Metro, MARC, MTA, and VRE coronavirus response

[Sand Box John]

"R36 Combine Coach"
The 5000s lasted less than 20 years (delivered 2001-2002). Very short, below the standard 25-30 years cited by UMTA and later FTA/USDOT for railcars.

The 5k cars were basket cases from the beginning and remained so to the end. WMATA chose to replace with new then do a mid life rehabilitation because new would last twice as long at a similar cost.

Are the money train cars (two 1000s) still active?

No. They were replace by a pair of 2k cars and a pair of 6k cars. I have one of the roll sign boxs that was saved before going to the scraper.

[STrRedWolf]

Mail from MARC came in Friday. In short, the Odenton stationmasters are coming back on the 18th.

[STrRedWolf]

MTA Maryland is working on resuming full service as Maryland's moving to Phase 2 Recovery as of tomorrow (Friday June 5th). I just got word that MARC will move to the full "R" schedule with 4 supplemental runs kept. Weekend service resumes June 20th.

https://www.mta.maryland.gov/service-alerts/6128

Supplemental weekday Penn Line service will remain - the following trains, which were added to the R schedule on March 17 to provide essential early evening and late night service, will continue to operate:

Train 403 (4:45am departure from Penn Station)
Train 502 (6:10am departure from Washington, which will continue to make all stops between Washington and Perryville)
Train 453 (9:37pm departure from Penn Station)
Train 452 (10:55pm departure from Union Station)

[davinp]

In order to promote social distancing, VRE is placing decals on its train seats showing where you can and can't sit or stand.

No date has been determined when VRE will return to full service.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transpor ... g-onboard/

https://www.vre.org/about/blog/what-to- ... ing-weeks/

[Sand Box John]

WMATA will begin reopening stations on 06 28 2020 to accommodate growing ridership.

For immediate release: June 22, 2020
Metro to reopen 15 stations, reallocate bus service to address crowding, starting Sunday

Metro today announced that 15 rail stations that had been closed as part of the transit agency’s Covid-19 response will reopen on Sunday, June 28. In addition, beginning Monday, June 29, buses will be added to the system’s 14 busiest bus lines to provide more capacity and more frequent service as the region reopens.

Rail Stations

The following stations will reopen on Sunday, June 28. (Three stations on the Orange and Silver lines will reopen with shuttle bus service due to the ongoing platform reconstruction work at East Falls Church.)

Archives
Cheverly
Clarendon
Cleveland Park
College Park
East Falls Church*
Eisenhower Ave
Federal Center SW
Federal Triangle
Greensboro*
Grosvenor-Strathmore
Judiciary Sq
McLean*
Morgan Blvd
Mt Vernon Sq
Smithsonian
Van Dorn St
Virginia Sq

*Shuttle buses provided. No rail service due to platform reconstruction work.

In addition, selected entrances will reopen at Anacostia, Farragut North, Dupont Circle, Metro Center, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, U Street, Gallery Place-Chinatown, Friendship Heights, and L’Enfant Plaza.

Metro had originally closed these stations and entrances in March to conserve critical cleaning supplies at the early stages of its pandemic response. After Sunday, Arlington Cemetery will be the only Metrorail station without regular service, as Arlington National Cemetery is closed to the general public.

Bus service realignment effective Monday, June 29

Metrobus customers on the region’s busiest routes will notice more frequent buses, less crowding, and more regular service beginning Monday, June 29. An additional 136 trips are being added across 14 routes: 54, 70, 92, 30N, 30S, A4, A6, A8, P6, V4, W4, F4, P12, and T18.

To make these improvements possible, Metro will temporarily suspend bus service on four routes that currently have extremely low ridership – NH2, C14, G2 and M6. Customers along these routes are asked to use other Metrobus routes nearby.

Starting Monday, weekday service will be improved with additional buses on the 54, 70, 92, 30N, 30S, A4, A6, A8, P6, V4, W4, F4, P12, and T18.
Service will be temporarily suspended on the NH2, C14, G2 and M6. Use alternate bus service nearby.
Additional service adjustments will also be implemented on the following routes:
22A will operate every 60 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Service will only be provided between Pentagon Station and Shirlington. No service between Shirlington and Ballston-MU Station
62 will operate every 48 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30p.m.
D2 will operate every 40 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
E2 will operate every 60 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
H6 will operate every 60 minutes from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
U4 will operate every 30 minutes from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
X8 will operate every 40 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Rear door boarding will continue until further notice.

Covid-19 protections continue

Metro acted quickly, at the earliest stages of the pandemic, to protect frontline employees, customers and the general public. Many of those protections will continue as the region reopens, including frequent cleaning of buses, trains and high-touch surfaces, rear-door boarding, supply conservation, and a requirement that all customers and employees wear face coverings or masks on all trains, buses and stations.

Metro cannot guarantee that social distancing will be possible at all times, and the transit agency continues to ask customers to consider all of their transportation options, including walking, biking, or scooters whenever possible, to make space available for other riders.

###

[STrRedWolf]

MTA's ramping up service. https://www.mta.maryland.gov/coronavirus

In short, on July 12th, full service on Light Rail, MARC, and Metro subway. Bus will have no express service and 2 locals suspended, but otherwise full schedule. Commuter Bus will be on "enhanced S schedule" on the 12th until the 27th.

[mtuandrew]

All of the 1k, 4k, and 5k cars have been scraped with the exception of 1000 and 1001 (non revenue preservation).

A minor point of clarification: 4000-4001 and 5000-5001 were all retained as "heritage fleet" along with 1000-1001.

The 5k cars were basket cases from the beginning and remained so to the end.

The last part is debatable.. WMATA vehicle engineering sunk enormous resources in to designing reliability improvements for both the HVAC and propulsion systems in the years just before disposal, in fact WMATA had let a contract with Merak to implement the HVAC upgrades, and they were at about 25% fleet completion when the decision was made to scrap. Design was complete and contract solicitation in development for the propulsion system upgrades that were out of scope for WMATA personnel; retrofits and iterative revisions that were possible using existing resources were 100% completed a few months prior to scrapping.

edit to add: the decision to scrap the 5Ks was entirely political, it was a concession made to appease Maryland board members who objected to the cost of unrelated traction power system upgrades.

Quoting this here, but I’m moving the actual post to the 5k thread.

[JDC]

Starting August 16, Metro is adding additional buses and trains as well as hours of service, reaching almost pre-pandemic levels of service. More details here https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Metro- ... ust-16.cfm

[davinp]

As ridership slowly increases, VRE is restoring service.
Starting Monday, July 27, VRE will add northbound Train #300 and southbound Train #307.
These are not "S" schedule trains, which VRE is still operating on.

https://kingpeyton.vre.org/sites/vre/as ... ine(2).pdf

[Rockingham Racer]

As ridership slowly increases, VRE is restoring service.
Starting Monday, July 27, VRE will add northbound Train #300 and southbound Train #307.
These are not "S" schedule trains, which VRE is still operating on.

https://kingpeyton.vre.org/sites/vre/as ... ine(2).pdf

Let us hope this trend continues, but I am not hopeful--given the recent spike of the virus in the country.

[mtuandrew]

WMATA’s going back to nearly full schedules on rail and bus lines. https://www.wmata.com/about/news/More-Metro.cfm

Fair use:

More Metro: Most rail and bus service returns to pre-pandemic levels in largest ramp-up in agency’s history

For immediate release August 13, 2020

More trains, more stations, more buses, more hours. Metro is finalizing plans to restore most rail and bus service to pre-Covid levels across the region in the largest – and likely most complex – service change in the system's 44-year history. To support the effort, thousands of frontline Metro employees will transition to new work schedules as the region continues its gradual recovery and more customers are expected.

Noteworthy:
-Silver Line service resumed yesterday (Sunday, August 16)
-Headways are at 8 minutes per arrival in rush peak service (all lines), 12 minutes per arrival (Red) and 15 minutes per arrival (all others) off-peak
-many bus routes are being reinstated as of Sunday, August 23
-while the 7000s have been running the lion’s share of service during the slowdown, WMATA has been testing and prepping older stock for the resumption. Not sure if that only means 6000s or also 2000/3000s.

Wiedefeld credits CARES Act funding for the resumption of service.

[Sand Box John]

mtuandrew
While the 7000s have been running the lion’s share of service during the slowdown, WMATA has been testing and prepping older stock for the resumption. Not sure if that only means 6000s or also 2000/3000s.

They will need every car they got to restore service levels to pre-pandemic. Right now WMATA's fleet is only 96 cars larger then it was before the 7k cars began replacing the cars that were scrapped. When Silver line phase II opens next year that 96 figure drops to 32.

[mtuandrew]

They will need every car they got to restore service levels to pre-pandemic. Right now WMATA's fleet is only 96 cars larger then it was before the 7k cars began replacing the cars that were scrapped. When Silver line phase II opens next year that 96 figure drops to 32.

My current workplace has a great view of the Yellow Line Bridge, and since the surge I’ve started to see a lot of six-car sets of older cars rather than eights. That’ll help lessen the car shortage.

[STrRedWolf]

So a little bit on the trip up to Baltimore and back.

Traffic... is way down. I went in through Odenton on the way up. The parking lot looked like it was a federal holiday. There was practically nobody there. The station master said that everything was extremely slow on the Penn Line. The coffee shop is closed.

At least I used the CharmPass app this time.

Going back down from Baltimore mid-day felt a bit more normal, getting off at BWI.

Lyft and Uber seem to be picking back up. I had some good conversations with the drivers.

[STrRedWolf]

MTA Maryland is now going through the process of long-term service cuts. In regards to MARC service:

Discontinued Service:

Penn Line service between Union Station and Perryville:
Train 520 to terminate at Baltimore Penn Station Monday through Thursday and operate to Perryville on Fridays
Train 548 to terminate at Baltimore Penn Station Monday through Friday
Train 537 (afternoon)
Penn Line northbound service from Union Station:
Trains 410 and 418 (morning)
Penn Line southbound service from Penn Station:
Train 423 (morning)
Camden Line service:
Eastbound from Union Station: Trains 844 (morning) and 848 (afternoon)
Westbound from Dorsey Station: Train 855 (afternoon)

Train 410 is mine. I've commented on it and asked them to instead merge it into 408 to regenerate 406 and adjust the schedules of it and 421 (which turns off 408).