Red Line (Washington Metro)

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Lines of the Washington Metro
	Red Line
	Orange Line
	Blue Line
	Yellow Line
	Green Line
	Silver Line (Planned)

The most heavily traveled Metro line as of mid-2005, the Red Line remains full of passengers well into the evening.

The Red Line of the Washington Metro is a rail rapid transit service operating between 27 stations in Montgomery County, Maryland and the District of Columbia. It is a primary line through downtown Washington, and the oldest and busiest line in the system. It forms a long, narrow "U" capped by its terminal stations at Shady Grove and Glenmont.

It is the only line which does not share its track with any other line, except from January 27, 1997 to September 17, 1999, when the Green Line Commuter Shortcut used Red Line tracks from Brookland-CUA to Farragut North. Unique to the Washington Metro, some peak service Red Line trains operate on an abbreviated route, between Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring. On April 20, 2006 WMATA, Montgomery County, and the state of Maryland announced an agreement to end the off-peak terminations at Grosvenor, having those trains operate instead between Shady Grove and Silver Spring.

The Washington-based band Trans Am used the Red Line as inspiration for their album Red Line, released in 2000. This is particularly clear in light of the name of the last track, "Shady Groove."

1 History
2 List of stations, west to east
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Service on the Red Line (and the Metro as a whole) began on March 29, 1976, operating between Farragut North and Rhode Island Ave. Gallery Place's opening was delayed due to a court order regarding lack of handicapped access, but it opened in the middle of the line on December 15, 1976.

The western end of the line was extended one station to Dupont Circle on January 17, 1977, three stations to Van Ness-UDC on December 5, 1981, five stations to Grosvenor-Strathmore on August 25, 1984, and four stations to Shady Grove on December 15, 1984, which added Maryland for the first time.

The eastern end was extended four stations to Silver Spring on February 6, 1978, two stations to Wheaton on September 22, 1990 and one station to Glenmont on July 25, 1998, completing the line.

A short time after the Green Line branch north of Fort Totten opened in the early 1990s, the Green Line Commuter Shortcut began as a six month experiment. Passengers could board the Green Line between Greenbelt and West Hyattsville and travel as far as Farragut North without having to transfer; the trains bypassed Fort Totten via a single-track spur between the West Hyattsville and Brookland-CUA stations. Due to its success, it was continued until the mid-city portion of the Green Line was completed in 1999.

A new station, New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U, located between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood, opened on schedule on November 20, 2004, the first in-fill station (a new station between existing stations) in the system.