FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) - The board that oversees the metropolitan Washington region’s Metrorail system is taking advantage of decreased ridership by greatly expanding a series of planned maintenance closures over the summer.
The expanded summer shutdowns will affect northern Virginia in particular - the entire Silver Line, which serves Reston and the Tysons corner areas, will be closed. Nine stations in Fairfax and Arlington counties will close.
Service on the Orange and Silver lines will terminate in Virginia at the Ballston station.
Several of those stations had already been slated for closure this summer to repair rider platforms and perform other maintenance.
Metro officials say ridership declines of as much as 95 percent due to the coronavirus provide an opportunity to do even more maintenance with less disruption.
The closures begin May 23 and are expected to run through the fall.
Free shuttle bases will run from some of the closed stations.
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