Wheaton (Washington Metro)

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Wheaton

Station statistics

Address

11171 Georgia Avenue
Wheaton, MD

Lines

Red Line

Tracks

Parking

977 spaces

Bicycle facilities

36 racks, 20 lockers

Other information

Opened

September 22, 1990

Accessible

Code

B10

Owned by

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

Services

Preceding station		Metrorail		Following station
Forest Glen toward Shady Grove		Red Line		Glenmont Terminus

Photo of the very long escalators

Wheaton is a Washington, D.C. Metrorail station in Montgomery County, Maryland on the Red Line.

The station serves the suburb of Wheaton, and is located at the intersection of Georgia Avenue (Maryland Route 97) and Reedie Drive. This station features the longest set of single-span escalators in the Western Hemisphere, each featuring a length of 508 feet (155 meters).^[1] It is not the deepest station in the system, however; that honor goes to Forest Glen, which has an elevator-only exit due to its depth. The trip on Wheaton's escalator takes two minutes and 45 seconds, though some commuters shorten the time by walking.

Another architectural feature of this station is separate tunnels and platforms for each direction, instead of the large, vaulted common room seen at most other underground stations in the Metro system. This design, which is similar to many of the London Underground's tube stations, was used to save money due to the station's depth. Forest Glen is the only other Washington Metro station to have this design.

Service at Wheaton began on September 22, 1990. It was the northeastern end of the Red Line for nearly eight years, until the Glenmont station opened in July 1998.