Montgomery County to Gain Improved Service with End of Metro ‘Turnbacks’ at Silver Spring

For Immediate Release: Friday, March 29, 2019

Montgomery County is poised to secure improved Metrorail service with the end of the Red Line “turnback” of rush hour trains in Silver Spring. The fiscal 2020 budget approved yesterday by the Board of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) includes funds to eliminate the turnback, where half of the outbound trains would stop and return downtown. As of July 1, all peak hour morning and afternoon trains leaving Washington, D.C., will travel all the way to the eastern terminus at the Glenmont station.

“The improved service to three Red Line stations with parking capacity—Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont—will enhance the appeal of public transportation and support Montgomery County goals for economic development and a greener county,” said Al Roshdieh, director of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation.

In another win, the fiscal 2020 WMATA budget also includes funding to eliminate the Yellow Line turnback at Mount Vernon. All Yellow Line trains will continue through Fort Totten to the terminus at Greenbelt, thereby offering Montgomery County users of the Yellow Line an option to avoid a transfer at the congested Gallery Place station when traveling to National Airport and the Pentagon.

“These changes will offer greater convenience to eastern Montgomery County residents in the form of travel time savings and improved reliability as well as a valuable optional path in the event of service interruptions on either the Red or Yellow Line,” said Roshdieh.

These planned service extensions follow the end of the Grosvenor turnback on the western end of the Red Line last December.

Release ID: 19-047
Media Contact: Maureen McNulty 240-777-7199