Metro Moves to Ease Rosslyn Tunnel Backups; Prepping for Dulles Rail?

By: TheGreenMiles
Published On: 2/12/2008 12:06:53 AM

One concern about Dulles rail has been exacerbating the congestion where the Orange and Blue Lines meet in the Rosslyn tunnel. Wouldn't adding the Silver Line make things even worse?

Now Metro is moving to ease the current congestion in what could be a precursor to more long-term shifts: 

The proposal would shift four trains an hour from Franconia to Greenbelt by taking a short cut at Pentagon and going onto the Yellow Line bridge, and then continuing on the Green Line to Greenbelt.

The remaining six Blue Line trains would keep their current route to Largo, via Rosslyn, and Metro would keep the same level of rush-hour service between Largo and downtown stations. The proposal also adds more trains on the crowded Orange Line from West Falls Church into downtown Washington.

Glad this is getting addressed to ease any future incorporation of the Silver Line. Now if only we could fix the no-bid contracts, the short-sighted tunnel penny-pinching, and the complete lack of support from the White House, we'd be all set!


Comments



I'd like to see a study of that (Sui Juris - 2/12/2008 1:19:32 AM)
I don't think that this proposal would actually help things at all, when it comes to Rosslyn-Vienna/Silver Line traffic.  Mostly, the Franconia-Yellow Line ride has been a ghost town, whenever I've seen it.  

Happy to be shown I'm wrong, though.



Hmmmm... (Eric - 2/12/2008 10:48:29 AM)
They're going to remove some Blue and add some Orange?  Doesn't sound like much of a net gain in available rails.  In fact, it sounds like more opportunity to back up the Orange line further into Virginia - at least now the Blue and Orange only come together at Rosslyn.  With this plan there will be more trains all the way to Vienna.

Now then, if they all run properly I'm all for it.  But if something goes wrong... look out.  

Either way, I'm for giving it a try as a simulated Silver line test - lets take the guess work out of it and see what really happens.



Reduced train service on Orange Line (HerbE - 2/12/2008 12:23:42 PM)
This proposal has been on-track since c.2004. It is necessary because to have all 8 car trains on the Orange line plus the Silver line, which will require more headtime through the tunnel, Blue line trains need to be re-routed.

What is the end result for Fx County Passengers?

There will be longer (8-car) Orange line trains but they will have to run more infrequently during rush hours. Wait times will increase from 6 minutes at the Vienna & Dunn Loring Stations and from 3-4 minutes at West Falls Church to 12 minutes at these 3 stations. Service is degraded and platforms, already filled to capacity, will become dangerously so. In the Environmental Impact Statement for Dulles Rail, service is shown to be degraded - less passengers are carried overall in these stations during rush hours. And, with express bus service cut from the Wiehle park & ride (if the Silver line becomes a reality), there will be a severe degradation of service (based on travel time) for those living in the Reston/Herndon areas.

A "bargain" for $5 Billion dollars and uncontrolled tolls on the toll road? And, as we are reminded, "free" money from developers in Tysons (up to ~$400M).



Watch yourself (TheGreenMiles - 2/12/2008 3:43:56 PM)
It's a flat out untrue to say that rush hour wait times will be 12 minutes. You don't do your case against Dulles rail any service by posting lies.