Washington Metro

The Washington Metro is a rapid transit system that serves the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in the United States. It has the second busiest rapid transit system in the United States.^[2] The New York City Subway is the busiest.

Washington Metro
Washington Metro's Farragut West station in April 2018
Overview
Locale	Washington metropolitan area
Transit type	Rapid transit
Number of lines	6
Line number	Template:WMATA icon Template:WMATA icon Template:WMATA icon Template:WMATA icon Template:WMATA icon Template:WMATA icon
Number of stations	98
Daily ridership	474,000 (weekdays, 2023)
Chief executive	Randy Clarke
Headquarters	600 5th Street NW Washington, D.C., U.S.
Website	www.wmata.com/service/rail/
Operation
Began operation	March 27, 1976; 49 years ago (1976-03-27)
Operator(s)	Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Character	At-grade, elevated, and underground
Number of vehicles	1,318 railcars
Train length	6 or 8 cars
Headway	6–12 mins peak; 6–15 mins off-peak
Technical
System length	129 mi (208 km)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄4 in (1,429 mm)[1]
Minimum radius of curvature	225 ft (68.6 m)[1]
Electrification	Third rail, 750 V DC
Average speed	33 mph (53 km/h)
Top speed	75 mph (121 km/h) (design) 59 mph (95 km/h)-65 mph (105 km/h) (service)
System map Show interactive map Show static map Legend Ashburn Loudoun Gateway Dulles Yard Dulles International Airport Innovation Center Herndon Reston Town Center Wiehle–Reston East Shady Grove Yard Spring Hill Shady Grove Greensboro Rockville Twinbrook Tysons McLean North Bethesda Vienna Grosvenor–Strathmore Dunn Loring Glenmont Yard Medical Center Glenmont Falls Church Yard Greenbelt Yard West Falls Church Greenbelt East Falls Church Wheaton Ballston–MU College Park Bethesda Forest Glen Virginia Square–GMU Hyattsville Crossing Friendship Heights Silver Spring Tenleytown–AU West Hyattsville Clarendon Takoma Van Ness–UDC Fort Totten Court House Georgia Avenue–Petworth Cleveland Park Columbia Heights Woodley Park Brookland–CUA Dupont Circle Rhode Island Avenue Rosslyn Brentwood Yard Foggy Bottom–GWU NoMa–Gallaudet U Farragut North Union Station Farragut West U Street Shaw–Howard University Arlington Cemetery Mount Vernon Square McPherson Square Judiciary Square Metro Center Gallery Place Federal Triangle Smithsonian Archives L'Enfant Plaza Federal Center SW Waterfront Capitol South Navy Yard–Ballpark Eastern Market Anacostia Potomac Avenue Congress Heights Stadium–Armory Pentagon Pentagon City Minnesota Avenue Crystal City Benning Road Southern Avenue Deanwood National Airport Cheverly Naylor Road Capitol Heights Suitland Addison Road Branch Avenue Landover Branch Avenue Yard New Carrollton Potomac Yard Morgan Boulevard Braddock Road New Carrollton Yard King Street–Old Town Downtown Largo Alexandria Yard Van Dorn Street Eisenhower Avenue Franconia–Springfield Huntington Key Red Line Green Line Orange Line Yellow Line Blue Line Silver Line Multiple services Non-revenue tracks All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

Cleveland Park Metro station
(Red Line)

Actual map of the Washington Metro. Map of the network is drawn to scale.

Lines

There are six lines in this system:

• Red Line, Opened 1976
• Blue Line, Opened 1977
• Orange Line, Opened 1978
• Yellow Line, Opened 1983
• Green Line, Opened 1991
• Silver Line, Opened 2014

History

The first part of the metro system opened on March 27, 1976.^[3] The rail system was completed on May 19th, 2023. ^[4]