Metro considering re-balancing service on 5 lines

[JDC]

Martin Di Caro at WAMU broke the story that Metro is considering increasing service on the Blue line to a train every 8 minutes (vs currently every 12) by cutting service on all lines except the Red Line. http://wamu.org/news/15/06/30/to_fix_bl ... our_others. Part of the proposal relates to the Rosslyn bottleneck and the 'limited' of 26 trains per hour - Metro wants to add to the Blue line service and cut the Orange/Silver line service to get to 23 trains per hour - supposedly because it cannot correctly manage 26 trains per hour through Rosslyn.

A heated debate on Metro's proposal is going on at GGW: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/pos ... ver-lines/

[YOLO]

Why couldn't they route SV to WFC instead so they can end service there... smh

I'm all for ending rush plus in its entirety but not at the expense of cutting down GR service down to nothing

[JDC]

Why couldn't they route SV to WFC instead so they can end service there... smh

I'm all for ending rush plus in its entirety but not at the expense of cutting down GR service down to nothing

The Silver Line joins the existing Orange line tracks before (or after, depending on the direction you're heading) WFC, so the Silver Line could not terminate trains at WFC. It cannot terminate trains at EFC either because there is no pocket track there to turn around trains.

[YOLO]

they should have built it so that it does go to WFC and not EFC.

it still would have satisfied the MWAA requirement of a one seat ride to DC and Dulles and gained the pocket track flexibility.

[Sand Box John]

"YOLO"they should have built it so that it does go to WFC and not EFC.

it still would have satisfied the MWAA requirement of a one seat ride to DC and Dulles and gained the pocket track flexibility.

Doing so would have increased the length of that one seat ride.

What I haven't got an answer to is, why is the N Route junction under the Grate Fall Street overpass instead of under the Haycock Road underpass as planned when the K Route was originally built.

[JDC]

The gist of Metro's briefing to the Riders Advisory Counsel was that they want to cut rush-hour service on O/S/G/Y lines to 1) increase service on Blue line and 2) increase on-time performance. Metro basically said that, since the opening of the Silver Line, it has not been able to handle 26 tph through Rosslyn and it wants to cut that back to 22/23. The service cuts, including on Yellow and Green lines, will enable it to run close to 75% rush hour trains at 8-car length.

[charding]

…going to increase pressure for second tunnel under the Potomac...

[Sand Box John]

"charding"
…going to increase pressure for second tunnel under the Potomac...

A second tunnel is not at issue here.

WMATA is trying to put 10 pounds of excrement into 5 pound bag and expecting the 5 pound bag not to brake. Phase I of the Silver line opened before the 64 7k cars procured for the line were delivered from Kawasaki. WMATA is rebalancing the deployment of the existing fleet to give some relieve to Virginia Blue line passengers and at the same time allow the mechanics in the shops to fix the bad order cars and do routine preventive maintenance on the rest.

[Greg Moore]

"charding"
…going to increase pressure for second tunnel under the Potomac...

A second tunnel is not at issue here.

WMATA is trying to put 10 pounds of excrement into 5 pound bag and expecting the 5 pound bag not to brake. Phase I of the Silver line opened before the 64 7k cars procured for the line were delivered from Kawasaki. WMATA is rebalancing the deployment of the existing fleet to give some relieve to Virginia Blue line passengers and at the same time allow the mechanics in the shops to fix the bad order cars and do routine preventive maintenance on the rest.

I'll take your word on this not being an issue about the lack of a second tunnel, but I suspect we'll start to see more of a push for another tunnel. Of course how to get the funding is always the question

[Sand Box John]

"Greg Moore"
I'll take your word on this not being an issue about the lack of a second tunnel, but I suspect we'll start to see more of a push for another tunnel. Of course how to get the funding is always the question.

I do not want to sound harsh, but let me make this perfectly clear. WMATA's problem right now is not a lack of tunnels under the river, it is a lack of reliable trains to put through the tunnels they have.

WMATA is trying to fill the time sheet of a 118 mile railroad that requires 1168 rail cars with only 1104 rail cars.

[YOLO]

Metro needs to expand regardless of some shortage or whatever. Build that 2nd tunnel, bring BL to Georgetown.

[Sand Box John]

"YOLO"
Metro needs to expand regardless of some shortage or whatever. Build that 2nd tunnel, bring BL to Georgetown.

It make no sense to be discussing expansion right now. WMATA should be concentrating all of the human assets and financial resources on making the existing railroad function reliably. You would be surprised how much of a passenger load Metrorail could handle if it only had rolling stock to do it.

[JDC]

"YOLO"
Metro needs to expand regardless of some shortage or whatever. Build that 2nd tunnel, bring BL to Georgetown.

It make no sense to be discussing expansion right now. WMATA should be concentrating all of the human assets and financial resources on making the existing railroad function reliably. You would be surprised how much of a passenger load Metrorail could handle if it only had rolling stock to do it.

Amen. Baby steps, baby steps. Metro has practically zero credibility right now, and it has a long way to go before the jurisdictions ante up the billions of dollars for that type of massive expansion. I do not expect any further Metro extension until sometime in the 2050s or 60s. I think we will instead see ample BRT and light rail.

[mtuandrew]

How about we swap the Blue for Yellow instead? Run Yellow all the way down to Franconia-Springfield, then make the Blue a Huntington to Largo service during the majority of the day. During rush periods, use the Blue as a shuttle-only service between Rosslyn and Huntington (and yes, that still makes Rosslyn a choke point, but presumably less so) with limited Blue Rush-Plus service from Largo to Huntington.

For my commute (Van Dorn to Metro Center) it'd involve more walking or a transfer, but I'd rather have the more direct routing to downtown via Chinatown anyway.

[Sand Box John]

"mtuandrew"
How about we swap the Blue for Yellow instead? Run Yellow all the way down to Franconia-Springfield, then make the Blue a Huntington to Largo service during the majority of the day. During rush periods, use the Blue as a shuttle-only service between Rosslyn and Huntington (and yes, that still makes Rosslyn a choke point, but presumably less so) with limited Blue Rush-Plus service from Largo to Huntington.

That schema wastes the slots in the schedule at stations east of Rosslyn, It would also reduce the total number of train per hour because it would take longer to clear Rosslyn when reversing the train at the platform to head back south. The only advantage, it would free up rolling stock that could be used elsewhere.

The only real solution is more rolling stock

Assuming 2 minute and 20 second headway between Rosslyn and Stadium - Armory and between Grosvenor and Silver Spring including the completed Silver line using all 8 car trains on all lines during peak plus 20 percent spares WMATA would need a fleet 1,888 cars.

After all 748 of the 7k cars are in service and the 378 1 and 4 k cars removed from service, WMATA will have a fleet of 1,474 cars. That's over 400 cars short of what's need to do the above.

Figure another 250 cars to the 1,888 to cut the headways to an even 2 minutes.