Metro maintenance can be disruptive. It's not a secret - weekend work is something that can really throw a wrench into your plans. You've often commented wondering why Metro has to take weekends, sometimes many in a row, to fix a track switch. Well in case you missed the Post's awesome Commuter graphic this week, make sure to check it out to get a feel for how much labor and intricate planning actually goes into something as "simple" as switch work.

Here's what we learned from the story: the process involves impeccable timing, 230 bolts, holes, and studs, "foul-smelling glue," and enough big machines and metal to fascinate any four year old. A switch replacement actually begins a month in advance, requiring extra lighting and inspections; and once the actual work starts, there's moments of rigid tension - such as when the box indicating power flow to the third rail chirps, and everyone working has to carefully watch every little step. There's 12-hours shifts, noise, and "the sudden rush of air against the face" which indicates that there's a speeding train flying by right next to the workers. Frankly, it makes for some killer prose, and we're a little jealous.

So while we sometimes have the tendency to give Metro's maintenance team a hard time, seeing the fine choreography required for the kinds of big maintenance tasks that are going to be needed more and more in the next few years makes us appreciate them a little bit more.

Photo by spiggycat.

Not Quite BRT, Better Than Normal; This Seems Just Right BeyondDC digs in to Metro's plans to expand their MetroExtra service along 24 of the busiest corridors of the system - lines which account for over 215,000 weekday riders in total - over the next five years. These include the 16th Street S lines next year, New Hampshire Avenue lines in 2010, and the 90s line through U Street in 2011. The agency's presentation can be viewed here. A successful version of such express buses can be found in Metro GM John Catoe's old stomping ground, Los Angeles - so we'd guess Catoe knows a thing or two about how to make these things work.

Engines and Cabooses: On-time performance at D.C. area airports improves... A slowdown in the amount of vehicle sales (and the subsequent loss of gasoline tax revenue the sales cause) may cause Maryland to have to scale back transportation projects... Md. and Va. drivers logging between one and five percent fewer miles on the roads than last year... Virginia could consider changes to HOV lane restrictions on weekends... Speaking of track switches, Greater Greater Washington presents John Cambron's maps of the Metrorail's switches, yards, and tracks - and what they could possibly look like in 2030... Newly sworn-in Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards assigned to the House Transportation committee.