. Since WMATA runs trains on tracks daily when it is operational rust and tracks are not an issue. You would have to build tracks out of stainless to not have that which no one globally does.
The safety board needs to approve their automated wayside measurement system and they need to release all the 7000 series cars for service, the NIMBY fools need to be quiet and they need to fix their budget gap. Getting in a car is many times less safe than taking transit… Stop distorting reality.
You rock, thanks for the analytical response and takedown!
I wish we had good accessible and reliable transit in Mason. If we did I would use it. The challenge is the express busses on Columbia pike only runs at rush hour in the morning and the early eve. When these run many times they don’t show up on schedule.
it’s a 35 to 45 minute trip for me. My eBike is the same and it’s more enjoyable, I exercise and it’s efficient. No cost except a bike charge. Not good in the rain. That is only time I use mass transit or my car but I won’t take that slow 16A bus down Columbia pike to the pentagon. It has too many stops and there is not a dedicated bus lane that was promised by Arlington. We went from having a trolley to nothing. There are no dedicated Bike lanes either and the sidewalks are not big enough for pedestrians and bikes rushing off to work.
Arlington gets a big “F” in improving Columbia pike w regards to commuter services. Essentially all they did was apply lipstick and not solve the commuter issues. They must be taking lessons from their counter parts in Fairfax County where we have a basket of deplorables: the BoS; also coined as the Board of Stupids.
Arlington residents on Columbia Pike realized a long time ago there would be no trolley or dedicated bus lane. Because the redevelopment of the area removed any possibility of widening the road to make it all work. Moreover, when Arlington county spent $1m on a bus stop instead of fixing the road, Arlington county officials got amazing amounts of push back. I recall the public meetings when I lived in Arlington and on the Pike 10+ years ago. Fairfax never realized how both Arlington county redevelopment of the Pike and local focus on fixing roads doomed that trolley or dedicated bus lanes.
I went to the groundbreaking for Metro. I went on opening day. A ride from union station to DuPont circle. It was plagued with problems. I’ve lived through year after year, day after day, hour after hour of metro’s messes. I’m tired of reading and hearing about Metro. Can you imagine a system that permits train operators to run red signals and the remedy is “retraining”. It should be one strike and you’re out. Can you imagine a system that year after year we complain that the public address system is unintelligible. I’ve been in systems throughout the world, in languages I didn’t understand, yet easily found my station. Can you imagine a system, after 60 yrs, that still has door opening/closing problems? The person on the pa system in stations sounds like she’s working in a spa. So gentle and calming. You can’t understand her! Can you imagine a system that accepted the work of the “wall” contractor only to find they were deficient and who got stuck with the bill? YOU! So I’ll pay my HOT lane fees, relax, knowing that I won’t have to unload from the train because of “issues” . My solution is to reconfigure metro lines into bike paths giving us a reliable method to move around. And the exercise!