By Adam Pagnucco.
Montgomery County’s delegation of state legislators has come out swinging against a proposal by WMATA to reinstate turnbacks on the Red Line. The turnbacks, which terminated some train runs at the Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring stations, were eliminated a couple years ago but WMATA is now contemplating their return. At the October 27 meeting of WMATA’s Finance and Capital Committee, a presentation titled “Potential Future Service and Fare Optimization Concepts” explicitly referred to bringing back Red Line turnbacks as intended to “improve Red Line transfers with additional service between Grosvenor and Silver Spring.”
These slides make clear that WMATA thinks of turnbacks as a service improvement.
Montgomery County’s state legislators have reacted by sending a letter to WMATA strongly opposing turnbacks. Their opinion matters because the state is due to provide WMATA $785 million in operating and capital subsidies this year. Delegate Marc Korman, the county’s primary WMATA watchdog, organized the letter and every member of the county’s delegation signed it except for Delegate Eric Luedtke, who is taking a job with the Moore administration. Delegate Julie Palakovich-Carr posted the letter on Twitter and its text is reprinted below.
*****
November 29, 2022
The Hon. Paul Smedberg
Chair
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
300 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024
Dear Chair Smedberg:
We write today as members of the Montgomery County Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly regarding the Metrorail Service Optimization proposals shared with the WMATA Finance and Capital Committee on October 27, 2022. We were dismayed to see among the proposals the reimposition of the previously discarded Red Line Turnbacks at the Grosvenor and Silver Spring stations. Use of the Turnbacks amounts to a disproportionate service cut to Montgomery County and we strongly oppose the proposal.
As you are aware, the Red Line Turnbacks have a long history. In December of 2018, however, the Grosvenor Turnback was finally eliminated through action by the WMATA Board. In a summary submitted to the Safety and Operations in July of 2019, WMATA staff reported no negative impacts on service performance; increased ridership; and increased parking utilization. The Board then voted to maintain the service (i.e., make the elimination of the Grosvenor Turnback permanent). At the same time, the Board voted to eliminate the Silver Spring Turnback. The Board had it right in 2018 and 2019 and it would be a mistake for the Board to disproportionately cut service in Montgomery County by reimposing the Turnbacks today.
Imposition of the Turnbacks means a reduction in service. That is counter to everything you, the Board, and WMATA have been working on to try and improve rail service and bring back ridership. It is also counter to Montgomery County’s goals, particularly as the county has sought to concentrate growth around WMATA stations—including those further out of the core than the Turnbacks. Moreover, the reduction in service is disproportionate to Montgomery County, increasing headways at most Montgomery County WMATA stations to eight minutes and ten minutes during peak and non-peak hours, respectively.
We appreciate WMATA’s difficult budget circumstances, and have been lockstep as a Delegation in voting in favor of and advocating for additional resources for WMATA. But the proposed budget impact of eliminating the Turnbacks of $500,000 ($300,000 in cost savings plus $200,000 in projected increased revenue), hardly seems worth the negative impact of the cut to Montgomery County.
As a WMATA Chair who represents a suburban jurisdiction on the Board, we know you appreciate that the suburban jurisdictions value Metrorail service. Just as Virginia would not want to see disproportionate service cuts to the Orange, Blue, Yellow, or Silver Lines, we must strenuously object to cuts in service that disproportionately impact the Red line.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Senator Benjamin F. Kramer
Senator William C. Smith, Jr.
Senator Brian J. Feldman
Senator Cheryl C. Kagan
Senator Nancy J. King
Senator Susan C. Lee
Senator Jeff Waldstreicher
Senator Craig J. Zucker
Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr
Delegate Kumar P. Barve
Delegate Gabriel Acevero
Delegate Alfred C. Carr, Jr.
Delegate Lorig Charkoudian
Delegate Charlotte Crutchfield
Delegate Bonnie Cullison
Delegate Linda Foley
Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo
Delegate Jim Gilchrist
Delegate Anne R. Kaiser
Delegate Ariana B. Kelly
Delegate Marc Korman
Delegate Lesley J. Lopez
Delegate Sara Love
Delegate David Moon
Delegate Lily Qi
Delegate Pam Queen
Delegate Kirill Reznik
Delegate Emily Shetty
Delegate Jared Solomon
Delegate Vaughn Stewart
Delegate Jheanelle K. Wilkins