Fun fact, From the seat of a Silver line train you can see a tidal river and a mountain range.

Thank you for pointing out that the Silver line is not only about accessing Dulles Airport.

It was the only segment of the system running through the urban core that had access to the Brentwood service and inspection shop and rolling stock storage yard. All of the other service and inspection shops and yards are at or near the ends of their respective lines. The line to New Carrollton was opened 2 1/2 years later because the yard at the end of that line had the capacity to store the remainder of the first order of 300 cars. Brentwood is only big enough for roughly 100 cars.

The original date for the ground braking of the first segment of the system was to originally be on 10 01 1968. However the chairman (William Natcher (D 2D KY) of the DC Subcommittee of the House Appropriation Committee blocked funding in exchange for building the never built systems of freeway in DC. The impasse ended on 11 25 1969 when President Richard Nixon (R) told him to back down. Ground was broken on 12 09 1969 a week after the first construction contract was awarded.

A cut and cover constructed Metrorail subway station has the equivalent amount of material to build a 50 story building. The length of a station platform is 45' longer then height of the Washington Monument. The diagonal arch at the location where the upper and lower arches cross "transept" in Metro Center is the largest reinforced concrete structural arch of its kind in the world, it measures 96' 10 1/2". The top speed a Metrorail train is capable of reaching 85 MPH (I have been aboard one that did 81 MPH). The total horse power of an 8 car train ranges between 6,080 HP (2,3 and 6k cars), and 7072 HP (7k cars).

All of any of the stuff I have is packed away in boxes.

I was an extra in the production of this film. That's me on the left.

Frankly I miss the old school DC cam control propulsion system in the 1k cars. As later segment were added the train were allowed to strut their stuff. Back then WMATA ran the 1k cars like scalded dogs. It was not uncommon for trains to hit 65 MPH between Foggy bottom and Rosslyn and north of Dupont Circle. The stations in subway in my option looked cleaner without all of overly redundant signage, (I am a Massimo Vignelli purest), the passenger information displays, added exposed conduits and equipment cabinets on the ends of the platforms. I am also not a big fan of the stainless steel escalators. During the early years the people that ran and maintained the system felt like one big family.

I asked the same question of the post mistress at my local Post Office on the Easter Shore a couple of years ago. Got the same answer minus the laugh.

I wish I could up vote the comment as many time as can ! !

The Washington Metro use to have averages that were higher then that. Longer station dwell time, lower speed limits and reduced acceleration and breaking rates has lower the average by more then 5 kph.

If that were true, the Washington Metro would have more route miles then the New York City Subway.

That argument was a straw man, as the original Georgetown branch railroad easement is just under three times the width of the foot print needed for the light rail tracks.

Those precast concrete jersey barriers and orange plastic barriers are not cheap. The concrete is around $50.00 a linear foot, the plastic barriers are around $120.00 a linear foot.

They are there to protect the construction area from traffic. The orange plastic barriers are there to separate the walkway/bike path from the construction area.

The primary difference between the concrete and plastic, is the plastic functions as an attenuation barrier based on how much fluid or sand is put in it.

This is basically the same way the contractors separated pedestrians and traffic from each other during construction of Metrorail along the streets in DC back in the 1970s and 80s. The only difference being the concrete jersey barriers are used in place of heavy wood barricades and the orange plastic barriers are used in place of plywood fences.

Could it be the refrigeration equipment failed?

Actually the Medical Center station is touch over one mile from the Bethesda station.

You can be sure NRG Energy is running their 167 MW oil fired power plant in Vienna Maryland at full capacity. This power plant is only brought on line when power demands rise above a defined threshold.

It should be noted that when Jack Kent Cooke decided to build a new stadium for his NFL teem, he made it clear that it could be used to host the Olympics or the World Cup.

If your home has one of these on it or a bricked up patch of the same size, It had a coal fired boiler in the basement when it was built.

During the height of the use of CB radio, it was identified as the "Watergate City".

The 1k cars were designed for a service life of roughly 40 years. They began developing stress cracks in their car bodies at roughly half the length of their service life. They were for all practical purposes beyond the end of their service life before reaching 40 years.

It will likely not happen as running the trains like scalded dogs will shorten their service life in much the same way as what happened to the 1 and 4k cars.

Typically below 65 MPH as it took longer to accelerate to the higher speeds before needing to decelerate into the next station.

The only logical way to shorten the runtime to Dulles is to build a track that would bypass the 4 Tysons Corner stations and upgrade the signaling system to allow closer headways, As built the Silver line is limited to 19 train per hour.