The closures begin at 10:00 p.m. on Friday, May 17, and run through closing on Sunday, May 19. Trains are expected to operate at normal weekend intervals even though service will be split into two segments — between Vienna and East Falls Church and between Clarendon and New Carrollton.

Free shuttle buses will replace trains between East Falls Church and Clarendon. Customers using shuttle bus service should add up to 25 minutes to their travel time.

The last trains of the night from Vienna to East Falls Church will depart 28 minutes earlier than normal — at 1:57 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and at 10:57 p.m. on Sunday.

The Orange Line closures are to allow for track circuit module replacement. There will also be work on the Red and Green lines this weekend. Information regarding those closures can be found on WMATA’s website.

The Ballston Business Improvement District expressed concern about the timing of the Ballston Metro station closure, considering the Taste of Arlington festival is expected to bring around 20,000 people to that area on Sunday.

Members of the BID have worked out a deal with WMATA. The station closures will remain in effect and passengers will still need to take shuttles between East Falls Church and Clarendon. However, starting around 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, additional shuttles will be put into service to accommodate the heavier flow of passengers expected to travel to Taste of Arlington, which begins at noon.

“They will add a whole crew of buses to the schedule for Sunday so they can ensure that nobody is waiting too long and can get to their destination in a timely fashion,” said Ballston BID CEO Tina Leone. “We’re not the first group this has happened to. They’ve assured us they will monitor the buses in making sure they’re arriving and leaving at a rapid rate. We’re just thrilled they were so responsive and so accommodating.”

Leone added that the bus trip is only about 10 minutes, so hopefully festival attendees won’t experience too many delays. Those who prefer to drive to the event should note that the cost is only one dollar for three hours to park at the Ballston garage.

Disclosure: Ballston BID is an ARLnow.com advertiser

The incident happened just before 9:00 a.m. Police responded to the station for a report of suspicious activity — a man seen walking around on the track bed. Power was briefly taken down to the station’s “third rail” as a precaution. The man eventually climbed back up to the platform.

Police questioned the man and it turned out that that he had hopped down to the tracks to retrieve a farecard he accidentally dropped, according to WMATA spokesman Dan Stesssel. The man was not injured and there was no malicious intent. Power was restored and trains were not delayed.

Stessel said the man’s actions were “incredibly ill advised.” If you drop something on the tracks, he said, don’t take matters into your own hands — contact a station manager.

“If you drop something on the tracks, the station manager can help you,” said Stessel. “The station managers have special equipment that can be used to safely retrieve an item without leaving the platform. Entering the track bed puts you at risk of electrocution (you don’t even have to touch the third rail for power to transfer) or getting struck by a train.”

Flickr photo by John Pastor

The agency says this weekend is a “working weekend” in its $5.5 billion maintenance initiative. Work is taking place on the Blue, Orange, Yellow and Red lines.

On the Orange Line, East Falls Church is among four Virginia stations that will be closed to allow for work on the Silver Line and rail infrastructure improvements.

“Shuttle buses will operate between Vienna and Ballston on two routes: Express buses will operate non-stop between Vienna and Ballston stations. Customers using express buses should add about 25 minutes to their travel time,” WMATA said on its website. “Local buses will operate between Vienna and Ballston, with intermediate stops at Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church stations. Customers using local buses should add up to 40 minutes to their travel time.”

On the Blue and Yellow lines, rail infrastructure improvements will result in single-tracking between Braddock Road and Pentagon City.

“Throughout the weekend, both Blue and Yellow Line trains will operate every 30 minutes,” said WMATA. “During daytime hours, additional Yellow Line trips will operate between Pentagon City and Mt. Vernon Square stations, resulting in service every 15 to 20 minutes between those stations.”

The Red Line work will result in trains running every 28 minutes. The service changes will be in place until system closing on Sunday night.

The Blue Line will single track between Arlington Cemetery and Foggy Bottom to allow for fiber-optic cable installation. Orange Line trains will single track between Clarendon and Foggy Bottom, also to allow for fiber-optic cable installation.

Trains on both lines will run every 26 minutes between 10:00 tonight (Friday) and system closing on Sunday.

Delays due to maintenance work are also expected on the Red and Green lines. Metro says the work is part of its larger infrastructure “rebuilding” effort.

“Metro is investing $5.5 billion to install new rail, ties, platforms, escalators, signals, lighting, communication systems, and more,” the agency said in a press release. “It represents the largest capital investment — and work effort — since the system’s original construction in the early 1970s.”

Around 10:30 a.m., the 20-year-old Arlington resident “intentionally placed himself in path of arriving Blue Line train at Rosslyn,” according to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. The train operator applied the emergency brakes and the man only suffered a non-life-threatening leg injury, Stessel said.

The man was transported to George Washington University hospital.

Blue and Orange Line trains were single-tracking between the Clarendon and Foggy Bottom Metro stations after the accident. Normal two-track operations resumed around 11:45 a.m., but residual delays were reported.

The delays are impacting both inbound and outbound trains on both lines. From WMATA:

Metrorail customers on the Blue and Yellow lines will experience delays of approximately 20 30-35 minutes this morning as trains share a single track between Braddock Road and Pentagon City. Shortly before 5 a.m., an accidental leak of hydraulic fluid on the outbound track created a slippery condition for trains. Personnel are on the scene working to clear the fluid to allow two-track train operations to resume. The clean up effort is expected to last through rush hour.

Trash Collection Canceled — Trash collection in Arlington has been canceled today due to the snow storm. Trash collection is currently expected to resume tomorrow, with collection delayed one day for the rest of the week (Wednesday customers’ trash being collected on Thursday, etc.). “Please do not put your trash or recycling on the curb this Wednesday,” said the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services. “Wednesday collection routes are in the hilliest parts of the County and expose the collection crews and the public to the greatest safety risks in a snow event.”

School Boundary Meeting Canceled — A school boundary meeting scheduled for today has been canceled. Instead, Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy will be holding a boundary town hall meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 11, at Williamsburg Middle School. APS, meanwhile, has made some minor tweaks to its boundary change plan, after hearing critical feedback from parents. [Arlington Public Schools, Patch]

Moran, Connolly Support Metrorail Extensions – Virginia Congressmen Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran have introduced a bill calling for a study of an extension of Metro’s Blue, Yellow and Orange lines to Potomac Mills, Fort Belvoir and Centreville respectively. “We need to look at solutions that take cars off the roads and provide viable transportation alternatives for our citizens,” Connolly said in a statement. [Rep. Gerry Connolly, DCist]

Green Party Seeks Housing Authority Referendum — The Arlington Green Party is trying to drum up support from the local faith community for its push for a new housing authority. The Greens are trying to collect 3,000 signatures to get a measure on the ballot that would establish a housing authority in Arlington County, with the goal of creating more affordable housing units. [Arlington Mercury]

The incident happened around 9:45 p.m. A 44-year-old man “intentionally placed himself on the track” in an apparent suicide attempt, according to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel.

“The train operator applied the emergency brake and was able to stop prior to any significant injury,” Stessel continued. “The male has lacerations to his hands and will be transported for evaluation. We are single tracking around the incident with about 10 minute delays.”

This is the third such incident since Friday. This past weekend, Metro train operators managed to avoid hitting two people who tried to commit suicide at Metro stations.

WMATA reports the closure is for NTSB-recommended track circuit module replacement, rail joint elimination, tie renewal and other various track improvements.

Both Blue and Yellow Line trains will operate in two segments. Blue Line trains will run between Crystal City and Largo Town Center, and between Braddock Road and Franconia-Springfield every 16 minutes from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., and every 20 minutes from 9:00 p.m. until system closing. Yellow Line trains will run between Crystal City and Mount Vernon Square, and between Braddock Road and Huntington every 16 minutes from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., and every 20 minutes from 9:00 p.m. until system closing.

There will be two routes of free shuttle buses replacing train service between Crystal City and Braddock Road. Express buses will operate between Crystal City and Braddock Road only. Local buses running between Crystal City and Braddock Road will serve Reagan National Airport. Customers using the shuttles should allow about 15 minutes of extra travel time.

The track work and closures will begin at 10:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1, and will continue through closing on Sunday, March 3. More information about track work throughout the system this weekend can be found on WMATA’s website.

Starting at 10:00 p.m. on Friday the East Falls Church, West Falls Church, Dunn Loring and Vienna stations will be closed. Crews will be working on signal system integration with the new Silver Line extension. Trains will still operate on a normal weekend schedule between Ballston and New Carrollton.

Free shuttle buses will replace trains between Ballston and Vienna. Express buses will run only between the Vienna and Ballston stops; local buses will serve all stops in between Ballston and Vienna. Customers taking the express buses should expect to add an additional 25 minutes of travel time and those using the local buses should add up to 50 minutes of travel time.

The service alterations continue until closing on Sunday. More information about weekend track work throughout the system is available on WMATA’s website.