Photo by M.V. Jantzen

It’s a big weekend for Metro upgrades, and this time it’s the Red Line that will be affected.

Infrastructure upgrades in the Red Line’s core stations will shut down service between Dupont Circle and NoMa-Gallaudet from 10 p.m. through the closing of the system on Sunday. Farragut North, Judiciary Square and Union Station will be closed altogether, while Dupont Circle, Metro Center, Gallery Place and NoMa will only be open for limited Red Line service (out to Shady Grove or Glenmont) or for other lines that serve the stations.

Sure, the closing are annoying. But the end result will be a safer Metro ride and better cell phone coverage for Metro’s customers. According to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel, along with necessary track maintenance, workers will be installing new fiber-optic cable through the tunnels.

“The work is part of the ‘Neutral Host’ project. Neutral Host is the consortium of the major wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) that is working to wire the Metrorail system for coverage. The work this weekend is primarily about improving wireless coverage for coverage. The Neutral Host contractors will be pulling fiber optic cable through the Red Line tunnels. Eventually, that will mean better coverage for customers across all four carriers,” he told us in an email.

Shuttle service will replace Metro between the Red Line stations.