Limited Mass Transit Service To Return Today

System to be on Sunday schedule starting this afternoon.

Officials with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced that Metro will resume limited bus and rail service today beginning at 2 p.m. Normal service is expected to resume by Wednesday morning.  "Residual effects of the storm are still possible. Customers traveling today should allow extra time. Buses may encounter detours due to downed trees, power lines or flooding," reads a press release from WMATA.  Both the rail and bus lines will operate on their Sunday schedules through closing time tonight. Bus routes which do not run on Sundays will resume on a normal weekday schedule. However, MetroAccess service will remain cancelled throughout Tuesday, with normal service expected to resume on Wednesday. MARC Train, Bus …

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REPORT: Metro Launches Suicide Prevention Campaign

The prevention program costs about $250,000, according to The Washington Post.

  Metro is hoping a new ad campaign will help prevent suicides at its stations. This program is a direct response to incidents since 2009 in which 33 people jumped in front of Metro trains, according to a Washington Post report. Twenty-six of those died, the Post said. One of the latest deaths occurred in early August, when a man jumped in front of a train as it approached the Rockville station. The man intentionally placed himself in front of the Red Line train headed northbound toward the Shady Grove station, officials said. By the end of September, 13 stations will have signs posting prevention hotline numbers and other ways to get help. About 300 posters will be posted throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority …

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Rockville Metro Riders Able to Pay to Park By Phone

The station is one of two offering the mobile app or toll-free number system used in DC.

  Metro customers traveling from Rockville now have a new option for paying for parking: Their mobile phone. The transit agency launched a pilot program Monday that allows riders to pay for parking at the Rockville station’s 122-space metered lot and 22-space Kiss & Ride lot. The Parkmobile system also is being tested at the Fort Totten station, which serves the Red, Green and Rush Plus Yellow lines. Customers must register at www.us.parkmobile.com to pay for parking using the system’s toll-free phone number or mobile app. The app is available for the iPhone, Android or BlackBerry. Customers will be charged a 32-cent “convenience fee” per transaction. Standard parking fees of $1 per hour and $5 per day apply for Rockville’s metered lot. …

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Metro Service Resumes After Systemwide Outage

Computer shutdown leads to 45 minute stoppage.

Shady Grove Arena Faces Planning Obstacles

A proposed arena near the Shady Grove Metro station would require a master plan amendment before it could be built, according to a report by The Gazette.

Plans to build an 8,000-seat, multi-purpose arena near the Shady Grove Metro station are not without significant planning obstacles. The arena, which could be built on eight acres of Metro-owned land currently used for parking, would require a master plan amendment before it could be built, according to a report by The Gazette. Master plans are typically rewritten every 15 to 20 years, but the Shady Grove Sector Plan was approved in 2006, the report states. An amendment to the master plan is yet to be proposed. The amendment can be submitted through what is called the minor master plan amendment process. "The minor amendment process allows the planning board and county council to revisit certain aspects of a master plan and address current…

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Single-Tracking Trains Mean Red Line Delays

Metro: Riders should add 10 minutes to travel times.

Red Line riders are in for another weekend of single-tracking trains. Throughout the weekend, Red Line trains traveling between Shady Grove and Glenmont will operate every 20 minutes, and customers should add an extra 10 minutes of travel time to their trips, according to Metro's Web site. Between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, additional trains will operate between Shady Grove and New York Avenue stations, providing service every 10 minutes to the western side of the Red Line. Between 10 p.m. on Friday and closing on Sunday Red Line trains will single-track between the Takoma and Forest Glen stations to allow for platform reconstruction and fiber optic cable installation. Click here to learn more about Metro's weekend track …

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Speak Out: An Arena at Shady Grove Metro?

Revived plan for an arena could add a new dimension to an area on the verge of growth.

An investor group has renewed its effort to build an arena in Montgomery County. The plan calls for an 8,000-seat arena at the Shady Grove Metro station. County officials are backing the effort. Steven A. Silverman, the county’s economic development director, told The Washington Post that the arena could solve a longstanding problem for county high schools: There isn’t a facility in the county large enough to host most graduation ceremonies. This graduation season, 21 of 32 graduations from county schools and programs are being held at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, according to a news release from the county school system. The Shady Grove Sector Plan, which calls for mixed-use development centered around the Metro station, and …

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Lezlie Crosswhite

1:48 pm on Monday, June 25, 2012

@Ambd: I agree! The county tends to do things bass ackwards. Especially Ike Leggett. His idea is to do what he wants and then ignore the fallout.   more ›

Arena Could Be Coming to Shady Grove Metro

Investors, backed by the county, have renewed their push for an indoor facility.

The parking lots at the Shady Grove Metro station could become home to an 8,000-seat sports arena that could host sports, concerts and graduations under a plan once again being pushed by a county-backed investor group, The Washington Post reported.  William Askinazi and Tom Doyle say they have investors lined up to fund the arena's construction. They sent a proposal to build at the Shady Grove station to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority on May 22, The Gazette reported. Click here to read the full story. Askinazi is an attorney from Potomac who owns D&A Sports and Entertainment Group. The group was formed in 2006 with the aim of bringing an arena to Montgomery County, The Gazette reported. The group later won the exclusive…

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Metro Worker Struck By Train At Shady Grove Rail Yard

Fire and rescue spokesman: Man suffered serious, life-threatening injuries.

A man suffered serious, life-threatening injuries after being struck by a train at the Shady Grove rail yard shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. Metro spokesman Philip Stewart confirmed the victim was a Metro employee. The victim was walking in the yard and stepped in front of a train, which he became trapped underneath, said Assistant Chief Scott Graham, of the county fire and rescue service. The man was taken to a trauma center after being extricated. A shock trauma team from Baltimore's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center was called in to assist, Graham said. The rail yard, in the 15900 block of Somerville Drive in Derwood, is a maintenance center for out-of-service Red Line trains, …

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More Metro Work This Weekend

Trains will depart every 24 minutes this weekend.

Single-tracking on the Red Line will mean more Metro delays this weekend. From 10 p.m. on Friday through close on Sunday Red Line trains will single-track between the Van Ness and Friendship Heights Metro stations "to allow for rail and fastener renewal and joint elimination for a smoother ride," according to a news release on Metro's Web site. Trains will also single-track between the Forest Glen and Takoma Metro stations "to allow for platform reconstruction and fiber optic cable installation," the release said. "Red Line trains between Shady Grove and Glenmont will operate every 24 minutes throughout the weekend. Customers should allow 20 minutes of additional travel time," the release said. Metro will run additional trains between the …

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