A proposal to expand WMATA's yellow line to increase train frequency in lower NW DC

Image from Nyc Subway site. Photo copyright by Wayne Whitehorne. Yellow Line train at Huntington Station.

While I don't necessarily fully agree with this email, based on cost and utlization issues, it's definitely worthy of consideration. (Some of my concerns are that "only more cars..." well each subway car costs $4 million, etc.)

From Scott Pomeroy--

This email is in response recent postings on the Columbia Heights List, but really affects anyone;business, resident or employee in Ward One near one of the Metro stops, that daily has to deal with the reality that there is not enough parking and Metro service is inadequate to compensate.

The Yellow Line at your stop, which shares the tracks with the "Green Line" for 4 stops downtown, is only a matter of having extra cars enough for an extension to run additional trains out to "GreenBelt" at the end of the line.

The Yellow Line at your stop, which shares the tracks with the "Green Line" for 4 stops downtown, is only a matter of having extra cars enough for an extension to run additional trains out to "GreenBelt" at the end of the line.

Let me repeat again

The Yellow Line at your stop, which shares the tracks with the "Green Line" for 4 stops downtown, is only a matter of having extra cars enough for an extension to run additional trains out to "GreenBelt" at the end of the line.

When I researched this issue in 1999, I was told by WMATA that the decision to build a turnaround at Mt Vernon Square was a result of the delays on the "Inner Green Line" development for several decades. The Yellow Line in WMATA’s original plans called for the Yellow Line to run to West Hyattsville and then to turn east towards Bowie. This never happened and so we have half the service originally planned for our areas. The Yellow line did for several years run to U Street, until the Columbia Heights and Georgia Avenue stops were opened. They could do this by using the tunnels beyond U Street to turn the trains around.

Since there are no turnarounds built into the system between Mount Vernon Sq and Greenbelt WMATA would need to run the Yellow Line all the way to GreenBelt or build a turnaround somewhere along the green line. When asked in 2000 WMATA replied it would take 32 additional rail cars to run the Yellow Line to "GreenBelt at the existing train sizes and frequencies as existed in 2000. At that time 190 cars were on back order.

This extension would provide double the frequency of trains to Shaw/Howard University, U Street/African American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo, Columbia Heights, and Georgia Avenue/Petworth Metro Stops in Ward 1 alone. Think about the development that is occurring around each of locations due to the Metro stops.

-- Shaw/Howard U. is the heart of a high density transportation oriented development plan, that also calls for the creation of an entertainment zone and serves a major urban University campus.

-- U Street/African American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo-is already a destination for 1000’s of visitors, 10’s of thousands of new residents, as well as being part of a major east/west transportation pattern.

-- Columbia Heights will see major retail development with Target, Giant, and other Big Box retailers, while also seeing 10’s of thousands of new residents in what already is one of the densest residential areas in the entire city.

-- Georgia Avenue/Petworth is the heart of Georgia Avenue and the anticipated development that will occur spreading forth from the Metro stop.

And yet on Sundays, you could be stuck on the platform for nearly 20 minutes while waiting between trains. I personally don’t take Metro on Sunday’s for this very reason. Can you imagine the chaos that will exist on the Columbia Height platform alone once that area has been fully developed? Again this can be corrected by providing extra rail cars. The Yellow and Green lines are already timed to share the same tracks. E extension would also provide a direct public transportation connection from National Airport to BWI by connecting with the special bus service between BWI and Greenbelt to the Yellow Line as well as a direct link going from the NE to the SW through Washington DC. Every jurisdiction would benefit at what is in WMATA terms a very modest investment.

When I first brought up the issue in 2000 it was a matter of the chicken and the egg. There weren’t enough riders to justify the extension, even though WMATA owned most of the land that was and is being developed around the stations, so could in some ways anticipate the growth and know that the riders would be there ultimately. Now that is not an issue any more. The growth is here and is still coming rapidly all around the Metro stops. The eastern end of U Street, where less than a year ago WMATA was considering closing an entrance for lack of use, will see nearly 2000 new housing units built and occupied within the next 3 years and that is before the development of 2 WMATA parcels nearby on Florida Avenue. Every developer that is building near any of these stations should be demanding this increase in service so as to serve their tenants. Each and everyone of them knows that the first thing they hear about at community review meetings is parking.

There could not be a better time to make our collective voices heard from the multiple neighborhoods that would be positively affected by this change, and to demand from WMATA the service that was originally planned for our areas. Unlike recent WMATA expenditures on growth; i.e. Landover extension, or Orange Line Extension, which are extremely costly development projects. This investment would finally leverage all the dollars that went into the development of the tunnels for the inner Green Line. The most costly of all WMATA developments, underground digging, by simply adding cars to provide for enough trains to maintain the Yellow Line frequency to GreenBelt.

I am sending this letter back out to other list and to city officials to see if we can’t get this idea moving now.

Scott Pomeroy“Yellow Line Extension” Fan Club President since 1999
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Scott also wrote this in a subsequent email--

The heavy rail already exists and is being underutilized. They operate on underground tracks that don’t compete with other forms of transport and the initial investment in digging the tunnels demands that you utilize the option to the fullest extent.

I am trying to find the quote that WMATA gave me for the cost per mile to do the tunneling. Extra rail cars will never go to waste with the aging fleet that exists and if WMATA decides to build a turnaround or alter the service the cars can be shifted elsewhere. Again, a no brainer to invest here and in maintenance. My older brother worked for WMATA as a mechanic. I could really go off on the waste at WMATA.

Demand? You tell me. 10’s of thousands of new residential units being built along Green Line. TOD Development Projects at each of them. You tell me how anyone can argue that half service makes sense. What about a 20 minute wait at Columbia Heights on Sundays as things become even more dense. This is the Chicken and the Egg argument. I personally believe that good frequent service will build ridership. If you wait for the density, people will have created other methods of transport.

I am all for maximizing other forms of transit use. WMATA always points to Ballston as a great model of usage. Well Ballston serves as a transportation HUB, something that we should be creating through light rail and other forms.