A crowd during President Barack Obama’s second inauguration walks from the L’Enfant Metro to the National Mall. (Photo by Kerrin Nishimura)

Expecting hundreds of thousands of people to stream into the city for the Women’s March on Washington, Metro is opening two hours early and adding around two dozen extra trains on Saturday.

“Metro heard from lots of customers about the need for additional service this weekend and worked quickly to respond,” said Ward 2 councilmember and chairman of WMATA’s board Jack Evans.

Much of the security perimeter in place for the official inauguration festivities will come down on Saturday, making it somewhat easier to get around. All five downtown stations that will be closed on Friday, for example, will be open. And scheduled weekend track work has been suspended.

The transit agency notes that the Federal Center SW stop is the closest to the march’s gathering spot, but recommends that people also use the L’Enfant Plaza and Capitol South stations to avoid overcrowding.

In addition to opening at 5 a.m., Metro plans to add trains on the Red and Orange lines, and will also run trains on the Yellow Line’s “Rush Plus” route (between Franconia-Springfield and Greenbelt) from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.