The Silver Spring Penguin

Track work won’t stall too many weekend plans for Red Line rail riders, but the occasional sick passenger can still do the trick, one Metro manager said.

“There was a 6-month schedule for Red Line work,” Dave Kubicek, Metro’s assistant general manager for rail operations, told the Action Committee for Transit advocacy group last Tuesday.

However, work on the Glenmont-to-Shady Grove line was stopped in March or April, he said. And earlier this month, Metro general manager John Catoe put off more than $100 million in planned system-wide upgrades to pay for more urgent repairs.

“Now you’ll see work on more of a rotating basis,” Kubicek said.

Some train lines have also had issues with not pulling completely into the station, one unnamed meeting attendee told Kubicek. Eight-car trains sometimes stop short, the attendee claimed, causing doors in the train’s rear end to open onto tracks instead of a station platform.

“This is a huge issue,” Kubicek admitted. To address it, Kubicek said signs have been posted inside train operators’ cabs to remind them of the train’s length. According to him, 20 percent of trains run eight cars instead of six.

Kubicek also said he would look into a single stopping point for six- and eight-car trains, though that could impact the time a train lingers in a station.

But some delays in service — like those caused by an onboard medical emergency or police activity — can’t be controlled, Kubicek added.

“Something unusual always happens on Friday after 2:00 p.m.,” Kubicek said. “We call it freaky Friday.”

Lead photo: A Red Line train headed for Shady Grove pulls into the Silver Spring Metro station. Credit: R. Pace/SSP.

Edited May 19, 2008, at 3:00 p.m.