Red Line Commuters: Metro Surge 7 Hits Rockville Area Hardest

ROCKVILLE, MD — Metro’s seventh SafeTrack surge, which gets under way Tuesday, Aug. 9, will be expanded to include a weekend line segment shutdown to allow additional repairs needed to prevent derailments.

Surge 7 will include around-the-clock single tracking between Shady Grove and Twinbrook on weekdays through Aug. 18.

In addition, the work zone will be extended the weekend of Aug. 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 inspections came after the July 29 derailment of a Silver Line train near East Falls Church.

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.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s repairs on the Red Line have leaders warning that "major rush hour delays" are likely. From Aug. 9-19, Red Line trains will share a single track between Twinbrook and Shady Grove stations.

WMATA's SafeTrack initiative accelerates three years of track repairs into less than a year by significantly expanding maintenance work. SafeTrack's 15 "Safety Surges" – long-duration track outages for major projects in key parts of the system – will cause delays throughout the region.

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.

For additional information about surge #7 travel alternatives, visit www.wmata.com/safetrack.