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THE WASHINGTON METRO has some impressive improvements lined up for this year.
Although Metro just might be the best transit system in America, it is still moving ahead--straining to keep up with the crowds of riders but also leading the industry with security innovations and acting to reduce pollution.
For some Fredericksburg-area commuters, Metro is the final link in the journey to their offices. For other travelers, it is the service that takes them to the front door of Reagan National Airport. For families, it is the train that takes them to the National Zoo or the National Air and Space Museum on weekends.
Virginia Railway Express riders have five possible transfer points to Metro; Amtrak riders have two. Sometimes, however, using Metro means driving to a Metro station, particularly if you want to spend the evening in Washington.
For anyone who has driven to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station, about 40 miles north of Fredericksburg, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has some good news: The parking facility, which fills up early on weekdays, is getting 1,000 more parking spaces, and the work should be finished this summer. Other stations throughout the system are getting increased parking capacity as well.
Also by this summer, Metro should have all 192 of its new cars in service. About half are in operation now. Added to the 800-plus cars in the current fleet, these new vehicles will enable Metro to operate six cars on all rush-hour trains, some of which now have only four.
The new cars will also allow Metro to remove some older cars from service for overhaul work. Metro has ordered an additional 62 cars, and is working to secure funding for 120 more after that so that the system can operate eight-car trains.
Besides expanding its fleet, Metro continues to expand its rail system. Work is under way on the Red Line station at New York Avenue and on the Blue Line extension to Largo, both of which are expected to open next year.
Planning has begun for the Dulles International Airport line and for the Purple Line, which would parallel the Capital Beltway in Maryland. And wouldn't a complete Purple Line all the way around Washington be a welcome alternative to the Beltway?
Less visible are Metro's security enhancements--in fact, some of the details are secret.
In plain sight will be the additional officers on the transit police force. Less noticeable will be the security cameras being installed on 100 buses.
And in a program that long predates Sept. 11, 2001, Metro will continue adding chemical detectors to unspecified stations. Metro has also added more canine bomb-detection teams in recent months.
Although America has not suffered the kind of terrorism on transit systems that has taken place in Britain, Japan and other countries, it is reassuring to know that Metro is making itself a difficult target.
As the Washington region continues to struggle with air quality, the Transit Authority has made major efforts to reduce pollution. Metro begins the new year with a fleet of 164 buses powered by compressed natural gas, all of them delivered in the past 12 months.
This year, Metro will also begin installing after-treatment filters on 600 of its diesel buses to nearly eliminate emissions of particulate matter, and will re-power 100 diesel buses with new engines that meet the latest Environmental Protection Agency regulations. (Metro's trains are electric and produce no emissions.)
For some of us, "subway" has always meant Metro. For others of us, who moved to Virginia from other states, Metro is astonishingly better than some other subways we've ridden.
With the kind of improvements the Transit Authority keeps making, you can see why the system keeps setting ridership records despite a sour economy.
STEVE DUNHAM of Spotsylvania County chairs the board of directors of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons. Write him c/o Commuter Crossroads, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401. Or e-mail literalman@aol.com.