Railroad Forums 

  • Inauguration Service Plan 2021... it's not good.

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1561083  by STrRedWolf
 
MARC sent out an alert about WMATA service plans (at https://www.wmata.com/about/news/2021-I ... tments.cfm ).

A better picture of the closures are at the DCist: https://dcist.com/story/21/01/13/inaugu ... -schedule/

In short, starting Jan 15th (tomorrow), these stations will close (trains will bypass):
Farragut North, Judiciary Square, Union Station, Archives, Arlington Cemetery, Farragut West, McPherson Square, Federal Center SW, Capitol South, Smithsonian, Federal Triangle

Saturday, Metro Center and Gallery Place will close. Transfer points will be Fort Totten, L'Efant Plaza, Pentagon, Regan National, and Rossyln.

Buses will be detoured around. MARC will still go to Union Station, but ask folks to transfer to MetroRail at the end stations (New Carrolton, Greenbelt, Silver Spring, Rockville).

Everything goes back to normal next Friday (23rd).
 #1561093  by davinp
 
VRE is also still going to Union Station, but warns of possible delays for the week of the inaugration

Anyone making a connection at Union Station will need to make other arrangements to reach their final destination.
 #1561096  by STrRedWolf
 
davinp wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:06 pm VRE is also still going to Union Station, but warns of possible delays for the week of the inaugration

Anyone making a connection at Union Station will need to make other arrangements to reach their final destination.
My guess is that if you're not teleworking already, you should start tomorrow through next week.
 #1561139  by davinp
 
Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and enhanced security measures related to the Presidential Inauguration, VRE trains will not operate Monday through Wednesday next week. We plan to resume “S” schedule service plus Fredericksburg Line trains 300 and 307 on Thursday, 1/21/21.
 #1561192  by electricron
 
Whereas I understand why transit agencies should cancel trains because of violence, I believe it is wrong for them to cancel train and bus services before the violence even commences. Giving into fear that something bad might happen is wrong.

Giving in does not deter violence, it reinforces those who wish to do violence.
 #1561211  by urr304
 
Just how many federal employees not in physical jobs such as maintenance functions still going to work in recent months? I would think as mentioned that all that could would be teleworking by now. I have a cousin who works on medical devices approval, not sure on details of her position but I am sure there are many aspects of her job that would require a physical appearance.

Then there is some reverse commuting too.

MIght as well as make the whole week a Federal holiday. Sorry to hear so many of you having commuting difficulties.
 #1561227  by davinp
 
electricron wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 10:16 pm Whereas I understand why transit agencies should cancel trains because of violence, I believe it is wrong for them to cancel train and bus services before the violence even commences. Giving into fear that something bad might happen is wrong.

Giving in does not deter violence, it reinforces those who wish to do violence.
Even some bridges that connect VA to DC are closing. I don't know if officials decided to close Union Station. Due to threats online, I guess they didn't want to take any chances and decided to shut everything down to make it difficult to get into DC
 #1561239  by electricron
 
davinp wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:48 am Even some bridges that connect VA to DC are closing. I don't know if officials decided to close Union Station. Due to threats online, I guess they didn't want to take any chances and decided to shut everything down to make it difficult to get into DC.
There are islands off the east and west coasts, and islands in a few great lakes that are large enough where we could move the entire capital to if absolute security must be number one. There is also a famous one in San Francisco Bay that might make a permanent retirement home for many national politicians. :-D

Avoiding bullies does not make them go away. They will seek you out and strike when you least expect them. It is best to go ahead and confront them and talk. Listening to their grievances and finding a solution is what politics should be about. Hiding and avoiding them will never solve anything.

So now, instead of them flying a plane or riding a train to DC, they will just drive their own cars. Whose lousy idea was it to turn public transit off for a week?
 #1561240  by STrRedWolf
 
electricron wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 2:21 pm Avoiding bullies does not make them go away. They will seek you out and strike when you lease expect them. It is best to go ahead and confront them and talk. Listening to their grievances and finding a solution is what politics should be about. Hiding and avoiding them will never solve anything.
There's no good solution.

First, the best way to resolving grievances is our court system. However, a good chunk of these people do not have the money to even file without a lawyer, or do not know of existing legal aid resources. Though whatever reasons, they are left to violence.

And so they struck... and it has made everything worse, and exposed a lot more that needed to be taken care of. Therefore, it is being taken care of now, because it hit home to a lot of people. The court system is being brought to them, in the worst way.

So what does this have to do with rail systems? The security of those systems were exposed as well.
 #1561297  by eolesen
 
TSA and FAA are piling on -- they're banning firearms in checked luggage in/out of the DC area, and forcing people to stay in their seats for an hour in/out of DC just like what we saw after 9/11.

The fear mongering is remarkable, and like-minded transit authority heads seem to be fully onboard with putting in plans that are a step removed from martial law.

Bottom line is it's all political theater and virtue signaling, and only placates the masses who were convinced that there was a coup attempt.

And it holds those dependent on transit hostage. Disgusting.

It also shows the vulnerability that public transit is in questionable times. Rather than holding a stiff upper lip and keeping the trains and buses running, it shows that you really can't depend on government transportation. It's ammunition for the anti-transit crowd, and perhaps rightfully so.
 #1561313  by STrRedWolf
 
eolesen wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 2:23 pm TSA and FAA are piling on -- they're banning firearms in checked luggage in/out of the DC area, and forcing people to stay in their seats for an hour in/out of DC just like what we saw after 9/11.

The fear mongering is remarkable, and like-minded transit authority heads seem to be fully onboard with putting in plans that are a step removed from martial law.

Bottom line is it's all political theater and virtue signaling, and only placates the masses who were convinced that there was a coup attempt.

And it holds those dependent on transit hostage. Disgusting.

It also shows the vulnerability that public transit is in questionable times. Rather than holding a stiff upper lip and keeping the trains and buses running, it shows that you really can't depend on government transportation. It's ammunition for the anti-transit crowd, and perhaps rightfully so.
I could go deep into the whole mess, but the end result is "Congress largely got spooked because they were out for blood, and they escaped." Imagine what would happen if Congress got killed. If you think this was overkill, you ain't seen nothing yet.

And yet, they're finding all the nutcases trying to break in now. The problem is real.

Back to transit, yes, they are still running subway trains and buses. But they're not stopping inside of the security bubble they've set up, and they're detouring buses around the whole mess. Amtrak isn't even taking chances and terminating all Northeast Regionals at DC Union Station.

They're spooked, plain and simple. It's going to hurt a lot of people who have to take transit to jobs in restricted areas... not that there's going to be a lot going on there. The only way things are going to calm down is for them to play out.
 #1561461  by Sand Box John
 
These closing have lees to do with threats and more to do with COVED. There were announcements that Biden was advised that there will be a "Virtual Inauguration" made before the certification of the electoral votes. The best way to keep crowds of spectators from gathering is to restrict access.