   #copyright

Washington Metro

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American Geography;
Railway transport

   CAPTION: Washington Metro

       Locale      Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
    Transit type   Rapid transit
   Began operation March 27, 1976
    System length  106.3 mi (171 km)
    No. of lines   5
   No. of stations 86
   Daily ridership 564,000 (FY 2006)
     Track gauge   1435  mm (4  ft 8½  in) ( standard gauge)
      Operator     Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

   The Washington Metro, or simply Metro, is the rapid transit system of
   Washington, D.C., and neighboring suburban communities in Maryland and
   Virginia, both inside and outside the Capital Beltway. In Maryland
   service is provided in Prince George's County and Montgomery County; in
   Virginia, service extends to Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the
   city of Alexandria.

Overview

   A Red Line train services Metro Center, the hub of the system.
   Enlarge
   A Red Line train services Metro Centre, the hub of the system.
   The upper level platforms at Metro Center.
   Enlarge
   The upper level platforms at Metro Centre.

   The Metrorail ( subway) system and the Metrobus ( bus) network are
   owned and operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
   Authority (WMATA) — a multijurisdictional, quasi-governmental agency.
   WMATA also operates a paratransit service for the disabled called
   MetroAccess. However, the expression "Metro" usually refers to
   Metrorail exclusively.

   Unlike the subway systems in cities such as Boston or New York,
   Metrorail fare is not fixed, but instead varies based on the distance
   traveled and the time of day. Riders enter and exit the system using a
   stored-value card in the form of a paper magnetic stripe farecard or a
   proximity card known as SmarTrip. Both methods track the balance paid
   to Metro, as well as the rider's entry and exit points.

   Since opening in 1976, the subway network has grown to five lines,
   consisting of 86 stations and 106.3 miles (171 km) of track. The
   original plan of 83 stations on 103 miles (165.5 km) was completed on
   January 13, 2001. There were 206 million trips on Metrorail in fiscal
   year 2006. The system is the second busiest in the nation, with about
   700,000 trips taken on a typical weekday. The only city in the nation
   with a busier subway system is New York.

   Washington's Metrorail is well known for its design by Chicago
   architect Harry Weese. Weese's design is an exemplar of
   late-20th-century modern architecture. With its heavy use of concrete,
   and the repetitive nature of its design motifs, it demonstrates aspects
   of Brutalism, which, in Washington, is also exemplified by the FBI's J.
   Edgar Hoover Building. Simultaneously, with its coffered groin vaults
   and barrel vaults, it reflects the neoclassical style of architecture
   that can arguably be described as the closest thing to an "official"
   federal style in Washington, as demonstrated in such buildings as the
   U.S. Department of the Treasury and the former U.S. Patent Office
   building (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), by Robert Mills;
   the White House, by James Hoban; and the Beaux-Arts Lincoln Memorial,
   by Henry Bacon.

Metrorail network

   The network was designed with a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, which
   makes the subway ideal for getting from a suburb to any part of the
   city, or vice versa, but unattractive for suburb-to-suburb travel;
   groups have proposed a Purple Line to remedy this. The system is also
   noteworthy as a system with a limited number of lines that nevertheless
   makes extensive use of interlining (running more than one line on the
   same track).
   Metrorail system map.
   Enlarge
   Metrorail system map.

   There are five operating lines and two planned lines:

   CAPTION: Washington Metro lines

   Line Name Opened Stations Termini
     Red Line 1976 27 Shady Grove - Glenmont
     Orange Line 1978 26 Vienna/Fairfax-GMU - New Carrollton
     Blue Line 1977 27 Franconia-Springfield - Largo Town Centre
     Yellow Line 1983 12 Huntington - Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention
   Centre
     Green Line 1991 21 Branch Ave - Greenbelt
     Purple Line/Bi-County Transitway (Planned) Bethesda - New Carrollton
     Silver Line (Planned) Route 772 - Stadium-Armory

   There are currently stations in the District of Columbia, Prince
   George's County and Montgomery County in Maryland, and Fairfax County,
   Arlington County, and city of Alexandria in Virginia. The planned line
   would add stations in Loudoun County, Virginia once completed.

   Half of the system, including most of the stations in the District of
   Columbia, is underground, but most suburban stations are on elevated
   rails or at grade. In the case of the western Orange Line, the tracks
   run in the median of Interstate 66. However, the deepest stations in
   the system are not in Washington, but at the northeastern end of the
   Red Line, with Wheaton having the longest escalator in the western
   hemisphere at 70 meters long, and Forest Glen being even deeper than
   that. It is so deep, the only way to the surface is by elevator.
   Smithsonian station.
   Enlarge
   Smithsonian station.
   A Breda 4000-series train arrives at the Federal Center SW station
   Enlarge
   A Breda 4000-series train arrives at the Federal Centre SW station

   The system is not centered on any single station, but Metro Centre is
   considered the hub, as it is the busiest station, located at the
   intersection of the three busiest lines, and the Metro Information
   Centre and Gift Shop are located there. Other notable transfer stations
   include Gallery Place/Chinatown, which is located by the Verizon
   Centre; Stadium-Armory, which is located by RFK Stadium where the
   Washington Nationals and DC United play; and L'Enfant Plaza, the only
   station in the system with four lines and which supplies easy access
   between downtown Washington and Virginia.

   Numerous colleges and universities are accessible through the Metro,
   including:
     * American University from Tenleytown-AU
     * Catholic University from Brookland-CUA
     * The University of the District of Columbia from Van Ness-UDC
     * Gallaudet University from New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U
     * Georgetown University from Rosslyn (via shuttle bus or a long walk
       across the Key Bridge) or Dupont Circle
     * Georgetown University Law Centre from Judiciary Square and Union
       Station
     * The George Washington University from Foggy Bottom-GWU
     * George Mason University from Vienna/Fairfax-GMU (Main Campus) and
       Virginia Square-GMU (Arlington Campus)
     * Howard University from Shaw-Howard Univ
     * Howard University Law School from Van Ness-UDC
     * The University of Maryland, College Park from College Park-U of Md
     * Marymount University from Ballston-MU
     * Trinity University from Brookland-CUA

   Since 1999, Metro has run a special service pattern on July 4 to
   accommodate movements into and out of the city for Independence Day
   activities on the National Mall. This generally involves switching the
   southern terminals for the Blue and Yellow Lines (i.e., Blue Line
   trains terminate at Huntington, while Yellow Line trains terminate at
   Franconia-Springfield), terminating the Blue Line at the Rosslyn upper
   level, and sending Orange Line trains to both Largo Town Centre and New
   Carrollton. Since 2002, Smithsonian station has been closed all day on
   July 4 due to both of its entrances being located within the secured
   perimeter established around the Mall.

   WMATA has a stated goal of integration of its rail and bus networks. In
   2004, SmarTrip readers were installed on all buses, enabling paperless
   transfers between lines and with the rail system. Metro also offers
   numerous connections to other transit systems and modes of
   transportation in Washington, D.C..

History

   Intersection of ceiling vaults at Metro Center.
   Enlarge
   Intersection of ceiling vaults at Metro Centre.

   During the 1960s, there were plans for a massive freeway system in
   Washington. However, opposition to this freeway system grew. Harland
   Bartholomew who chaired the National Capital Planning Commission
   thought that a rail transit system would never be self-sufficient
   because of low density land uses and general transit ridership decline.
   Finally, a mixed concept of a Capital Beltway system along with rail
   line radials was agreed upon. The Beltway received full funding; monies
   for the ambitious Inner Loop Freeway system were partially reallocated
   toward construction of the Metro system.

   In 1960, the federal government created the National Capital
   Transportation Agency to develop a rapid rail system. Then in 1966, a
   bill creating WMATA was passed by the federal government, the District
   of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland, with planning power for the system
   being tranferred to it from the NCTA. WMATA approved plans for a
   98-mile regional system in 1968, and construction on the metro began in
   1969, with groundbreaking on December 9. The system opened March 27,
   1976 with 4.6 miles (7.4 km) available on the Red Line with five
   stations from Rhode Island Ave to Farragut North, all in the District
   of Columbia. Arlington, Virginia was linked to the system on July 1,
   1976; Montgomery County, Maryland on February 6, 1978; Prince George's
   County, Maryland on November 20, 1978; and Fairfax County, Virginia and
   Alexandria, Virginia on December 17, 1983.

   The final 103 mile (166 km), 83 station system was completed with the
   opening of the Green Line segment to Branch Ave on January 13, 2001.
   This did not mean the end of the growth of the system, however: a 3.22
   mile (5.18 km) extension of the Blue Line to Largo Town Centre and
   Morgan Boulevard stations opened on December 18, 2004, the first
   in-fill station ( New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U on the Red Line
   between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood) opened November
   20, 2004, and planning is underway for an extension to Dulles Airport.

   The highest ridership for a day was June 9, 2004, with 850,636 trips,
   as thousands of people went to Washington to view the funeral
   procession of Ronald Reagan, and to the U.S. Capitol to view his body
   as it lay in state. The previous recordholding day was January 20,
   1993, President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. March, April, June
   and July of 2006 have broken records in terms of ridership, with seven
   of the ten highest ridership days occurring in these months. June 2006
   holds the single-month ridership record with 18,745,046 total riders,
   and the record for highest average weekday ridership with 747,329
   weekday trips. USA Today attributes the high ridership of the
   Washington Metro and other transit systems around the country to
   rapidly rising gasoline costs during that time.

Rolling stock

   A train of Rohr cars arrives at Cheverly station.
   Enlarge
   A train of Rohr cars arrives at Cheverly station.

   Metro's rail fleet consists of 952 75-foot (23 m) rail cars, delivered
   in five shipments.

   The original order of 300 rail cars was manufactured by Rohr
   Industries, with delivery in 1976. These cars are numbered 1000-1299,
   and were rehabilitated in the mid-1990's by Breda Costruzioni
   Ferroviarie and Metro at the Brentwood Shop in Washington. The second
   order, of 76 cars, was through Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie (Breda),
   with delivery in 1982. These cars are numbered 2000-2075, and were
   rehabilitated in 2003 and 2004 by Alstom in Hornell, New York. The
   third order consisted of 290 cars, also from Breda, with delivery in
   1987. These cars are numbered 3000-3289 as originally delivered, and
   are currently undergoing rehabilitation by Alstom in Hornell, New York.
   The fourth order consisted of 100 cars from Breda, numbered 4000-4099.
   These cars were delivered in 1991. The fifth order consisted of 192
   rail cars from a joint venture of Construcciones y Auxiliar de
   Ferrocarriles (CAF) of Spain and AAI Corporation of Hunt Valley,
   Maryland. These cars are numbered 5000-5191, with delivery from 2001
   through 2004. Most recently, Metro has ordered 184 rail cars from
   Alstom, the same company that is rehabilitating the Breda cars.
   Delivery began in late 2005, with initial service starting in October
   2006. The new cars have their body shells built in Barcelona, Spain and
   assembly completed in Hornell, New York.

Metrorail signaling and operation

   During normal operation on revenue tracks (used for passenger
   services), trains are controlled by an automatic train operation system
   (ATO) which accelerates and brakes the train automatically without
   operator intervention. However, all trains are manned with train
   operators who close the doors (they can optionally be set to open
   automatically), make station announcements, and supervise their trains.
   The operator can switch a train into manual mode and operate the train
   manually as needed.

Safety and security

Metro design and policy considerations

   No Food Or Drink On Metro.
   Enlarge
   No Food Or Drink On Metro.

   Metro planners designed the system with customer safety and order
   maintenance as primary considerations. The open vaulted ceiling design
   of Metro stations and the limited obstructions on platforms allow few
   opportunities to conceal criminal activity. Station platforms are also
   built away from station walls, to limit vandalism and provide for
   diffused lighting of the station from recessed lights. Metro's attempts
   to reduce crime, combined with how the station environments were
   designed with crime prevention in mind, has contributed to the fact
   that Washington Metro is among the safest and cleanest subway systems
   in the United States.

   Metro is patrolled by its own police force, which strictly enforces
   laws against criminal activities. Each city and county in the Metro
   service area has similar ordinances that govern misconduct on Metro,
   such as evasion of Metro fares or vending on Metro-owned property.
   Metro also forbids riders from eating, drinking, or smoking in Metro
   trains, buses, and stations. While arrests are rare, one widely
   publicized incident occurred in 2000 when police arrested a 12-year-old
   girl for eating french fries in the Tenleytown-AU station. In a 2004
   opinion by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, John Roberts – now the
   chief justice of the United States – upheld the girl's arrest. By then,
   however, WMATA had answered negative publicity by adopting a policy of
   first issuing warnings to juveniles, and arresting them only after
   three violations within a year.

   Metro's zero-tolerance policy on food, trash and other sources of
   disorder embodies the broken windows philosophy of crime reduction.
   This philosophy also extends to the use of station restroom facilities.
   Under a longstanding policy, Metro allowed only employees to use its
   restrooms in order to curb unlawful and unwanted activity. Station
   managers could make exceptions for customers with small children, the
   elderly, or the disabled. Today, Metro allows the use of restrooms by
   customers who gain a station manager's permission, except during
   periods of heightened terror alerts.

Metro Transit Police

   The Metro Transit Police Department is charged with ensuring the safety
   of Metro customers and employees. Transit Police officers patrol the
   Metrorail system and Metrobuses, and have jurisdiction and arrest
   powers throughout the 1,500-square-mile Metro service area for crimes
   that occur on or against transit authority facilities, or within 150
   feet of a Metrobus stop. The Metro Transit Police Department is the
   only American police agency that has local police authority in three
   different "state" jurisdictions (Maryland, Virginia and the District of
   Columbia).

Accidents

   The November 3, 2004 accident at Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station.
   Enlarge
   The November 3, 2004 accident at Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station.
   The accident at Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station as seen the next
   day from the station mezzanine. Trains were sharing the same track
   through the station at this time.
   Enlarge
   The accident at Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station as seen the next
   day from the station mezzanine. Trains were sharing the same track
   through the station at this time.

   There have been three collisions reported on the Metrorail system since
   its opening.
     * On January 13, 1982, a train backed up and derailed at a
       malfunctioning interlocking between the Federal Triangle and
       Smithsonian stations. In attempting to restore the train to the
       rails, the supervisors backed it up, but they did not notice that
       another car had also derailed. In attempting to reverse the train,
       the other rail car slid off the track and slammed into a tunnel
       support, killing three people and injuring many others, becoming
       the worst accident that has ever occurred on the Metrorail system
       in over 30 years of operation. Coincidentally, this accident
       occurred at the same time as Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the
       14th Street Bridge during a major snowstorm, producing probably the
       worst transit situation in Washington history. The train accident
       was compounded by lack of availability of ambulances, which at the
       time were all trying to reach the 14th Street Bridge disaster.
     * On January 6, 1996, during the Blizzard of 1996, a train operator
       was killed when a train overran the Shady Grove station and crashed
       into a parked train. An NTSB investigation found the following
       factors that contributed to the accident:
          + at the time of the accident, there was a policy then in effect
            that prohibited supervisors from granting employees permission
            to operate trains manually (even in inclement weather), and
          + the parked train was located on the same track that was being
            used by inbound trains, instead of in a safer location.
     * On November 3, 2004, an out-of-service train lost its brakes,
       rolled backwards into the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Station,
       and hit a revenue train servicing the station. No one was killed,
       but 20 people were injured. The 2004 accident reinforced the
       finding from the 1996 accident of the tendency of Metro rail cars
       built or rehabilitated prior to 2001 to telescope when involved in
       a head-on collision. A 14-month investigation on the accident
       concluded that the train operator was most likely less-than-fully
       alert as the train rolled backwards into the station, on the
       grounds that the train had rolled backwards for over 78 seconds and
       that the train operator was at the end of an overtime shift that
       had been preceded by a night of interrupted sleep. Safety officials
       estimated that had the train been full, at least 79 would have
       died. Since the findings of the investigation, the train operator
       was dismissed from Metro, and Metro officials plan to add rollback
       protection to 300 cars.

   In addition to the three collisions, there have been several
   less-serious derailments of Metrorail trains, such as the January 20,
   2003, derailment of a Blue Line train near National Airport.

Accountability and controversy

   Since the turn of the 21st century, Metrorail has been plagued with
   deteriorating quality of service and excessive delays, caused in part
   by the system's aging infrastructure and in part by lack of proper
   oversight regarding various Metrorail systems. In addition to the
   November 2004 accident, other serious incidents included an electrical
   fire on March 18, 2004 during morning rush hour. The fire occurred deep
   underground, on the Red Line between the Woodley Park-Zoo and Dupont
   Circle stations. This caused a major disruption in service that sent
   thousands of stranded passengers onto Connecticut Avenue, with no good
   plan by authorities to deal with the situation. Occurring just days
   after the Madrid train bombings, this incident highlighted Metro's
   shortcomings when it comes to emergency preparedness.

   On July 27, 2004, rainstorms flooded a control room located at the
   Silver Spring station, damaging electronic equipment used for operating
   Red Line trains between the Takoma and Forest Glen stations. As a
   result, Red Line trains were manually operated for two weeks, reducing
   the speed of the trains through the affected area, causing significant
   delays for passengers.

   With aging infrastructure and rail cars, the Metrorail system has
   experienced numerous incidents of rail cracks that have required
   single-tracking (trains in both directions sharing the same track)
   during rush hour. Unlike the New York City Subway and other systems,
   the original design of the rail system provides just two rail tracks
   (one in each direction) throughout the entire system; the Metrorail
   system has no "sidings" for disabled trains to switch onto. Therefore,
   when an incident occurs, no matter how minor (such as a sick
   passenger), there is no way for subsequent trains to go around the
   affected train, causing trains to back up behind the affected train,
   resulting in quite significant delays. When this happens, trains are
   "single-tracked" (trains going in both directions sharing the track on
   the same side), which, again, results in significant delays. Another
   cause for delays is the frequent mechanical break-down of Metrorail
   trains while they are in service (due to the age of some of the rail
   cars and lack of repairs). This causes the entire train to be
   offloaded, with passengers attempting to reboard onto subsequent
   trains, which often become packed with the extra passengers.

   Further controversy surfaced in 2004, when it became known that
   employees of Penn Parking, the company contracted by Metro to collect
   parking fees at Metrorail stations, had stolen substantial amounts of
   cash. Metro terminated the contract with Penn Parking, and on June 28,
   2004, implemented a cashless parking system, where customers are
   required to pay for parking with SmarTrip cards.

   The parking lots typically fill up quickly on weekdays due to the
   appeal both for tourists and for commuters from outer suburbs to drive
   their cars to the outlying stations and take the train in. The cashless
   parking system created a problem because full, unmanned parking lots
   trapped drivers who were unable to park and leave without paying $10.00
   - the minimum intitial cost of a SmarTrip card via the SmarTrip vending
   machine ($5.00 for the card, and $5.00 initial value). The burden on
   tourists and single time parkers is highest, because the cost of the
   card itself is non-refundable and a single time user would be left with
   an unused balance of $1.50. If drivers plan to purchase the SmarTrip
   cards in the station, as signs warn them to, they may not be able to
   park legally in order to do so. On January 2, 2006, Metro implemented a
   change in parking lot revenue hours, so that on weekday mornings, the
   exit gates from the parking lot would remain open until 10:30 AM.

   In 2005, then-General Manager Richard A. White led efforts to improve
   accountability and dialogue with customers. This included independent
   audits, town hall meetings, online chats with White and other
   management officials, and improved signage in stations. Despite these
   efforts, however, the Board of Directors announced White's dismissal on
   January 11, 2006. Dan Tangherlini replaced White as interim General
   Manager, effective February 16, 2006. Tangherlini was considered a
   leading candidate for Metro's top job on a permanent basis before he
   resigned to work as City Administrator under mayor Adrian Fenty.
   Tangherlini was replaced as interim general manager by Jack Requa,
   Metro's chief bus manager. On November 14, 2006, it was announced in
   The Washington Post that John B. Catoe Jr., the deputy chief executive
   of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and a
   Washington, D.C. native, had been selected as Metro's new permanent
   general manager.

Fare structure

   Metrorail fare is not fixed, but instead varies based on the distance
   traveled and the time of day. During regular hours (weekdays from
   opening until 9:30 am, 3-7 pm, and 2 am to closing), fares can be
   anywhere from $1.35 to $3.90 in fares. During reduced fare hours (all
   other times), fares can be up to $2.35. Fares can be paid using either
   farecards or SmarTrip cards. Under both methods, users need to use the
   cards both to enter and exit the stations. The fare is deducted from
   the balance of the card upon exit.

Farecards

   Farecards, unlike other forms of payment on Metrorail, are intended to
   be used once per trip. Farecards can hold anywhere from $1.25 to $45.
   When using farecards, one must be able to cover the fare upon exiting
   in order to be able to exit (the gates will not open otherwise).
   Exitfare machines allow users to add to the balance of their farecards
   while inside the system. This allows users to pay the fare and exit the
   station if they had an insufficient balance when entering.

Passes

   There are three different types of passes available to the general
   population: the One Day Pass, the 7-Day Short Trip Pass, and the 7-Day
   Fast Pass. In addition, the SmartStudent Pass is designed for use by
   school-aged children. At the present time, passes are incompatible with
   SmarTrip.

   The One Day Pass is used for unlimited travel on Metro from 9:30 AM to
   closing on weekdays, and all day on weekends and federal holidays. Thus
   it may not be used during the morning rush period, but may be used
   during the evening rush period. Riders holding a 7-Day Short Trip Pass
   are valid for a period of seven consecutive days. The pass may be used
   during rush periods for trips that would normally cost $2.20 or less.
   Exitfare machines may be used to pay for any fare over the $2.20 limit.
   Outside of rush periods, the pass may be used for any rail trip. The
   7-Day Fast Pass is similar to the 7-Day Short Trip Pass, but carries no
   fare restrictions. It is valid for seven consecutive days of unlimited
   Metrorail usage. These passes are sold in the blue Passes/Farecards
   machines on station mezzanines.

   The SmartStudent Pass is available for use by students in Washington,
   D.C. elementary and secondary schools for unlimited travel on Metrorail
   and Metrobus for school-related purposes. The pass is not available in
   farecard machines, but instead are available at Metro sales facilities
   and some schools within the District of Columbia.

Transfers

   Passengers who enter the Metro system may transfer between trains for
   free, so long as they remain within fare control areas.

   Metro offers a discounted rate to passengers transferring from
   Metrorail to Metrobus of 35¢ on regular routes and $2.10 on express
   routes. Rail passengers with SmarTrip are automatically charged the
   reduced transfer fare. Non-Smartrip users, however, must use transfer
   tickets issued by machines within Metro stations at the station where
   the rider originated, or else pay the full fare.

SmarTrip

   Riders can use SmarTrip – a rechargeable, contactless stored-value
   smart card issued by WMATA – for electronic payment of fares on
   Metrorail and Metrobus, as well as the DC Circulator. In addition, on
   June 28, 2004, SmarTrip became the only way to pay parking fees at
   Metro-operated lots.

   At Metro sales facilities, customers can buy SmarTrip cards for a base
   price of five dollars, with no initial fare value. WMATA also sells
   cards by vending machine at select transfer stations and at stations
   with parking facilities; such cards cost ten dollars, and come with an
   initial five dollars of stored fare value. Customers may add value to
   SmarTrip at farecard machines equipped with a SmarTrip target.

   Because the Exitfare machines installed near station fare gates predate
   the introduction of SmarTrip, customers whose cards have insufficient
   value are permitted to leave the system with a negative balance. This
   negative balance must, however, be paid before the card may be used
   again to enter the system. One may not exit a Metro parking facility
   with a negative balance on the SmarTrip card; the card must contain
   sufficient value to pay the full fee in order to exit the Metro parking
   lot.

Funding

   While fares and advertising provide some revenue for Metro, the bulk of
   funding is contributed by each jurisdiction that it serves, as well as
   by the states of Maryland and Virginia. Fares and other revenue fund
   57.6% of daily operations while state and local governments fund the
   remaining 42.4%. Washington Metro is unique among major public
   transportation systems in having no dedicated source of funding.
   Instead, each year WMATA must ask each local jurisdiction to contribute
   funding, which is determined by a formula that equally considers three
   factors: (1) population density, as of the 2000 Census; (2) average
   weekday ridership; (3) number of stations in each jurisdiction. Under
   this formula, the District of Columbia contributes the greatest amount
   (34%), followed by Montgomery County (18.7%), Prince George's County
   (17.9%), Fairfax County (14.3%), Arlington County (9.9%), the City of
   Alexandria (4.7%), the City of Falls Church (0.3%), and the City of
   Fairfax (0.3%).

   It is often argued that this formula places disproportionate burden on
   District of Columbia taxpayers. WMATA and District officials have
   pleaded that the Federal government should contribute more funding,
   reflecting the fact that a substantial portion of the Federal workforce
   use Metro to commute from the suburbs. Tourists also comprise a
   significant portion of ridership and Metro provides an instrumental
   role in transporting people during special events, such as presidential
   inaugurations. As well, a substantial number of stations located in the
   District serve these purposes rather than serving local residents.

   In 2005, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia, introduced a bill
   in Congress that offers WMATA a ten-year federal funding infusion worth
   $1.5 billion. This offer is contingent upon WMATA implementing more
   accountability measures, providing the Federal government two seats on
   its board of directors, and on enactment of legislation by the District
   of Columbia and the states of Maryland and Virginia to permanently
   provide WMATA with dedicated sources of revenue worth $150 million per
   year. The bill passed in the House of Representatives on July 2006 but
   it still needs to pass in the Senate. However, the fate of the proposal
   hangs in doubt; in February 2006 in the Virginia House of Delegates,
   Republican members of the House Finance Committee opposed to new
   taxation blocked WMATA funding legislation.

Future expansion

   Largo Town Center station, which opened December 18, 2004.
   Enlarge
   Largo Town Centre station, which opened December 18, 2004.

Silver Line

   Rumors have abounded for years about transit service out to Dulles and
   points west either by Metro or other systems. There was even a study in
   the early 1990s that proposed a series of civil tiltrotor stations as a
   possible commuting option from places such as Reston, Manassas,
   Leesburg, Columbia, and other points in the greater Washington area.
   Like many other plans, this stopped at the initial assessment stage for
   fiscal and political reasons. Light rail systems and express bus lines
   have also been floated as a possibility within the District or Northern
   Virginia. Plans to extend Metrorail to Dulles have been in the works
   since the beginning of the system's construction. A test station was
   built at the airport around 1970 and was located some 28 feet below the
   parking lot area, but until recently, rail transport there was not a
   reality.

   Finally, in 2002, plans were formalized to bring a 23-mile extension to
   the Orange Line from near the West Falls Church station to Route 772 in
   Loudoun County, Virginia. This would mean a mass transit connection
   from Washington proper to the important business centers of Reston and
   Tysons Corner, and most importantly, provide a link to Dulles Airport.
   On June 10, 2004, the Federal Transit Administration approved the first
   phase of the project to begin. It is scheduled to reach Wiehle Avenue
   in Reston in 2011 and Virginia Route 772, beyond Dulles Airport, in
   2015.

Bi-County Transitway

   Controversy has attended proposals to build a Purple Line, now
   designated the Bi-County Transitway by state planners, linking Bethesda
   and Silver Spring, Maryland, thereby connecting the two branches of the
   Red Line to the north of Washington by rail. It would later be possibly
   extended to New Carrollton, Maryland, thus also connecting branches of
   the Green and Orange lines, and eventually around the entire Capital
   Beltway, linking all the Metro endpoints together, as seen in a
   proposal from the Sierra Club. This line has been conceived as a light
   rail line traveling along a private right-of-way for at least some
   portion of its length, as an elevated monorail, and also as a rapid bus
   line. The proposal has met fierce opposition from some of the residents
   along the certain areas of the line (see NIMBY). Others have noted
   difficulties in obtaining the funds to build it.

Columbia Pike Streetcar

   In conjunction with Arlington and Fairfax counties, Metro has proposed
   to build a streetcar line on Columbia Pike in Arlington. See the
   project's website for further details.

Corridor Cities Transitway

   A proposed light rail or bus rapid transit line that would run from the
   Shady Grove Metro station in Gaithersburg, Maryland northwest to
   Clarksburg, Maryland.

District Streetcars

   Metro broke ground on a light rail line in the Anacostia area on
   November 13, 2004. The project is a demonstration to examine the
   usefulness of building a light rail line that would help people who
   live too far away from subway stations by ferrying them to the main
   Metro network. The line consists of 2.7 miles (4.3 km) of track and six
   stations. Service was expected to begin in autumn 2006. However, in
   April 2005, District transportation officials put the project on hold
   to negotiate with CSX Transportation, the owners of the 2.7 mile
   railroad right-of-way they had originally planned to run the light rail
   on. District officials had agreed to pay CSX Transportation Inc. $16
   million for the right of way, but city officials discovered that CSX
   does not own all of the right of way - in fact, the District is among
   the property owners - raising concerns about what the city was paying
   for and what it was getting. As a result of this incident, the District
   has begun to plan an alternate 2.2 mile route to run on city streets.
   No work has been done since, and no operations start date has been
   defined. The new plan has been met with neighbourhood opposition.
   Additionally, the District is planning to expand its network with
   additional streetcar lines throughout the rest of the city. On January
   20, 2006, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation
   announced that it would begin building a streetcar line on H Street,
   NE, from Union Station to Benning Road as part of its Great Streets
   initiative. This is the same route established by the Columbia Railway
   Company in 1870.

Green Line Extension

   Maryland has proposed extending the Green line from the current
   northern terminus in Greenbelt to connect with Baltimore-Washington
   International Airport via Fort Meade, home of the National Security
   Agency. The link would be built in the next two decades to accommodate
   some of the growth expected in the Howard and Anne Arundel County
   regions as jobs move in with the recent military reorganization.

M Street Subway

   To increase travel capacity through downtown DC, a proposal was floated
   in the early 2000's to reroute the Blue line between Rosslyn and
   Stadium-Armory, so that it would no longer share tracks with the Orange
   line. Instead, from Rosslyn, it would pass through a new station in
   Georgetown, cross the Red line at Dupont Circle and again at Union
   Station, then rejoin its existing eastward branch at Stadium-Armory.
   The proposal was eventually rejected for being too expensive.

Southern Maryland Transitway

   A light rail system for the Southern Maryland counties of Charles and
   St. Mary's is being discussed, growing out of the southern terminus of
   the Green Line (Branch Avenue) and connecting to the rapidly growing
   area of Waldorf and other towns along MD Route 5.

Trivia

     * Huntington is the only station equipped with an "inclinator," an
       elevator-like device that travels diagonally up and down what would
       have been an escalator in order to allow people with disabilities
       to use both sides of the station.
     * The Wheaton station has longest single-span uninterrupted escalator
       (70 meters) in the Western Hemisphere. It takes 2 minutes and 43
       seconds to ascend or descend. This record has been held by Metro
       since 1977, by (in order of opening) the Rosslyn, Woodley Park-Zoo,
       Bethesda, and now Wheaton stations. The longest escalator in Europe
       is in the Park Pobedy station in the Moscow Metro. There are
       several escalator "systems" of greater length in Hong Kong.
     * The automated messages of "doors opening," "doors closing," and the
       more insistent "please stand clear of the doors, thank you" were
       recorded in 1996 by District resident Sandy Carroll. In February
       2006, following an open contest, Metro officials chose Randi
       Miller, a car dealership employee from Woodbridge, Virginia, to
       record new announcements.

   No passing between cars on Metro
   Enlarge
   No passing between cars on Metro
     * Forest Glen Station is so deep (196 feet) that it has no escalators
       to its platform and is serviced only by elevators. Because of the
       depth of the Forest Glen Station and lack of escalators, it is the
       only station equipped with a special trackbed fire supression
       system and smoke doors to protect customers during a train fire and
       evacuation.
     * Huntington is the only station in the system whose name contains
       none of the letters in the word 'mackerel', just as there is only
       one station in the London Underground whose name contains no
       letters in 'mackerel', St John's Wood.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metro"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
