New Metro Website Lets Residents Monitor Progress at Stadium-Armory Station

Metro riders can now go online to follow progress on the Stadium-Armory substation repairs that have caused service disruptions on the Orange and Silver lines.

The new Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) webpage also outlines stages of the project, estimating full service will be restored to the station by the end of this year.

Metro announced it was suspending Orange and Silver Line service during morning and evening rush hours after one of three power substations in the area was destroyed by a fire.

The project is focused on restoring the other two substations that were not directly damaged by the fire. Work on phase two is now underway. It involves testing each piece of electrical equipment in the stations to ensure the components meet factory standards before they are approved for service.

An update to the site yesterday said the first week of testing was successful and the project schedule remains on track.

Community leaders have criticized WMATA for the decision to suspend service and the lack of communication about the project with residents. At the beginning of the month, ANC 6B commissioners sent a letter to officials addressing these concerns.

The Commission has since approved and sent a ratified version of the letter. It expresses disappointment in the lack of direct response from WMATA and outlines questions community members still have.

“The website goes a long way toward satisfying our concerns,” ANC 6B Chair Kirsten Oldenburg said. “Besides progress and communication, our first letter had other questions, and those have not yet been answered.”

Some of these questions cover why suspending service was chosen over other alternatives and how confident officials are about having that service restored in less than three months.

Still, Oldenburg was mostly encouraged by Metro’s efforts.

“I’m very pleased with the fact that the website exists, and we expect a response to our letters by our November meeting,” she said. “[Progress on the project] is looking good now, but anything can happen.”

Photo via Flickr/NCinDC