Metro 2025 Shutdown To Affect Franconia, Van Dorn Street Stations

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Two stations in the greater Alexandria area on Metro's Blue Line will be closed for a summer 2025 shutdown, the transit agency announced.

Metro outlined plans for station shutdowns between summer 2024 and summer 2026. Early plans show the Van Dorn Street and Franconia-Springfield stations will be closed for three weeks in summer 2025. One alternative to a full closure would be 10 weekend shutdowns and 10 weeks of early weekday closures. The exact dates will be announced at a later time.

During the shutdown, Metro will be upgrading its train control system, replacing its signal system, making system upgrades for a potential new generation signal system.

These stations were last shut down in fall 2022 for trying in new tracks to the new Potomac Yard Metro station. That station opened in May 2023.

Metro has other shutdowns planned before the shutdown of the two Blue Line stations. In early June, Metro will shut down the Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, Silver Spring and Takoma stations on the Red Line in Montgomery County, Maryland and Washington, DC. The closure will continue through early September, although Metro may decide to reopen Takoma Station earlier. Metro will be updating its signaling system, installing communication and train control cables, and repairing the interlocking that lets trains cross from one track to the other outside the Takoma Station.

The project is planned in coordination with Maryland's Purple Line project to build a new mezzanine on the platform of Silver Spring station. Metro says connecting the Metro and Maryland Purple Line requires use of both tracks and cannot be safely done with single-tracking. The Purple Line, a light rail connecting Bethesda in Montgomery County with New Carrollton in Prince George's County, is expected to open in 2027.

Other upcoming Metro construction includes Foggy Bottom-GWU to L’Enfant Plaza on Blue, Orange and Silver Lines with isolated closures or single-tracking for two weeks in December 2024 to January 2025, closure of the Green Line's Southern Ave, Naylor Road, Suitland and Branch Ave stations in summer 2025, L’Enfant Plaza to Fort Totten on the Yellow and Green Lines with isolated closures or single-tracking in winter 2025-2026, and closure of the Medical Center and Bethesda stations on the Red Line in summer 2026.