Because of the maintenance effort, trains used just one track between East Falls Church and Ballston in northern Virginia.
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The results have been long delays and extremely crowded platforms, with the added bonus of confusion over which trains to board.
On the first weekday of SafeTrack, Metro was “pretty much at the maximum of what we could move” in the affected area, General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said a news conference this afternoon.
He likened the preparations to a snowstorm, when people heed initial warnings and then want to return to normal.
“We should be able to get through this first surge with the level of inconvenience we now have”, said Evans, referring to the track work that will last through June 16. Officials say ridership was down only about 1 percent from a typical Monday morning this time of year.
“It’s a disaster”, said Sara Amado, who works in financial services in Tysons Corner.
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There will be single tracking between East Falls Church and Ballston stations while miles of deteriorated wooden rails ties are removed, Metro officials said.
