The Metro will now close at midnight on weekends for track work as part of an expanded work plan, WMATA’s top official announced Friday.
Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld released a year-long SafeTrack plan Friday morning that will condense three years of planned safety work into one year.
The plan includes 15 safety surges over the next year, which will repair tracks to reach Federal Transit Administration and National Transportation Safety Board suggestions. The plan shows that there will be reduced service on certain parts of the blue, orange and silver lines between Aug. 20 and September 6, with trains coming through the Foggy Bottom station between 10 and 12 minutes.
WMATA will close parts of Metro lines for up to a month at a time, Wiedefeld said. He said in a statement that workers will work on implementing safety fixes after midnight every day starting June 3. He added that workers will also add single tracking at some stations and work on the lines starting 8 p.m. on weekdays.
Wiedefeld also put a moratorium on early openings and late closings for the Metro.
“This plan is going to take some sacrifice from all of us,” Wiedefeld said. “But it is clear that the current approach is not working, more aggressive action is necessary.”