WASHINGTON — Washington Area Transit Authority officials are pushing to make commutes faster. At the first Metro board meeting of the year, Metro announced it was in the process of restoring Maximum Allowable Speeds (MAS) across the entire system.
According to transit officials, Metro's original maximum speed was 75 mph when the system first opened in 1976. The maximum speed was reduced to 59 mph about a decade later. The 58 mph speed limit was kept in place, despite upgrades to the rail service.
"Over time, as rail expansions were commissioned, exceptions were made to allow for higher speeds. These exceptions were incorporated into the rules, but the overall requirement of a reduced operating speed of 59 mph was left in place," the Metro report reads.
Metro says the variation in maximum speed allowances has made train operation unnecessarily complex. The operational rule restriction of 58 mph cannot be enforced by engineering systems, requiring train operators to manually regulate speeds.
Metro says running at MAS would allow the transit system to operate under safer engineered speed regulations, and deliver faster service throughout the system. In addition to improving commuting speeds, Metro says MAS would also save money.
"Operating at MAS would save runtime on each line (except for the Green Line) and help realize up to $2.3M in annual operational cost savings," Metro's report says.
In addition to the rule change, Metro says it is making progress on implementing automatic doors. Metro first activated auto doors on the Red Line last month, with plans to restore auto doors throughout the system by spring of 2024.
Metro says automatic doors, along with automatic train operation could save riders 5-10 minutes, and save millions of dollars.
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