Large holiday crowds expected on Metro

From staff reports
Published: July 2, 2008

Metrorail officials expect all the fun on the National Mall to draw large crowds on the Fourth of July, so trains will run between 7 a.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday, stated a Metrorail press release.

The Smithsonian station will be closed all day, as it normally is on July 4, because the station is inside the area the National Park Service will fence off to create security checkpoints.

There will be no shuttle buses to the Pentagon this year because of low ridership, but Metrorail has added additional railcars to handle the extra riders, the release stated.

Riders should expect the following changes for the day:

• The Yellow Line will run between the Franconia-Springfield and Mt. Vernon Square/7th Street-Convention Center stations. (Franconia-Springfield is normally the terminus of the Blue Line.) Riders should exit at L’Enfant Plaza and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter stations to get to the Mall;

•  Blue Line service will run between Huntington (the usual Yellow Line terminus) and Rosslyn stations;

• The Orange Line will serve both the Largo Town Center and New Carrollton stations;

• Extra Green Line service will see every other train turning back at the Fort Totten station starting at 6 p.m.; and

•  Extra Red Line service will see every other train turning back at the Silver Spring station starting at 2 p.m.

Metro station managers and employees will be on hand to help direct customers to alternative downtown Metrorail stations other than the Smithsonian. In addition, Metro Transit Police will be at the busiest and end-of-the-line stations to patrol and monitor the crowds, the release stated.

If people see anything suspicious, they should approach a Metro Transit Police officer, inform a Metro employee, or call Metro Transit Police on its 24-hour communications line at 202-962-2121, the release stated.