Photo by JBassettPhotography.com.

Back in June, WMATA comprehensively dismissed a much-derided proposal to save $7 million by permanently extending the time between trains on weekends to 25 minutes. While that was good news for weekend Metrorail riders, the agency’s ramped-up weekend maintenance schedule means that, in certain portions of the system, such extended waits are happening anyway.

This weekend, WMATA will single track along sections of the four lines. But one local blogger found the 30 minute headways between endpoint terminals along the Red Line a bit out-of-step with previous work in the same locations:

That’s a new system. On the weekend of June 17, Metro single tracked those same sections — yet provided 24 minute headways for the outer section of the lines, and for the entire line after 9pm (with 12 minutes on the inner section, until 9pm). And Metro has done that arrangement other times the Takoma-Forest Glen stretch was single tracked, too. (Takoma-Forest Glen is longer, and thus harder to single track, than Van Ness to Friendship Heights).

This time, it will be 30 minutes, not 24. […] A lot of us have tried hard to give Metro the benefit of the doubt. Weekend construction is a necessary evil; semi-permanent manual operation of trains has led to horrible spacing messes. These problems are somewhat beyond Metro’s control. Having trains 30 minutes apart, when they used to be 24 — and then not providing 15 minute service in the core segment — are not issues beyond Metro’s control, though.

“Based on the location and configuration of the workzones, a 30 minute headway is what is supportable,” said Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel when we asked about the reason for the added delay. According to Stessel, the extra six minutes “has to do with where trains can cross over [and] avoiding schedule conflicts,” among other considerations.

Long story short: if you’re riding the Red Line this weekend, prepare yourself for a longer ride.