Weekend Metro Shutdowns End Early At Franconia, Van Dorn Street

SPRINGFIELD, VA — Metro announced Monday it is ending weekend shutdowns of the Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street stations early.

Metro has been shutting down the two stations for weekends from Nov. 27 to March 14 due to work at the Alexandria Rail Yard. The signal system work was completed ahead of schedule, leading Metro to nix the two remaining weekend shutdowns.

The work on the signal system is geared toward improving safety, reliability and on-time performance of the Automatic Train Control System, which is over 40 years old. The project replaced all major components of the signal system, including the switches, signals, track circuits and control rooms.

Metro decided on the weekend shutdowns because weekend single tracking was estimated to double the completion time and have waits up to 36 minutes between trains. Ridership at the Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street stations is down by 80 percent or more compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Two Blue Line stations remain closed for a platform improvement project. Arlington Cemetery and Addison Road stations are closed through May 23. Free shuttle buses are provided between Rosslyn and Pentagon. Blue Line service is not operating, but additional Yellow Line trains are running between Franconia-Springfield and Mt Vernon Square.