By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 21, 2006

Metro officials agreed yesterday to experiment with extending the Yellow Line through revitalizing neighborhoods in the District to Fort Totten, and with increasing service on the Red Line from Grosvenor to Shady Grove in suburban Maryland.

The 18-month pilot program would begin in January and would affect service on the two lines during weekday off-peak hours and on weekends. The Yellow Line would serve what are now exclusively Green Line stations in the U Street, Columbia Heights and Petworth neighborhoods, where new shops and condominiums and renovated rowhouses are increasing the demand for subway service. Groundbreaking is set for next month for a Target store that will be the anchor of a large urban shopping center in Columbia Heights.

If the transit agency decides to make the changes permanent, it will be the biggest rail service increase since Metro added the Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center stations, extending the Blue Line, in December 2004.

The Yellow Line runs from Huntington to the Washington Convention Center at Mount Vernon Square, where Metro riders wanting to continue must transfer to the Green Line. Under the proposal, Yellow Line trains would keep going north on the Green Line tracks to Fort Totten, the last station in the District on the Green Line.

"This is a very important expansion of our service to the mid-city stations," said Metro board member Jim Graham, also a D.C. Council member who represents Ward 1 and has lobbied vigorously for the proposal. Graham noted that mid-city neighborhoods would now have a direct line to Reagan National Airport.

The proposal to increase Red Line service came after suburban members of the Metro board last month nixed a plan to extend service only on the Yellow Line.

On the Red Line, some trains reverse direction at the Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring stations to accommodate the majority of riders who get off at or before those stops. Commuters wanting to continue north must wait for trains that go to the ends of the lines.

Under the pilot plan adopted yesterday, the board chose to test ending "turnbacks" only on the Grosvenor side of the Red Line. Ridership is expected to grow faster there because of development at the White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville and Shady Grove stations, said Robert J. Smith, who represents Maryland on the Metro board.

Service on the affected parts of the two subway lines will operate every six minutes instead of every 12 minutes during off-peak hours weekdays. On weekends, when trains operate every 15 minutes, service will increase to every 7 1/2 to 10 minutes.

The additional off-peak service on the Yellow Line will cost $5.75 million and be paid for by the District; Maryland will pay the $2.5 million for added service on the Red Line.

Officials will weigh several factors, including ridership, to determine whether to make the changes permanent. An initial estimate for the service is $3 million a year, but that does not include projected revenue from additional riders.

In other action, the board approved spending $50 million over the next six years to rehabilitate 206 escalators, all of them inside stations. The system has 588 escalators. On a typical day, 41 are out of service, officials said, forcing thousands of riders to climb into and out of stations. Outside escalators allow rain, snow and debris to pour into the electrical systems and cause problems. Nonfunctioning escalators trigger more complaints from Metro customers than almost any other problem.

In 2000, Metro began a 10-year comprehensive maintenance and rehabilitation plan for all of its escalators. To date, 181 have been overhauled; the process costs $240,000 per escalator, takes three to four months and involves stripping the unit down to bare steel.

Contractors are responsible for maintaining 287 escalators, with Metro personnel responsible for the remainder. But in four years, Metro intends to phase out the contractors and rely solely on in-house personnel for escalator and elevator maintenance, though a 2002 task force convened by Metro found that private contractors were doing a better job of keeping the equipment running.

A Washington Post analysis last summer of two years of maintenance records found that, on average, escalators serviced by Metro mechanics broke down more often and took longer to repair than those serviced by private firms. Metro officials and union executives have said they are confident in-house mechanics will improve as they gain experience.

In other action, the board, as expected, formally approved the creation of an independent inspector general post, part of an effort by transit officials to improve accountability and restore public trust.

The inspector general will report directly to the board, will have subpoena power and a staff of 27 and will "enjoy the greatest possible independence." The position is to be filled by October, board Chairman Gladys W. Mack said.