The Brown Line

Metro recently discussed a proposal to split the Blue Line at Pentagon station and run some rush hour trains up to Greenbelt. While this idea has been thrown around for some time, this is the first time it's been seriously considered by management. Apparently this new line (created from the split) would be designated the "Brown Line" (Silver and Purple are already taken), and would run from Franconia-Springfield all the way to Greenbelt. I love this idea since I often take the Green Line between College Park/U-MD and Ft. Totten where I switch to Red, and this would provide more frequent service (although I mostly travel Metro in afternoon off-peak, and take MARC in the morning).

Greater Greater Washington article
WTOP News Article
WMATA presentation


There are two minor problems I see with this plan:

1. I can't imagine the headache of trying to schedule three lines on the same track, especially when the current lines already have relatively short headways. The Brown Line would have to fit into Blue, Yellow, and Green Line schedules.

2. Someone posted on GGW that Metro cars don't have Brown LED's, and I doubt they're readily commercially available. This is a minor issue though, since they can just leave the color dark.

"realtype"
Metro recently discussed a proposal to split the Blue Line at Pentagon station and run some rush hour trains up to Greenbelt. While this idea has been thrown around for some time, this is the first time it's been seriously considered by management. Apparently this new line (created from the split) would be designated the "Brown Line" (Silver and Purple are already taken), and would run from Franconia-Springfield all the way to Greenbelt. I love this idea since I often take the Green Line between College Park/U-MD and Ft. Totten where I switch to Red, and this would provide more frequent service (although I mostly travel Metro in afternoon off-peak, and take MARC in the morning).

Greater Greater Washington article
WTOP News Article
WMATA presentation

This idea is not new. Revised Rail Fleet Management Plan ( 3.38 MB PDF file) dated 06 01 2007 labeled this proposed service as the Aqua line on PDF pages 52, 54, 55, 57 and 58.
It first appeared on PDF page 41 in volume I chapter 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project FEIS (1.62 MB PDF file) dated 02 05 2006.

There are two minor problems I see with this plan:

1. I can't imagine the headache of trying to schedule three lines on the same track, especially when the current lines already have relatively short headways. The Brown Line would have to fit into Blue, Yellow, and Green Line schedules.

This document explains how the Brown will be fit within the Green and Yellow lines;
Blue Line Realignment (413 KB PDF file) dated 02 14 2008

2. Someone posted on GGW that Metro cars don't have Brown LED's, and I doubt they're readily commercially available. This is a minor issue though, since they can just leave the color dark.

Not really that big an issue. The same can also be said about silver LEDs. All of the head signs have the color name spelled out on them. When one punches in destination code 34 (Dulles Airport) no color LEDs are displayed on the signs.

In the end I think WMATA should phase in full color RGB displays and make the background the line color like the original roll signs.

Sand Box John wrote:"realtype"
Metro recently discussed a proposal to split the Blue Line at Pentagon station and run some rush hour trains up to Greenbelt. While this idea has been thrown around for some time, this is the first time it's been seriously considered by management. Apparently this new line (created from the split) would be designated the "Brown Line" (Silver and Purple are already taken), and would run from Franconia-Springfield all the way to Greenbelt. I love this idea since I often take the Green Line between College Park/U-MD and Ft. Totten where I switch to Red, and this would provide more frequent service (although I mostly travel Metro in afternoon off-peak, and take MARC in the morning).

Greater Greater Washington article
WTOP News Article
WMATA presentation

This idea is not new. Revised Rail Fleet Management Plan ( 3.38 MB PDF file) dated 06 01 2007 labeled this proposed service as the Aqua line on PDF pages 52, 54, 55, 57 and 58.
It first appeared on PDF page 41 in volume I chapter 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project FEIS (1.62 MB PDF file) dated 02 05 2006.

There are two minor problems I see with this plan:

1. I can't imagine the headache of trying to schedule three lines on the same track, especially when the current lines already have relatively short headways. The Brown Line would have to fit into Blue, Yellow, and Green Line schedules.

This document explains how the Brown will be fit within the Green and Yellow lines;
Blue Line Realignment (413 KB PDF file) dated 02 14 2008

2. Someone posted on GGW that Metro cars don't have Brown LED's, and I doubt they're readily commercially available. This is a minor issue though, since they can just leave the color dark.

Not really that big an issue. The same can also be said about silver LEDs. All of the head signs have the color name spelled out on them. When one punches in destination code 34 (Dulles Airport) no color LEDs are displayed on the signs.

In the end I think WMATA should phase in full color RGB displays and make the background the line color like the original roll signs.

The orange LEDs could be passable for brown, especially since the orange and brown lines won't ever share trackage.

Full color LEDs might be prohibitively expensive, I can't think of any transit system that is using them widely. Perhaps making a square on the left side of the sign that is full color would be more feasible.

"WMATAGMOAGH"
The orange LEDs could be passable for brown, especially since the orange and brown lines won't ever share trackage.

Full color LEDs might be prohibitively expensive, I can't think of any transit system that is using them widely. Perhaps making a square on the left side of the sign that is full color would be more feasible.

Last time we discussed this I went and search GRB LED matrix displays (8 X 8). As I recall they were about $15.00 to $25.00 a piece. I would guess the cost of the controller to drive the RGB display and interface wouldn't cost much more then the GRB LED matrix. So we are talking less then $250.00 per rail car to display the line colors as you describe in each of the three sign boxes. Including spares that works out to roughly $785,000 for the whole fleet.

I'm sorry; I just don't see the need for the additional line color.

Rerouting Blue trains across the Yellow line bridge is probably a good idea with Silver trains being sent through the Rosslyn tunnel in the relatively near future, but I question the possible hassle it could cause commuters living south of the Pentagon who work at Foggy Bottom, the Farraguts or McPherson Square.

Regardless, why not just swap the termini of the Blue and Yellow lines, as the system was originally planned? Keeps the map relatively simple for now... And as I think one of the comments on GGW reasonably pointed out, adding an additional line for a service that won't run at all times probably would cause more confusion than it solves.

"McWmata"
I'm sorry; I just don't see the need for the additional line color.

Rerouting Blue trains across the Yellow line bridge is probably a good idea with Silver trains being sent through the Rosslyn tunnel in the relatively near future, but I question the possible hassle it could cause commuters living south of the Pentagon who work at Foggy Bottom, the Farraguts or McPherson Square.

Regardless, why not just swap the termini of the Blue and Yellow lines, as the system was originally planned? Keeps the map relatively simple for now... And as I think one of the comments on GGW reasonably pointed out, adding an additional line for a service that won't run at all times probably would cause more confusion than it solves.

The whole purpose of the Brown line is to give an identity to formerly Blue line trains coming from the south that don’t pass through Rosslyn. Swapping the Blue and Yellow lines will make no difference. WMATA will still need to reduce the number of train coming from the south to accommodate Orange and future Silver line trains coming from the west.

When the Silver line come on line I would not be surprised to see WMATA running Brown line trains full time.

McWmata wrote:...adding an additional line for a service that won't run at all times probably would cause more confusion than it solves.

I agree there. On the other hand, I also think such confusion would not necessarily be an insurmountable obstacle. It could be managed well if, say, all Metro maps had a prominent note indicating the only times that the Brown Line runs...

The MBTA has something roughly similar in that Blue Line trains only run to Bowdoin Station weekdays (excepting holidays) from 5:15 AM to 6:30 PM. (The station is closed on holidays and weekends, and on weekdays outside the 5:15 AM - 6:30 PM range.) Yet Bowdoin Station is listed on all rapid transit maps...

It seems like Metro's riders have managed to handle the Yellow Line's off-peak service to Fort Totten rather well, so this ought to be a fairly straightforward transition.

Why create an entire new color when they could simply make it an alternate branch of the Yellow Line, such as the Red Line in Boston with two branches?

redline43 wrote:Why create an entire new color when they could simply make it an alternate branch of the Yellow Line, such as the Red Line in Boston with two branches?

Well, one of Metro's hallmarks is its user-friendliness, which can be seen in its simple five-color design. This, despite WMATA being the second busiest heavy-rail system in the nation, after NYCT. NYCT and many other of the less busier systems can be a pain to navigate (for instance the MBTA, and CTA). So, the simple addition of another color would make it much easier on the riders. Even now I commonly see riders staring at the large easy-to-read maps on the train, and scratching their heads in confusion, (and not all of them are tourists).

Second, the "Brown Line" is techincally a branch of the Blue line from Franconia/Springfield, not the Yellow from Huntington. And even if it did originate at Huntington, the Yellow line already has two western termini (Fort Totten and Mt. Vernon Sq), depending on the time of day, and a third one would just cause a headache to visitors and regulars alike. If anything it would be just a Blue Line branch (which was originally the plan), but the Brown just makes things easier.

One day last week as I passed Brentwood yard on an outbound MARC train, there was a pair of cars (Breda rehabs I think) moving through the yard that had their external LEDs in some sort of test pattern. The part where the letters usually are had all the LEDs on for a full rectangle of yellow. But, here's the interesting part, the color portion was cycling through yellow and red LEDs on, and green, blue, and orange LEDs on. The displays can't display all five colors at the same time, and there likely isn't room for a "brown" LED so, Metro will probably just have to keep the area dark.

Once I actually saw a Metro car (Rohr I think) displaying "Dulles" on its flip-dot display. Probably a Metro employee joking around.

realtype wrote:

redline43 wrote:Why create an entire new color when they could simply make it an alternate branch of the Yellow Line, such as the Red Line in Boston with two branches?

Well, one of Metro's hallmarks is its user-friendliness, which can be seen in its simple five-color design. This, despite WMATA being the second busiest heavy-rail system in the nation, after NYCT. NYCT and many other of the less busier systems can be a pain to navigate (for instance the MBTA, and CTA). So, the simple addition of another color would make it much easier on the riders. Even now I commonly see riders staring at the large easy-to-read maps on the train, and scratching their heads in confusion, (and not all of them are tourists).

Second, the "Brown Line" is techincally a branch of the Blue line from Franconia/Springfield, not the Yellow from Huntington. And even if it did originate at Huntington, the Yellow line already has two western termini (Fort Totten and Mt. Vernon Sq), depending on the time of day, and a third one would just cause a headache to visitors and regulars alike. If anything it would be just a Blue Line branch (which was originally the plan), but the Brown just makes things easier.

You could also view the line as a branch of the Yellow Line going to F/S instead of Huntington.

The trains do have a DULLES sign programmed in. I've seen test patterns with all colored flip dots showing on the unrehabbed cars, not sure if it would work on the LED signs. John has posted here or elsewhere that he thinks they should install full color LED destination signs on all future orders and possibly retrofit them on older trains to solve the color issues.

"realtype"
Once I actually saw a Metro car (Rohr I think) displaying "Dulles" on its flip-dot display. Probably a Metro employee joking around.

All destination signs will display. . .



Picture was taken at Branch Avenue on 04 16 2006, The car was an unrehabilitated Breda.

I have three times failed to get pictures of the sign displayed on cars equipped with LED displays (2 5 and 6k cars). The reason why was because shutter speed of my Nikon D70s was to fast in automatic mode.

FYI; For those that don't know manually entering destination code 34 will render DULLES in all of the sign boxes on all of the cars.

"realtype"
Once I actually saw a Metro car (Rohr I think) displaying "Dulles" on its flip-dot display. Probably a Metro employee joking around.

All of the destination signs will display. . .



Picture was taken at Branch Avenue on 04 16 2006, The car was an unrehabilitated Breda.

I have three times failed to get pictures of the sign displayed on cars equipped with LED displays (2 5 and 6k cars). The reason why was because shutter speed of my Nikon D70s was to fast in automatic mode.

FYI; For those that don't know manually entering destination code 34 will render DULLES in all of the sign boxes on all of the cars.

You might be able to get the picture I failed to get by asking a train operator at one of the terminal to manually enter the code.

Sand Box John wrote:"realtype"
Once I actually saw a Metro car (Rohr I think) displaying "Dulles" on its flip-dot display. Probably a Metro employee joking around.

All of the destination signs will display. . .



Picture was taken at Branch Avenue on 04 16 2006, The car was an unrehabilitated Breda.

I have three times failed to get pictures of the sign displayed on cars equipped with LED displays (2 5 and 6k cars). The reason why was because shutter speed of my Nikon D70s was to fast in automatic mode.

FYI; For those that don't know manually entering destination code 34 will render DULLES in all of the sign boxes on all of the cars.

You might be able to get the picture I failed to get by asking a train operator at one of the terminal to manually enter the code.

I remember that photo John, I was with you on that day! I took my own stock of pictures myself too, and I remember that destination, nice shot! A phantom destination, I like those. I wonder if there's any for Lorton for Blue Line or Brandywine for Green Line