Yellow Line (Washington Metro)

Yellow Line
Yellow Line train at Huntington station
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Washington Metro
Status	Operating
Locale	Fairfax County, Alexandria, and Arlington, VA Washington, D.C. Prince George's County, MD (Peak hours only)
Termini	Huntington or Franconia Springfield in Virginia (South) Mount Vernon Square (North) - Peak hours terminus for most trains Fort Totten (North) - off-peak hours. Greenbelt (North) - Limited peak hours service only
Stations	17
Operation
Opened	April 30, 1983 (April 30, 1983)[1]
Operator(s)	Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Character	At-grade, elevated, and underground
Technical
Line length	15.07 mi (24.3 km) (Includes Fort Totten extension)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄4 in (1,429 mm)
Electrification	Third rail 750 V DC
Route map Legend Huntington Amtrak, VRE to Fredericksburg Franconia–Springfield Cameron Run Van Dorn Street Eisenhower Avenue CSX RF&P, Amtrak, VRE to Manassas Alexandria Yard (WMATA) to Franconia-Springfield RF&P, Amtrak, VRE to Fredericksburg King Street–Old Town Braddock Road Four Mile Run National Airport RF&P, Amtrak, VRE to Washington Crystal City Pentagon City I‑395 (Shirley Highway) Pentagon to Largo Town Center I‑395 / US 1 (Shirley Highway) Fenwick Bridge over Potomac River VA DC I‑395 (Southwest Freeway) to Branch Avenue L'Enfant Plaza L'Enfant Plaza (VRE) RF&P: Amtrak and VRE Archives Gallery Place Mount Vernon Square Shaw–Howard University U Street Columbia Heights Georgia Avenue–Petworth Fort Totten / West Hyattsville DC MD Prince George's Plaza CSX Capital Subdivision, MARC to Washington College Park Greenbelt B30 to BWI Airport I-95 / I-495 (Capital Beltway) Greenbelt YardCSX Capital Subdivision, MARC to Baltimore

The WMATA system map shows the Yellow Line running from Huntington to Fort Totten, with rush-hour extensions to Franconia-Springfield and Greenbelt.

The Yellow Line of the Washington Metro consists of 17 rapid transit stations from Huntington or Franconia Springfield in Virginia to either Mount Vernon Square (where most peak hours trains terminate), Fort Totten (at all times, but with limited peak hours service) or Greenbelt (served only during peak hours). During rush hours, a small handful of trains run from Franconia Springfield to Greenbelt and the final two trains which depart from Huntington before afternoon peak service continue north to Greenbelt.^[2] Additional Yellow Line trains may continue passenger service to Greenbelt during off-peak hours and weekends in order to stage them for Green Line service or for storage at the Greenbelt rail yard.^{[3][4][5][note 1]} In non rush/peak hours, almost all regularly scheduled trains run to Fort Totten.

As a result of Metro's "Rush Plus" services, started on June 18, 2012, the Yellow Line now sees some peak hours trains ending at Greenbelt in Maryland and some trains originating from Franconia Springfield in Virginia. The additional result of Rush Plus is that the section of the Yellow Line between Shaw–Howard University and Fort Totten sees more off-peak hours service than peak hours service from the Yellow Line, however, all stations along that section are also served by the Green Line.^[5]

The line starts in Fairfax County, Virginia, crosses the Capital Beltway, joins the Blue line, and goes through Alexandria and Arlington, it leaves the Blue Line as it crosses the Potomac River, and continues north into the District of Columbia, and then Maryland, during peak hours.

The line shares tracks with the Green Line from L'Enfant Plaza northward to Fort Totten and Greenbelt. It is a quick link between downtown Washington and National Airport, and shares nearly all of its track with either the Green or Blue Line. The Yellow Line has only two stations that are not shared by any other lines (Eisenhower Avenue and Huntington), and only two sections of track that are not shared by any other lines – the section at the south end of the line, and the section between the Pentagon and L'Enfant Plaza stations, crossing the Potomac.

Route

The Southern terminus of the Yellow Line is adjacent to Kings Highway (Virginia Route 241) in Fairfax County, Virginia.^[7] The line heads northeast on a bridge over Hunting Creek and the Washington Beltway (Interstate 95) to a station just south of Eisenhower Avenue, which serves a number of government office buildings including the United States Patent Office. The Yellow Line then merges with the Blue Line and follows the right-of-way of the CSX Railroad through the City of Alexandria.^[7] The line enters a short tunnel under U.S. Route 1. After crossing a bridge over Four Mile Run, the line enters Arlington County on an elevated structure above the National Airport parking lots.^[8] At the north end of the airport, the Yellow Line enters a tunnel under 18th Street South and South Hayes Street.^[7] The tunnel continues along the southwest face of the Pentagon which is a two level station to facilitate a fork with the Blue Line. After the Pentagon station, the Yellow Line emerges from its tunnel east of the Pentagon and crosses the Charles R. Fenwick Bridge over the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the Potomac River, and Ohio Drive.^[7] At the end of the bridge, the Yellow Line re-enters a tunnel near the Jefferson Memorial and crosses under the Washington Channel.^[7] The tunnel merges with the Green Line tunnel under 7th Street Southwest just south of the L'Enfant Plaza.^[7] The joint Yellow Line — Green Line tunnel continues north through downtown Washington under 7th Street, turns west under Florida Avenue and U Street, and then north under 14th Street Northwest.^[7] The tunnel then turns toward the northeast under Park Road and New Hampshire Avenue.^[7] The tunnel then bends eastward under Rock Creek Cemetery and Fort Totten Park to emerge just before entering the lower level of the Fort Totten station. The track continues northeast as just the Green Line to the Greenbelt terminus.^[7]

The Yellow Line needs 10 six-car trains (60 rail cars) to run at peak capacity.^[9] Internally, the Yellow Line in Virginia was called the "Huntington Route" (C) and the route through the District of Columbia and beyond to Greenbelt as the "Greenbelt Route" (E).^[10]

Crossing the Potomac River from Virginia on the Yellow Line, with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in the background

History

Planning for Metro began with the Mass Transportation Survey in 1955 which attempted to forecast both freeway and mass transit systems sufficient to meet the needs of the region projected for 1980.^[11] In 1959, the study's final report included two rapid transit lines which anticipated subways in downtown Washington.^[12] Because the plan called for extensive freeway construction within the District of Columbia, alarmed residents lobbied for federal legislation creating a regional transportation agency with a moratorium on freeway construction through July 1, 1962.^[13] The new agency, the National Capital Transportation Administration, issued a 1962 Transportation in the National Capital Region report, which did not include the route that became the Yellow Line.^[14] A central route under 7th Street in downtown was only added in 1967 primarily to serve the "inner city".^[15] In March 1968, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) board approved its 98-mile (158 km) Adopted Regional System (ARS) which included the Yellow Line from Franconia and Blacklick Road (in Springfield) to Greenbelt.^[16]

While a cut-and-fill tunnel for Yellow Line was built under 7th Street and U Street, both street traffic and pedestrian access on those streets were difficult.^[17] The result was the loss of the traditional retail businesses along the route. The downtown segment of the line was originally projected to open in September 1977.^[18] Obtaining approval of the District of Columbia and Prince Georges' County of the exact alignment of the Yellow Line north of U Street delayed construction. Originally, the ARS called for the line to be placed in the median strip of the planned North Central Freeway,^[18] but after that road was cancelled, the route of the replacement subway tunnel became controversial, resulting in years of expensive delays.^[19]

Service on the Yellow Line began on April 30, 1983, adding Archives to the system and linking the two already-built stations of Gallery Place and Pentagon with a bridge across the Potomac River. It was extended beyond National Airport by four stations to Huntington on December 17, 1983, the first station outside of the Capital Beltway.^[1] When the Green Line link to U Street opened on May 11, 1991, it acted as an extension of the Yellow Line until the southern Green Line branch was completed.^[1][17] When Green Line service began, the Yellow Line was truncated at Mount Vernon Square, where a pocket track exists to relay trains.^[1]

The Yellow Line was originally planned to follow a slightly different route in Virginia. The plan would have sent Yellow Line trains to Franconia–Springfield, with Blue Line trains serving Huntington. This was changed due to a shortage of rail cars at the time of the completion of the line to Huntington. Because fewer rail cars were required to operate Yellow Line service than would be required to run Blue Line service out to Huntington – due to the Yellow Line's shorter route – the line designations were switched. From 1999 to 2008, the Yellow Line operated to Franconia–Springfield on July 4, as part of Metro's special service pattern on that day.^[20]

One of hundreds of signs that were reworded from just "National Airport"

In 1998, Congress changed the name of the Washington National Airport to the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport with the law specifying that no money be spent to implement the name change. As a result, WMATA did not change the name of the National Airport station (which never included the full name of the airport). In response to repeated inquiries from Republican congressmen that the station be renamed, WMATA stated that stations are renamed only at the request of the local jurisdiction. Because both Arlington County and the District of Columbia were controlled by Democrats, the name change was blocked. Finally, in 2001, Congress made changing the station's name a condition of further federal funding.^{[21][22][23][24]}

Extensions

In 2006, Metro board member Jim Graham and D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams proposed re-extending Yellow Line service to Fort Totten or even to Greenbelt, which was the originally planned northern terminus for the line. Their proposal did not involve construction of any new track, because either extension would run along the same route as the existing Green Line and would thus relieve crowding on that line. Suburban members of the board initially resisted the proposal. Through a compromise that also increased service on the Red Line, on April 20, 2006 the WMATA board approved a Yellow Line extension to the Fort Totten station during off-peak hours. An 18-month pilot program began on December 31, 2006, at a cost of $5.75 million to the District of Columbia.^[25][26] The pilot program was made a permanent service.^[6] Starting June 18, 2012, the Yellow Line was extended as part of the Rush+ program. During peak hours, the Yellow Line is extended to Greenbelt on the northern end and several trains are diverted to Fraconia-Springfield on the southern end.

List of stations

The following stations are along the line, from south to north. Stations highlighted indicate service peak hours Monday through Friday.

Station	Code	Opened	Other Metro Line(s)	Notes
Huntington	C15	1983		Southern terminus
Eisenhower Avenue	C14	1983
King Street – Old Town	C13	1983	Blue Line	transfer station for the Blue Line (southern)
Braddock Road	C12	1983	Blue Line
Potomac Yard	C11	2018 (Projected)	Blue Line
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport	C10	1977	Blue Line
Crystal City	C09	1977	Blue Line
Pentagon City	C08	1977	Blue Line
Pentagon	C07	1977	Blue Line	Transfer station for the Blue Line (northern); crosses Potomac River via Fenwick Bridge
L'Enfant Plaza	F03	1977	Green Line Orange Line Blue Line Silver Line	transfer station for the Blue, Orange, Green, and Silver Lines.
Archives – Navy Memorial – Penn Quarter	F02	1983	Green Line
Gallery Place	F01	1976	Green Line Red Line	transfer station for the Red Line
Mount Vernon Square	E01	1991	Green Line	Terminus for most peak hours trains
Shaw – Howard University	E02	1991	Green Line
U Street / African-American Civil War Memorial / Cardozo	E03	1991	Green Line
Columbia Heights	E04	1999	Green Line
Georgia Avenue – Petworth	E05	1999	Green Line
Fort Totten	E06	1993	Green Line Red Line	Terminus in off-peak hours. Transfer station for the Red Line (full-time) and Green Line .
West Hyattsville	E07	1993	Green Line Yellow Line (rush only)
Prince George's Plaza	E08	1993	Green Line Yellow Line (rush only)
College Park – University of Maryland	E09	1993	Green Line Yellow Line (rush only)
Greenbelt	E10	1993	Green Line Yellow Line (rush only)	Rush+ Terminus, peak hours service only.
Rush+ only  •       Future station

Future

On November 16, 1995, WMATA and the developer of the Potomac Yards area of Alexandria, Virginia, signed an agreement to construct a new station that will be financed by the developer.^[1] As of February 2011, WMATA was taking public comments in order to prepare a draft environmental impact statement for the station.^[27]

A second improvement project involves building a pedestrian tunnel to interconnect the Gallery Place station with Metro Center. A July 2005 study proposed connecting the eastern mezzanine of Metro Center with the western mezzanine of Gallery Place that are only one block apart. The proposed connection would reduce the number of passengers that use the Red Line to transfer between the Yellow Line and the Blue and Orange lines at Metro Center. As of 2011, the project remains unfunded.^[28]

See also

• List of Washington Metro stations

Notes

References

Further reading

• Schrag, Zachary (2006). The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8246-X. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yellow Line (Washington Metro).

• world.nycsubway.org: Yellow Line