Weekend Rail Work Will Disrupt Service

Track work at a key Metro station on the Yellow and Green lines this weekend means that baseball fans and other riders should brace for delays of up to 45 minutes, agency officials said yesterday.

Work to replace a switch at Mount Vernon Square/Seventh Street-Convention Center is scheduled for three weekends this month and one in June. The project is to start Friday after 11 p.m. and continue through midnight Sunday. The other repair periods will be 9 p.m. May 16 to midnight May 18, 9 p.m. May 30 to midnight June 1 and 9 p.m. June 6 to midnight June 8.

The work is expected to affect service, especially for fans going to Washington Nationals games this weekend and the weekend of June 6. To help with rail traffic to and from the Navy Yard Station on the Green Line a half-block from Nationals Park, Metro will run shuttle trains between the L'Enfant Plaza and Navy Yard stations before and after the games. The agency will also operate free shuttle buses after the seventh innings between Navy Yard and Federal Center SW and from Navy Yard to Eastern Market and Union Station.

For the night games Friday and June 6, Metro will not start repair work until after fans have cleared the stations.

Signs announcing the track work will be on all fare card machines and inside all 86 rail stations, and Metro officials will pass out fliers at the ballgames showing alternate routes.

If fans "leave the stadium and keep walking straight to Half Street [the Navy Yard station entrance closest to the stadium], there will be such a backup that they won't be able to walk around the crowd," said Lisa Farbstein, a Metro spokeswoman.

The track work was recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board after a Green Line train derailed last year at Mount Vernon Square. A car derailed at a curved section of track as it entered the station, injuring 20 people. The NTSB recommended replacing a switch, an "X"-shaped section that allows trains to move from one track to another, with a section that has a guardrail that keeps wheels from climbing the rail during turns.

Rail chief Dave Kubicek said the project, which will cost $475,000 for labor and equipment, needs to be done as soon as possible.

During the affected weekends, all Yellow and Green line trains will share a track between L'Enfant Plaza and Mount Vernon Square. All Yellow Line trains will have six cars; all Green Line trains will have eight. During the work periods, Yellow and Green line trains will leave every 24 minutes from their terminal stations instead of every 12 minutes. Riders traveling between Greenbelt and Shaw-Howard U stations will see a train every 12 minutes.

Once trains reach the single-tracking area between L'Enfant Plaza and Mount Vernon Square from either end, Metro will alternate Green and Yellow line trains every two minutes; the trains will share a track and head in the same direction.

Those who want to avoid the delays can take Metrobus 70, which provides service to Georgia Avenue-Petworth, Mount Vernon Square, Gallery Place, Archives-Navy Memorial and L'Enfant Plaza. Metrobus routes 52 and 54 offer service from the L'Enfant Plaza Station to Takoma with stops at Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter, Smithsonian, McPherson Square and Columbia Heights.

Travel options for Nationals fans before home games Saturday and Sunday and June 7 and 8:

· Shuttle trains: Metro will operate shuttle trains between L'Enfant Plaza and Navy Yard on the Green Line.

· Red Line riders from Shady Grove: Instead of transferring at Gallery Place-Chinatown, transfer at Metro Center and take Blue/Orange trains to L'Enfant Plaza. From there, take regular Green Line trains toward Branch Avenue or a shuttle train to Navy Yard.

· Metrobus N22 (Navy Yard shuttle): Red Line riders can take a train to Union Station and catch the N22 that runs to the east entrance of the Navy Yard Station. Blue/Orange Line riders can catch the N22 at Eastern Market.

Options for fans after the seventh innings Saturday and Sunday and June 7 and 8:

· Metro will run free shuttle buses every five minutes between Navy Yard and Federal Center SW on the Blue Line. Buses will depart from M Street and New Jersey Avenue SE.

· Metro will run free shuttle buses every five minutes on the N22 route from Navy Yard to Eastern Market and Union Station.