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  • Potomac Yard Metrorail station

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1527820  by JDC
 
Sand Box John wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:51 pm JDC
Noticed today that the contractor has cut down a huge section of trees that were between metro tracks and GW parkway north of construction site. Not sure why so much needed to go and so far north of station on that side of track.


The station will be built east of the existing curve north of the substation. Plans also call for the installation of a #10 double crossover on the same tangent north of the station The length of that tangent is around 1,000' add another 500' or so at both ends to tie the new alignment into the existing one.
That explains it. Although it was not really much of a forest (and a lot of the trees were dying), I'll miss that green patch going to/from DC.
 #1529250  by JDC
 
Official groundbreaking was last week, Dec. 19th.
 #1531697  by JDC
 
Just an update, which may be old but I had not noticed it. More of the Potomac Greens neighborhood has been fenced off for construction-only access and a lot of gravel/sand has been delivered to create an access-type road stretching from Potomac Greens all the way north to where the project area ends.
 #1557712  by JDC
 
Drove past the station on the GW Parkway and rebar installation/concrete pouring is proceeding at a good pace (from what I can tell).
 #1561359  by KTHW
 
Anyone know what the plans are for the current WMATA tracks that will be bypassed by the new PY station?

Every image I’ve seen shows them remaining in place. Maybe Metro is looking to use them to store MOW equipment or mid day train sets so that they don’t have to run all the way back to Franconia Yard. Any thoughts?
 #1561378  by STrRedWolf
 
KTHW wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 8:31 pm Anyone know what the plans are for the current WMATA tracks that will be bypassed by the new PY station?

Every image I’ve seen shows them remaining in place. Maybe Metro is looking to use them to store MOW equipment or mid day train sets so that they don’t have to run all the way back to Franconia Yard. Any thoughts?
The big question to answer first is: Are they abandoning the tracks, or will they add switches to ether end so they can be used?

If the answer is the latter, then I can see maybe a dedicated airport service to Regan National, limited stop.
 #1561381  by KTHW
 
I like the idea of an airport express service, but any Northbound train would have to cross over the new southbound track on both sides of PY Station to access the bypass, effectively blocking the two mains. I think a King St. -> DCA -> L'Enfent -> WAS express shuttle would garner some additional ridership because it connects the major transportation hubs in the area, but I'm not convinced that the bypass around PY is enough to implement that.
 #1561383  by Sand Box John
 
KTHW
Anyone know what the plans are for the current WMATA tracks that will be bypassed by the new PY station?

Every image I’ve seen shows them remaining in place. Maybe Metro is looking to use them to store MOW equipment or mid day train sets so that they don’t have to run all the way back to Franconia Yard. Any thoughts?


That old right of way will be abandoned. All of the plans I have seen show nothing more then a new new double crossover north of the north end of the new station.

There was plans to make a siding out of the old mainline track B1 adjacent to the NoMa-Gallaudet station, that ides was deleted to cut costs. Me thinks there were never any plans to do the same at Potomac Yard for the same reason.
 #1561444  by STrRedWolf
 
KTHW wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:07 am I like the idea of an airport express service, but any Northbound train would have to cross over the new southbound track on both sides of PY Station to access the bypass, effectively blocking the two mains. I think a King St. -> DCA -> L'Enfent -> WAS express shuttle would garner some additional ridership because it connects the major transportation hubs in the area, but I'm not convinced that the bypass around PY is enough to implement that.
Looking at a system track map... no. There are no existing connections from Red line (B1/2) to the Green/Yellow lines (E1/2 or F1/2). That means a ton of construction costs to try to do an express. Even Union to National via VRE? Rebuild Crystal City VRE and bridge over everything with a people mover or monorail. No, too expensive.
 #1562303  by JDC
 
I was really looking forward to documenting the construction of this station because I would have passed by it 2x per week on my Yellow line trip to DC. Does anyone know if photos are regularly being taken and posted anywhere to watch the progress?
 #1566437  by JDC
 
Just following up to see if anyone has had the ability to snap a picture of the station's progress?