Surprise! Metro Says Stadium-Armory Station Will Resume Normal Service Monday

Metro says Orange and Silver line trains will resume stopping at the Stadium-Armory station during rush hours next Monday, months ahead of the six-month time frame it initially gave after a transformer that powers the station was knocked offline.

The nine-megawatt power generator was significantly damaged by a September fire, leading Metro officials to say Orange and Silver service at the station during peak travel times would be suspended while repairs are made. Following the blaze, Metro said it could take six months or longer to fix the transformer.

The Stadium-Armory transformer is not technically back. But in a press release, Metro says its crews were able to come up with a “creative” upgrade to the power substation at the nearby Potomac Avenue station, increasing that facility’s capacity from four megawatts to seven megawatts, enough, the agency says, to allow Orange and Silver trains to stop at Stadium-Armory during rush hours

But riders will still notice delays for several months as the repairs to the disabled transformer are completed. Blue Line trains will continue to run at their 12-minute headways, while Orange and Silver trains run every eight minutes, instead of six minutes as they are supposed to when Metro is fully operational. Still, this is an unexpected resumption of service.

There could be another explanation, though: Metro took a page from the greatest engineer in the history of the galaxy and inflated its estimated repair schedule just to make itself look good.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.