Metro SafeTrack Surge #7 begins tomorrow, August 9
Surge #7 to include weekend line segment shutdown between Shady Grove and Grosvenor stations
Metro’s seventh SafeTrack surge, which gets underway tomorrow, August 9, will be expanded to include a weekend line segment shutdown to accommodate additional repairs identified during special supervisory inspections ordered by General Manager/CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld following last month's derailment.
Surge #7 will include around-the-clock single tracking between Shady Grove and Twinbrook on weekdays through August 18, 2016. In addition, the work zone will be extended the weekend of August 13-14, to include a line segment shutdown between Shady Grove and Grosvenor-Strathmore with free shuttle buses replacing trains.
The weekend shutdown will allow track work crews to perform additional switch maintenance, replace crossties and make repairs identified during inspections that need to be addressed.
The nine-day surge will also focus on renewing or replacing rail and power infrastructure between Shady Grove and Twinbrook, with a focus on wooden crossties, fasteners, switches and power cables.
SafeTrack Surge #7 weekday service will operate as follows:
- Trains will serve Shady Grove and Rockville stations every 18 minutes.
- All other Red Line stations will have near-normal service with additional trains operating between Twinbrook and Glenmont and between Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring during weekday rush hours.
All Red Line customers traveling to or from Shady Grove or Rockville are encouraged to use Twinbrook, White Flint or Grosvenor-Strathmore stations instead.
On Saturday, August 13 and Sunday, August 14:
- Free shuttle buses will replace trains between Shady Grove and Grosvenor-Strathmore.
- Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook and White Flint stations will be closed.
SafeTrack is an accelerated track work plan to address safety recommendations and rehabilitate the Metrorail system to improve safety and reliability by significantly expanding maintenance time on weeknights, weekends and midday hours and includes 15 "Safety Surges" - long duration track outages for major projects in key parts of the system. The overall objective of SafeTrack is to bring Metrorail tracks and structures into a state of good repair by eliminating safety hazards, increasing service reliability and improving the ride quality of the system.
News release issued at 1:49 pm, August 8, 2016.