Red Line passengers will get additional Yellow Line service to the Fort Totten station. Photo courtesy WMATA.
The Yellow Line’s rush hour service will be extended this summer as two Red Line stations are closed for maintenance, according to an announcement from Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-8th District) and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia).
The Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland-CUA stations will be closed from July 21-Sept. 2. Metro will add capacity to the Green/Yellow lines, including running some Yellow Line trains to/from Greenbelt, during rush hour from Monday, July 23 through Friday, Aug. 31.
Norton and Raskin wrote the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority last month asking for the additional Yellow Line service, which will provide another alternative to the Red Line to Gallery Place.
In addition, the two requested additional information on a planned shuttle bus service for residents along the Red Line who rely on Metro service at the Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland-CUA stations.
WMATA pledged that it would provide free shuttle buses for customers travelling between Fort Totten, Brookland, Rhode Island Avenue, and NoMa-Gallaudet U stations.
In addition, Metro announced it will “operate express shuttles between Brookland and Rhode Island Ave and the areas of Metro Center, Gallery Place and Union Station,” and that “MetroExtra G9 will operate at all hours the rail system is open, seven days per week, connecting Rhode Island Avenue with Downtown D.C. and other rail and bus lines,” according to the Raskin-Norton announcement.
“We’re delighted that Metro is doing its summer maintenance program, but we have to plan ahead to make sure that we extend rush hour service on the Yellow Line, and provide prompt and effective shuttle bus service to mitigate the disruption experienced by our constituents,” Raskin said in the release.