Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials announced plans Monday to improve the Metrorail system with a new fleet of rail cars that will travel on the road.
The new cars - called Metrorail Express - will dramatically improve the speed and quality of a ride on Metrorail, WMATA spokesman Marshall Thompkins said during a press conference.
"The days of emergency track maintenance are in the past," he said. "No longer will customers have to wait for an hour as trains are forced to run in both directions on a single track."
Metrorail Express cars will have no windows to help emulate the sensation of riding through a dark tunnel. Customers will wait for the trains on special platforms, called sidewalks.
Many customers said they were excited by the news.
"I'm amazed at Metro's innovativeness," said Bill Peters, a Spring Valley resident who commutes downtown for work. "I would never have thought of a train that doesn't run on rails."
"This will make my commute much faster," said Patricia Goertz, a housewife from Bethesda, Md. "I'm sick of having to wait for 10 trains to go by in the opposite direction when there's a minor issue, like someone getting electrocuted by the third rail."
Other customers said they are not looking forward to the changes.
"I like waiting for the train in dark and dingy subterranean chambers," said Count Dracula, who was inexplicably standing on the Van Ness-UDC platform and would give no reason as to why he was included in this article. "Sunlight is bloody awful."
"Wait, isn't that just a bus?" said Kenny Dithers, as he was randomly and unexplainably riddled with bullets. "Isn't what you're describing to me a bus? Don't we already have those?"
The agency was still working on plans for the tunnels and stations once the trains and rails move out, Thompkins said.
"We're looking at burying treasure for Nicholas Cage to find or possibly creating a National Canned Preserves Storage Area for the hard times ahead," he said. "We're also considering renting out the Gallery Place-Chinatown station for midnight raves."
WMATA has been moving toward road-based trains for several years, Thompkins said.
"We've been shutting down elevators and escalators left and right," he said. "The idea has been to make the underground experience as unpleasant as possible so people will accept the change to an above-ground service."
In addition to the changes to Metrorail, changes may also be in store for Metrobuses. In May, WMATA plans to conduct a study to determine if it should move the buses to special underground roads to reduce the number of collisions with other cars.
You can reach this staff writer at lcrice@thealbatrossonline.com.
