Photo courtesy of Washington Metro Area Transit Authority
In total, the agency will spend $12.4 billion to carry out a six-year modernization of its entire system, Including upgrades to Metro's railcar and railcar facilities, track and structures, station and passenger facilities, bus, bus facilities, Paratransit, business and operations support.
Plans for a series of major capital projects over the next three years were announced Feb. 9 by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), more commonly known as the Metro.
In total, the agency will spend $12.4 billion to carry out a six-year modernization of its entire system, Including upgrades to Metro's railcar and railcar facilities, track and structures, station and passenger facilities, bus, bus facilities, Paratransit, business and operations support.
Construction crews will improve the Metrorail's safety and reliability and maintain a state of good repair beginning with the first phase of work lasting from this summer to mid-2026.
Planned closures are scheduled during that time, with additional construction set to take place over the winter holidays.
Starting in early June, the Metro's Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, Silver Spring and Takoma stations on the system's Red Line will be closed through early September with the possibility of reducing the work zone to allow Takoma Station to reopen prior to the end of construction.
The improvements include upgrading the signaling system, installing communication and train control cables, and repairing the lines' interlocking capabilities, which allow trains to cross from one track to the other outside Takoma Station.
Detailed service plans, including free express and local shuttle buses, are being developed and will be announced at least one month prior to the start of the closure, Metro added in a press release.
The work also is being planned in coordination with the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Purple Line Project to build a new mezzanine on the platform at Metro's Silver Spring Station to provide easier access between Metro and the future MTA Purple Line.
The Maryland Purple Line light rail is not part of the Metrorail system, Metro noted, but building the new connection between the two will require the use of both tracks for an extended period and cannot be completed safely and timely with single tracking alone.
Additional work includes leak mitigation, automatic train control system replacements, traction power cables installation, drain pumping station replacement, tunnel standpipe replacement, and elevator and escalator maintenance.
Improvements in planning and scheduling track work through summer, winter and extended weekend outages instead of extensive single tracking also have helped reduce the amount of service disruptions. In the past seven years, according to Metro, the impact to budgeted service declined by half to just 4 percent with more weekends free of track work on almost all lines.
Metro Releases Partial Schedule of Three-Year Build
Following the Red Line closure this summer, major construction also is planned along five other stretches of the rail line.
December 2024 – January 2025
Blue Line/Orange Line/Silver Line construction from the Foggy Bottom-GWU station to L'Enfant Plaza should last approximately two weeks and affect the Farragut West, McPherson Square, lower level of Metro Center (the upper-level Red Line to remain open), Federal Triangle, and Smithsonian stations.
The work will include:
- Pouring 6,400 linear ft. of new grout pads and making fastener replacements to provide smooth, safe rides.
- Installing 15,000 linear ft. of fiber optic cables for communication and train control.
- Construction that will require isolated closures, but not the full segment between all stations.
- Developing plans and analysis to close smaller segments and/or single tracking.
- Alternatives to planned work are four months of weekend single tracking, or up to 400 late-night single tracking.
Summer 2025
The Blue Line upgrades are scheduled to take place from the Franconia-Springfield to King Street stations and last about three weeks, although the exact dates and order of outages have not yet been determined.
That phase of the Metro's modernization effort will see:
- The closure of the Van Dorn Street and Franconia-Springfield stations.
- An upgrade to the train control system.
- A replacement of the worst performing and most obsolete signal system.
- System improvements designed to bridge to a potential next generation signaling system.
- An alternative to planned work: 10 weekend outages and 10 weeks of early weekday closures.
Also set to get under way in summer 2025 is the Metro's Green Line construction from Congress Heights to Branch Avenue, a project likely to last approximately six weeks, although the date and order of outages will be announced later.
WMATA did note that all work will be completed before Labor Day with no construction scheduled for July 4, 2025.
The Green Line improvements will mean:
- Closing the Metro stations at Southern Avenue, Naylor Road, Suitland and Branch Avenue throughout the length of the work.
- The installation of 52,000 linear ft. of radio and ancillary fiber optic cable for communication and the train control system.
- A required modernization effort to improve communications and address Federal Transit Administration (FTA) findings.
- Repairs to elevated tracks and bridges along the line.
- An alternative to planned work encompassing seven months of consecutive weekend outages.
Winter 2025 – Winter 2026
The Green Line/Yellow Line work stretching from L'Enfant Plaza to Fort Totten, with times and duration to be revealed later, will see crews:
- Replace grout pad and fasteners.
- Install fiber optic cable for communication and train control systems.
- Replace running rail and repair restraining rail.
- Put in new signals along the tracks to support train control system upgrades.
When done, the stations along the two lines will be served by 82 percent more trains than Metro's average. Additionally, developing construction plans to optimize service between the L'Enfant Plaza and Fort Totten stations may include smaller closures, single tracking, or a combination of both.
Summer 2026
The Metro's Red Line construction plans in Maryland for 2026, connecting the Friendship Heights to Grosvenor-Strathmore stations, is still in the planning stages, but so far this much is known:
- The Medical Center and Bethesda stations will be shuttered while work commences.
- An effort to connect the Maryland Department of Transportation's MTA Purple Line with the Bethesda Metrorail Station will get going so that the rail could possibly begin operating in mid-2027.
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