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

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 #1548862  by Sand Box John
 
blockski
It's not a question of the technical feasibility of matching the canopy design. It's a question of constructability, cost, etc.

I love the Harry Weese station designs, but the downside of the choice to use cast-in-place concrete is that it's not easy to expand while continuing regular operations.


The new canopies over the north half of the station will need significant rehabilitation and or total replacement long before the original canopies over the south half. I see things from a long term cost prospective.
 #1550775  by JackRussell
 
I just got an email about the status:
-----------------------------------------

Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project teams have completed the train control system connections of Phase 2 of the Silver Line to the rest of the region’s transit system. Project officials say this is major step toward completion of the rail line extension from the Wiehle-Reston East Station through Dulles Airport to Ashburn in eastern Loudoun County.

“This is great,” according to Charles Stark, Airports Authority senior vice president and head of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. “It’s a major milestone.”

Working closely with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), rail project crews were able to complete the tie-in work at the Wiehe-Reston East metrorail during weeks when WMATA had closed some Orange and Silver Line stations for platform repairs and other maintenance work. This enabled crews to complete the work faster.

"Finishing the critical tie-in this summer means 13 previously planned WMATA shutdowns that had been planned over the coming months will not be needed," Stark said. Crews were also able to do more work than they had anticipated.

Ernest Lee, MWAA’s commissioning and testing rail systems project manager, said the tie was successful. “It proved that the software is working.” There will be some additional systems testing as well as dynamic testing this fall.

Lee and Stark said the tie-in called for a team approach, requiring intense daily cooperation between Airports Authority teams, WMATA and Capital Rail Constructors, the Phase 2 construction contractor.

The project has been working toward turning over Phase 2 of the Silver Line to WMATA around the first of the year.

Meanwhile, there is still additional work to be done, project officials said.
Once construction and testing are complete, the Airports Authority will turn ownership over to WMATA. That agency will conduct additional testing before setting the date to begin passenger service.

The first phase of the Silver Line project from East Falls Church to Wiehle-Reston East with four stations In Tysons, opened in 2014. Completion of Phase 2 along the 11.5-mile alignment from the Wiehle Avenue to Ashburn, will include stops at the Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Dulles Airport and Loudoun Gateway stations.
 #1550905  by JDC
 
Do we have any guesses as to what the duration of a trip will be from Ashburn to, say, L'Enfant Plaza, during a typical rush-hour period? Excluding track fires, etc, of course :wink: Asking for a....friend....who may be considering leaving FFX once Phase II is open.....
 #1550918  by Sand Box John
 
JDC
Do we have any guesses as to what the duration of a trip will be from Ashburn to, say, L'Enfant Plaza, during a typical rush-hour period? Excluding track fires, etc, of course :wink: Asking for a....friend....who may be considering leaving FFX once Phase II is open.....


Though not the same two trip points: From FEIS, Volume I, Chapter 6, Page 12
Code: Select all
Table 6.1-7: Transit Travel Times for Select O/D Pairs in Minutes
Spring Hill       Metro Center    38
Wiehle Avenue     Union Station   51
Rosslyn           Dulles Airport  43
Wiehle Avenue     Pentagon        55
Herndon-Monroe    Greensboro      26
Spring Hill       Dulles Airport  19
Wiehle Avenue     Mclean          19
Loudoun Gateway   Metro Center    60
Note: I compared trip planner during peak to the table above and one seat rides were almost exactly the same, transfers were longer in trip planner by no more then 10 minutes. Off peak in trip planner were longer, likely because of slower train speeds.

Figure roughly 68 minutes after you add 3 minutes for Ashburn to Loudoun Gateway and 5 minutes for Metro Center to L'Enfant Plaza.
 #1552634  by JDC
 
Apparently FFX County Board approved a request to request the renaming of the McLean Station to McLean-Capital One Hall because a performing arts center will be opening up as part of Capital One's HQ campus.
 #1552636  by Sand Box John
 
JDC
Apparently FFX County Board approved a request to request the renaming of the McLean Station to McLean-Capital One Hall because a performing arts center will be opening up as part of Capital One's HQ campus.


Do I smell the scent of naming rights? If so, a check of a substantial amount should be written for that privilege.
 #1552836  by Sand Box John
 
justalurker66
No station should receive such a promotional name. Are there any other corporate named stations in the system?


The Prince George's Plaza Shopping Center existed before the Prince George's Plaza station across the street was built. The same could be also said of Reston Town Center. The commercial development of Largo Town Center was built around the same time as the station with same name. The Strathmore Hall Foundation, Incorporated got Strathmore attached to Grosvenor.
 #1552877  by justalurker66
 
Thanks for the examples. It appears Prince George's Plaza kept the original name when the mall changed to "The Mall at Prince George's". Reston and Largo could probably keep their names if the developments changed (and would be location descriptive). Strathmore would be close to the "Capitol One" naming - although I doubt the non-profit would be renamed after a for profit corporation. Fortunately such "corporate naming" isn't overly common.

FYI: It appears CTA in Chicago has been offering sponsorships/naming rights since 2013.
https://www.transitchicago.com/partnership/

In DC Greater Greater Washington discussed the issue last year -
https://ggwash.org/view/74728/swarovski ... -like-this
 #1553615  by Sand Box John
 
JDCMetro has uncovered a potential design flaw in track circuits installed by CRC and is requesting that WMAA require CRC to do a comprehensive test of them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tr ... story.html

This is another reason why Alstom (GRS) should have been selected over Ansaldo STS USA (US&S) as the vendor of the train control and signaling hardware for phase II. Alstom (GRS) is a known quantity, WMATA has never selected Ansaldo STS USA (US&S) as the hardware vendor on any new construction. Hell, phase I was fitted Alstom (GRS) hardware.
 #1554532  by mackievlzpro
 
JackRussell wrote: Sun Oct 11, 2020 6:43 am
mackievlzpro wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 10:56 pm Saw 3 test trains out on the western end of the project today. All 3 were 7Ks, one 8 car train, and two 4 car trains. Progress!
Out west of the airport?
Correct. Coming home late last night, I saw them parked near the Loudoun Gateway Station. The red marker lights were on, but the trains were unoccupied.
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