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Yellow Line (Washington Metro)

Encyclopedia : Y : YE : YEL : Yellow Line (Washington Metro)

Lines of the
Washington Metro
  Red Line
  Orange Line
  Blue Line
  Yellow Line
  Green Line
  Silver Line (Planned)
The Yellow Line of the Washington Metro consists of twelve subway stations from Huntington to Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center. It starts in Fairfax County, Virginia, quickly crosses the Capital Beltway, goes through Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia, crosses the Potomac River via the Fenwick Bridge, and continues north in the District of Columbia as far as M Street NW, at the entrance to the Washington Convention Center. It is the quick link between downtown Washington and National Airport, and shares nearly all of its track with the Green and Blue Lines. The Yellow Line has only two stations of its own at the southern end of the line, and only two sections of track of its own - the aforementioned section at the end of the line, and the section between the L'Enfant Plaza and Pentagon stations, including the Fenwick Bridge.

Contents

History

Service on the Yellow Line began on April 30, 1983, adding Archives-Navy Mem'l-Penn Quarter to the system, and linking the two already-built stations of Gallery Pl-Chinatown 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. When the Green Line link to U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo opened on May 11, 1991, it acted as an extension of the Yellow Line until the southern Green Line branch was completed. When Green Line service began, the Yellow Line was truncated to Mt Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center, where a pocket track exists to relay trains.

The Yellow Line was originally planned to follow a slightly different route than it now follows. The original 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. As less rail cars were required to operate Yellow Line service than it would be to run Blue Line service out to Huntington, due to the Yellow Line's shorter route, the line designations were switched. Currently, the Yellow Line only operates to Franconia-Springfield on July 4, as part of Metro's special service pattern on that day.

Extension to Fort Totten

In 2006, Metro board member Jim Graham and D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams proposed extending Yellow Line service to Fort Totten or even to Greenbelt, which was the originally planned northern terminus for the line. This does not involve construction of any new track, as 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 increases service on the Red Line, the WMATA board approved a Yellow Line extension to the Fort Totten station on April 20, 2006 during off-peak hours. An 18-month pilot program will begin January 2007, at a cost of $5.75 million to the District of Columbia.

List of stations, south to north

Yellow line of the Washington Metro
Enlarge
Yellow line of the Washington Metro

See also

References

External links

 

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