UPDATE 9/14/16 3:15 p.m.: Metro announced the track work changes Wednesday afternoon. Click here to read more about the schedule changes.
WASHINGTON — Metro is set to announce changes no later than Thursday for its upcoming round-the-clock work zones that will include extensions of the “surges” announced earlier this year, sources said.
Several sources told WTOP they expect an announcement Wednesday afternoon.
Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., each put out statements late Wednesday morning referencing “the announcement that SafeTrack construction will occur longer than originally planned.”
After WTOP contacted Metro about the pending announcement, the agency tweeted that new dates for 2016 surges would be released by Thursday. There are additional surges scheduled next year.
Metro is extending specific surges to address safety issues tied to the interlockings where trains cross from one track to another, such as the location where a train derailed in July. Metro is not ready to say exactly when the last of the original 15 surges will be completed.
Last month, Metro announced that the surge schedule was in flux after concerning findings about track safety and a lack of inspections.
The next scheduled surge after the work that begins Thursday on the Orange Line was a shutdown of the Red Line through Brookland and Rhode Island Ave. That work is now expected to include concrete repairs for a bridge holding up the outbound tracks.
