Metro Will Single-Track Four Lines in December: Winter Construction Runs December 18 to 30, WMATA Says
Holiday-season riders get the year's big trackwork window: the Green Line single-tracks for 13 days from December 18, the Orange, Silver and Blue lines follow from December 20, and the Yellow Line stops short of Greenbelt until normal service returns December 31.
Metro riders planning holiday travel now have the winter construction map. From December 18 through December 30, Metro will undertake major construction on the Green, Orange, Silver and Blue lines through two separate projects, the transit authority says on its Winter 2026 Major Construction page, with normal rail service on the affected lines restored on December 31.
The first project runs the full window. From December 18 to 30, Green Line trains will single-track between Georgia Avenue-Petworth and U Street, running every 16 minutes on weekdays and weekends. Yellow Line trains will run only between Huntington and Mt. Vernon Square - with no Yellow Line service to Greenbelt - every 8 minutes, except on Christmas Day, when they will run every 16 minutes. The second project starts two days later: from December 20 to 30, Orange and Silver line trains will single-track between McPherson Square and Smithsonian, running every 20 minutes, and Blue Line trains will run only between Franconia-Springfield and Foggy Bottom-GWU, also every 20 minutes. Affected stations will remain open throughout, and Metro advises customers to allow additional time between trains. An October 26 update moved the Green Line start date from December 16 to December 18.
The work list is the deep-maintenance kind that needs single-tracking to happen at all: repair or replacement of rail and fastening systems, renewal of communications and signaling systems, restoration of lighting infrastructure, repair of grout pads and concrete repair. Metro says the construction is part of its ongoing investment in reliability, safety and the customer experience, and it has scheduled the window in the holiday season, when ridership is typically lower.
