Red Line service between Fort Totten and Glenmont will be shut down this summer so workers can build connections with Maryland’s Purple Line light-rail project, Metro will announce Thursday.
The Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont stations will be closed all summer, from early June through early September. The Takoma station will be closed for a portion of the summer that Metro has yet to determine, Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly clarified Thursday. One Metro planner said it could be in the 30-to-45-day range. The closures will allow Maryland Transit Authority contractors to construct a mezzanine at Silver Spring.
The work will eventually allow passengers to reach trains running on the Purple Line, the 16-mile light-rail line projected to open to passengers in 2027.
Bus shuttles will run from Fort Totten to Glenmont during the closures, according to Metro, but details are still being planned.
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The project involves the tracks in both directions for an extended period, so other options such as a partial shutdown were not possible, Metro said.
Metro will conduct other work along the closed stretch at the same time, including fixing the track at Takoma, Metro said. Leaks will be addressed, power cables installed, and train-control equipment and tunnel piping replaced, in addition to elevator and escalator maintenance.
The transit agency was also set Thursday to outline other major planned closures over the next two-plus years.
They include restricting service from December to January 2025 from the Foggy Bottom-GWU station to the L’Enfant Plaza station on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines to address needed maintenance. Metro officials said they aren’t planning a complete closure along that stretch and are considering a range of options — with varying levels of cost and inconvenience — including weekend single-tracking, early closures and working overnight.
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In summer 2025, at dates still to be determined, Metro plans to shut down Blue Line service from Franconia-Springfield to King Street for about three weeks. Then Metro workers will shut the Green Line from Congress Heights to the Branch Avenue Yard. Both closures are for needed upgrades, Metro said.
In winter 2025-2026, additional closures and disruptions will come to the Yellow and Green lines between L’Enfant Plaza and Fort Totten, Metro said.
And in summer 2026, the Red Line will shut down again, this time on the other side of the line, affecting the stretch from Friendship Heights to Grosvenor-Strathmore. That will allow workers to connect the Purple Line with the mezzanine at the Bethesda station, Metro said.
This story has been updated to reflect additional details on the timing of the station closures.
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