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The Washington Metro celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2001. Compared to older subways, Washington's underground stations feature spacious vaulted roofs. Most outer branches run on the surface, the Orange Line towards Vienna runs in the median strip of an expressway. Apart from the Red Line, all other four lines form a network sharing tracks and platforms along certain stretches, an arrangement similar to Munich's U-Bahn network.

Currently the system includes 169.5 km (83 km underground) and 89 stations (52 underground). 61 km and 43 stations lie within Washington DC, 61 km (26 stations) are in Maryland and 47 km (20 stations) in Virginia.

27 Mar 1976 - Red Line Farragut North - Rhode Island Ave (6.8km, except Gallery Place station)
15 Dec 1976 - Red Line Gallery Place station opened
17 Jan 1977 - Red Line to Dupont Circle (0.7km)
1 Jul 1977 - Blue Line Stadium-Armory - National Airport (19.4km)
6 Feb 1978 - Red Line Rhode Island Ave - Silver Spring (9.2km)
20 Nov 1978 - Orange Line Stadium-Armory - New Carollton (10km)
1 Dec 1979 - Orange Line Rosslyn - Ballston-MU (4.2km)
22 Nov 1980 - Blue Line Stadium-Armory - Addison Rd (5.6km)
5 Dec 1980 - Red Line Dupont Circle - Van Ness-UDC (3.3km)
30 Apr 1983 - Yellow Line Gallery Place/Chinatown - Pentagon (5.3km)
17 Dec 1983 - Yellow Line (Pentagon -) Nat'l Airport - Huntington (8.4km)
25 Aug 1984 - Red Line Van Ness-UDC - Grosvenor (11km)
15 Dec 1984 - Red Line Grosvenor - Shady Grove (11.1km)
7 Jun 1986 - Orange Line Ballston - Vienna (14.7km)

22 Sep 1990 - Red Line Silver Spring - Wheaton (5.2km)
11 May 1991 - Yellow/Green Line Gallery Place-Chinatown - U Street/Cardozo (2.7km)
15 Jun 1991 - Blue Line King St - Van Dorn St (6.1km)
28 Dec 1991 - Green Line L'Enfant Plaza - Anacostia (4.7km)
11 Dec 1993 - Green Line Fort Totten - Greenbelt (12.8km)

29 Jun 1997 - Blue Line Van Dorn St - Franconia-Springfield (5.3km)
25 Jul 1998 - Red Line Wheaton - Glenmont (2.3km)
18 Sep 1999 - Green Line U Street-Cardozo - Fort Totten (4.7km): central section with two new stations: Georgia Ave/Petworth and Columbia Heights.
13 Jan 2001 - Green Line Anacostia - Branch Ave. (10.4km) completes 100-miles network (actually 103 miles)
20 Nov 2004 - Red Line New York Ave station added between Union Station and Rhode Island Ave
18 Dec 2004 - Blue Line Addison Rd/Seat Pleasant - Largo Town Center (5km)

Photos © Robert Barrows | More

 Projects

A 37 km branch off the Orange Line from just east of West Falls Church station to Dulles Airport, called the Silver Line, is in planning stage. Phase 1 began construction in early 2008 from just east of the existing West Falls Church Metro station to Wiehle Avenue on the east edge of Reston. Metrorail service on this 17 km segment is anticipated to begin in 2011 (see link below for details).

View map with Dulles Airport extension!

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority: METRO AT 25. Celebrating the Past. Building the Future. - WMATA, 96 p, A4, largely illustrated, colour, ISBN 0970871902 (More)

- OPERATION

Mon-Thu 5:00 - 24:00,Fri 5:00 - 3:00, Sat 7:00 - 3:00, Sun 7:00 - 24:00
- every 3-6 minutes rush hours, 6-12 daytime and 10-15 off-peak

- FARES (2008)

Single - $1.65 (0-3 miles) - $4.50 according to distance travelled
Reduced single fare - $1.35 (0-7 miles), $1.85 (7-10 miles), $2.35 (10+ m) valid 9:30-15:00 and 19:00 until closing, all day weekends
SmarTrip Card is a rechargeable farecard that can hold up to $200 in Metrorail value

1-Day-Pass - $7.80 for Metrorail only (valid after 9:30, all day weekends)
7-Day Fast Pass $39.00 for Metrorail only

See official page for more details

WMATA Official Page incl. MAP (pdf) incl.   projects

Washington D.C. Metrorail on Wikipedia

Washingtonpost.com: Traffic Guide

Wayne Whitehorne and Mark Greenwald's Extensive Report on the Washington DC Metro
(at nycsubway.org with many photographs and station descriptions)

StationMasters Online - Metrorail Station Area Maps

UrbanRail.Net > Washington Metro Gallery

Jon Bell's Metrorail Page

More of Jon Bell's photographs

Dulles Airport extension project (Silver Line)

Beyond DC - metro projects

D.C. Underground

Building the Washington Metro: An Online Exhibit by Zachary Schrag

MARC Commuter Services (Maryland Transit Administration

VRE Commuter Services (Virginia Railway Express)