WMATA Silver Line Phase Two Grand Opening

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Yesterday marked what is likely the last significant extension of the Washington Metrorail system.  At about 2 PM, the second phase of the Silver Line opened to the public, extending the line by about 11 miles from Whiele-Reston East to Ashburn.  A total of six new stations opened, including one at Dulles Airport, bringing the total number of stations in the system to 97 and the total system mileage to 129 miles.  (A 98th station, Potomac Yard, is an infill station that is scheduled to open in early 2023 so while one more station will be constructed, no track miles will be added.)

Unfortunately, I was unable to get out to the new stations in daylight and the weather was less than cooperative, which meant I was unable to really appreciate the new trackage.  I think part of the excitement surrounding a new transit line is seeing something new from the train, especially when it runs above ground as the Silver Line extension does, and I missed out on that yesterday.  I do intend to ride again in daylight very soon, but there is also something special about doing it on day one.  The weather and lighting conditions also made for challenging photography conditions, but I think some of these images are decent (even by my usual standards) and I am sharing them now.

Interior display on a 7000 series train showing all the stations on both phases of the Silver Line, November 15, 2022

View of the main terminal at Dulles Airport as seen from the Metrorail station platform, November 15, 2022

Train arriving at Dulles Airport with the terminal building in the background, November 15, 2022

Alstom 6132 at Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Train arriving at Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Kawasaki 7510 leaving Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station Mezzanine, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station Mezzanine, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station Mezzanine, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station entrance pylon, November 15, 2022

6000 Series train showing the “planning name” of the Ashburn station on its destination sign rather than the actual name, November 15, 2022

Breda Rehab 3030 at Herndon Station, November 15, 2022

Your webmaster showing off a ceremonial station opening pennant in front of the newly updated Metro map

 

Rail Photo of the Month: November 2022

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ACS-64 649

Location: Halethorpe Station, Halethorpe, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Amtrak
Date of Photo: November 25, 2018

In the United States, Thanksgiving is approaching.  This is considered to be the busiest travel period in the country each year, and Amtrak (among other intercity transit operators) has set ridership records on the days immediately preceding and following the holiday as people travel to spend the holiday with loved ones.  Pre-pandemic, Amtrak often supplemented its regular services on the Northeast Corridor with “Holiday Extra” trains.  Many of these were operated with standard Amfleet equipment, but some were operated by equipment leased from commuter railroads such as MARC, SEPTA, and New Jersey Transit.  As you can imagine, railfans often ventured out to see and photograph the extra trains, and I did this on the Sunday after Thanksgiving at the Halethorpe Station south of Baltimore.

For more photos of Amtrak’s ACS-64 locomotives, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: November 2022

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MAN 18.310 HCOL-NL 2241

Location: Cais Da Rocha, Lisbon, Portugal
Operator of Vehicle: Carris
Date of Photo: November 15, 2013

For a transit enthusiast, Lisbon is probably best known for its “Remodelado” trams, but the trams aren’t the only thing to see in the Portuguese capital.  Tram Route 15 operates with modern Siemens built trams as it travels along the Tagus Riverfront from central Lisbon to Belem.  And a portion of the route is a pretty impressive transit corridor in and of itself.  The tram tracks serve both routes 15 and 18, and the tram stations on these routes are also shared by conventional bus routes that run along the same section of road.  By essentially treating the tram right-of-way as a full fledged transit way, the buses can operate separate from general purpose traffic.  To the left (from the vantage of this photo) is the Linha de Cascais, a railway line that has the distinction of being the first heavy rail line to be electrified in the entire country.  

For more photos of Lisbon buses, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: October 2022

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Gillig Advantage/BRT 4060

Location: Rockville Pike at Edmonston Drive, Rockville, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Montgomery County 
Date of Photo: October 11, 2017

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the launch of Ride On Extra, a limited stop service operated by Ride On between Lakeforest Mall and Medical Center Metro Station along MD Route 355.  The route, also known as Route 101, only makes 13 stops compared to the 80 stops on underlying local services on routes 46 and 55, significantly cutting travel times along this busy corridor.  The buses also feature onboard WiFi and USB charging ports.  

Service was suspended at various times during the pandemic and my travel patterns haven’t given me occasion to use this route recently, but I found the route to be quite useful when I have been able to use it.  This route is a precursor to bus rapid transit service on this corridor, and like the Route 129, this route will be discontinued when that service begins.  However, with the MD 355 BRT line only in the preliminary engineering stage, it is unlikely that construction will begin prior to the 2025 to 2028 timeframe.  In other words, it looks like Ride On Extra will be celebrating a few more anniversaries before it is replaced by Flash BRT service.

For more photos of Ride On Gillig Advantage buses, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: October 2022

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Kinki Sharyo P3010 1062

Location: Downtown Santa Monica, Santa Monica, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Date of Photo: March 10, 2022

With the LA Metro’s newest rail line scheduled to open to the public next Friday (October 7), it seemed fitting to share a photo of the previous extension of the LA Metro rail network.  In 2016, the Expo Line was extended from Culver City to Santa Monica.  Most of the route follows what was the right of way of the Santa Monica Air Line, which provided passenger and freight service between Los Angeles and Santa Monica beginning in 1908.  Passenger service ended in 1953 though freight service continued until 1988.  The extension to Santa Monica means it now takes about 46 minutes to travel from Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica.  

Although Los Angeles is often an afterthought in terms of rail transit projects due to its car dependence, there are a number of projects of note in the works to expand the city’s rapid transit network.  The K Line is the first phase of the Crenshaw/LAX line which will ultimately connect to the LAX Automated People Mover systen in 2024.  In addition, the Regional Connector, which will create a one seat ride between 7th Street/Metro Center and Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles is scheduled to open in early 2023, at which point the current A and E lines will be through routed along the current L line to Azusa and East Los Angeles, respectively.  

For more photos of LA Metro Light Rail rolling stock, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: September 2022

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New Flyer XDE40 7098

Location: 9th Street, NW at Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: April 11, 2011

Beginning with the launch of its first “MetroExtra” route in 2007, WMATA attempted to brand the new service with specially painted buses.  This branding eventually evolved into what are often referred to as the “MetroLocal” and “MetroExtra” schemes where most of the bus is painted silver with the back portion being painted red for local buses and blue for MetroExtra buses.  However, after about 14 years of the current schemes being in use, Metro is repainting all of the MetroExtra buses into the “standard” red Local scheme.  Instead, passengers will need to rely on the destination sign to identify MetroExtra services.

I suspect some of this stems from the fact that blue MetroExtra buses often wound up on local routes and vice versa, and I mentioned this as a reason I tend to dislike branded bus schemes in a post six years ago.  Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of the current Metrobus paint schemes and hope that when the livery is next updated that it is an improvement over the current one.

For more photos of WMATA New Flyer XDE40 buses, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: September 2022

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Kinki-Sharyo Type 7 LRV 3714

Location: Beacon Street between Washington Square and Fairbanks Street stations, Brookline, MA
Operator of Vehicle: Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority
Date of Photo: May 2, 2011

Despite what many seem to be inclined to think, the oldest subway system in North America is not in New York, but rather, in Boston.  In fact, this month marks the 125th anniversary of the opening of the segment of what is now known as the Green Line between Boylston and Park Street.  The original Tremont Street subway was built to provide a way to get streetcars off of congested streets at the surface, and has evolved to form part of the central trunk of today’s Green Line.  The line has been modified in various ways over the years as Boston has grown and developed, but the Boylston Station remains largely unaltered from its original 1897 state.  The Tremont Street Subway are designated as a National Historic Landmark due to its significance as the first subway in the United States.  The Green Line is in the midst of an expansion of sorts, with the new Union Square branch having opened in March 2022 and the Medford/Tufts branch scheduled to open in November 2022.

For more photos of the MBTA Green Line, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: August 2022

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SLM Diesel Electric #14

Location: Pikes Peak Summit, Colorado
Operator of Vehicle: Pikes Peak Cog Railway
Date of Photo: July 22, 2014

Considering the extreme heat waves being experienced throughout much of the United States right now, it seemed appropriate that the Photo of the Month for August 2022 should try finding a cooler climate to feature.  So naturally, we find ourselves over 14,000 feet above sea level at the Summit of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, CO.  The temperature at the mountain’s summit is usually about 30 degrees colder than in Manitou Springs, near the base of the mountain.  

The Pikes Peak Cog Railway opened in 1890 and has been in operation continuously since that time with the exception of a refurbishment from October 2017 through May 2021.  It was decided to build the line in order to have what inventor Zalmon Simmons called a more “civilized” way to reach the peak of the mountain after a difficult two day trip on his mule.  The railroad was built as a cog railway because standard trains would not be able to ascend or descend grades greater than 10 percent successfully and safely.  When the line first opened, it was operated by steam engines.  Diesel locomotives were introduced in the late 1930s.  The current rolling stock consists of diesel-electric hybrids built by Stadler Rail of Switzerland.

For more photos of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: August 2022

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Orion V 82

Location: National Airport Station, Arlington, VA
Operator of Vehicle: Alexandria Transit Company (DASH)
Date of Photo: June 16, 2019

From the time of its establishment in 1984, DASH in Alexandria, VA has operated buses manufactured by Orion Industries until exactly one month ago.  On July 1 of this year, DASH ran a ceremonial farewell trip to its last Orion built buses, two Orion V units similar to the one in this photo.  Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this event, but from what I’ve seen, DASH made the event a special one.  The headsigns created for the special trips were definitely noteworthy.  In addition to marking the end of the Orion era at DASH, the retirement of the Orion Vs marks the end of high floor bus operations at DASH as the entire fleet is now made up of low floor vehicles.  

Orion ended manufacturing of the Orion V in 2009.  Considering the standard lifespan of a transit bus in North America is typically in the 12 to 15 year range, it is not surprising that the last Orion Vs still standing are gradually being retired now, with only a handful still in operation.  Given that Orion announced on April 25, 2012 that it would no longer take any orders for new buses and that its factories would close when outstanding orders were fulfilled, it should be expected that Orion built buses will no longer be plying the streets of North America within the next few years as the last Orion VIIs built by the company upon its closure are removed from service.

For more photos of DASH buses, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: June 2022

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1996 Tube Stock 96076

Location: West Hampstead Station, London, England
Operator of Vehicle: Transport for London (TfL)
Date of Photo: May 21, 2008

Lots of attention has been given to the new Elizabeth Line in London.  Known as Crossrail for most of its planning and construction phases, the Elizabeth Line is named after Queen Elizabeth II and opened just prior to her Platinum Jubilee, being celebrated this weekend.  This isn’t the first rail line in London that has a name connected to Elizabeth’s reign.  The Jubilee Line (pictured here) was named in honor of the queen’s Silver Jubilee; originally the line was to be called the Fleet Line.  This also isn’t the first rail line that Queen Elizabeth will have opened, as she attended the opening of the Victoria Line in 1969, at which time she became the first reigning monarch to ride the London Underground.

In light of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and the new rail line in London, there are a number of interesting articles about her ties to London and British transportation over the years that are worth checking out.

The opening of a new route in London has also resulted in the largest revamp of the famed London Underground map diagram in the past 20 years.  However, not everyone is pleased and one map expert thinks that the map needs a total refresh instead.

For more photos of London Underground 1996 Stock, please click here.