The D.C. Metro, particularly the Red Line, has always lived in infamy amongst Washingtonians for being what we consider to be one of the most unreliable city-wide metro systems in the country. While the D.C. metro has always offered Washingtonians a safe place to zone out from reality and even a spot to cry when needed, it’s been a love-hate relationship that D.C. will live with forever.
What stations are impacted by the Red Line holiday closures
However, this holiday season, between December 18th and December 30th, the Red Line service will not be making stops between Gallery Place and Dupont Circle. This means that the four stops on the Red Line that will be skipped will be: Gallery Place, Metro Center, Farragut North, and Dupont Circle. The reasoning behind this decision is that statistically, during the final two weeks of the year ridership on the metro falls far below (around 40% less) the average during other times of the year. They also stated that repairs will extend to Union Station from the 22nd until the 24th of December, which will impact the red line but not other lines passing through.
The decision to close these metro stops at this time has drawn some criticism from local business owners, the Metro has already communicated plans to place free shuttle buses at each of the affected stations. This means that any commuter or traveler who’s been impacted by a stop closure can simply take the free shuttle to the closest open metro stop to rejoin the Red Line as needed.
What are the repairs being made to the Red Line?
In actuality, the plans are not necessarily a repair but more of a much-needed revamp to a metro line that hasn’t had much improvement in over 50 years. There are currently plans to install roughly 40,000 feet of fiber-optic cables, repair old leaks and dilapidated concrete ceilings, improve lighting on the platforms, make general improvements to the railways, and more.