DC: Metro GM Announces Montgomery County Improvements

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager/CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld has announced two significant improvements for Montgomery County Metrorail customers. Speaking before the Montgomery County Council in Rockville, Wiedefeld announced plans to include a new stairway at Shady Grove Station in Metro's FY20 capital program, and announced the date for the elimination of the "Grosvenor Turnback" service pattern, which will double rush-hour service at four Montgomery County stations.

The new stairway is needed to ease platform congestion as trains arrive at Shady Grove, primarily during the evening rush hour, Wiedefeld said. The new stairs will improve platform egress by creating an additional way for customers to exit the station. Today, all customers arriving at Shady Grove by train must make their way to a single descending escalator or use the adjacent existing staircase. It can take several minutes for all passengers of an arriving train to clear the platform.

Wiedefeld also announced that the "Grosvenor Turnback" - the current rush-hour service pattern where every other Red Line train begins and ends at Grosvenor, rather than Shady Grove - would be eliminated on December 17, 2018. Under the future service pattern, all Red Line trains will run to/from Shady Grove, doubling rush-hour service (trains every 4 minutes) for customers at White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville, and Shady Grove.

With 11,517 average weekday boardings, Shady Grove is Montgomery County's second-busiest station, following closely behind Silver Spring (12,004 average weekday boardings), which already has two entrances. Ridership at the station has increased nearly 30 percent over the past two decades as new residential and commercial development has come online in the area surrounding the station.

The stairway project will be the first capital project to increase capacity at Shady Grove since the station opened in 1985.

"The addition of a new stairway at Shady Grove will undoubtedly be welcome news for the more than 11,000 customers who use the station each weekday, shaving a few minutes off of their daily commute by reducing the time it takes to exit the system," Wiedefeld said. "This project would not have been possible without the commitment to providing a dedicated source of funding for our capital program, and I want to thank our elected leaders throughout the region for making it possible."

Work on the new stairway is expected to begin next year. A project schedule will be announced following completion of the construction design phase.