Wheaton Metro, Eastern Red Line Out for Labor Day Weekend

If you hadn't already planned to leave town for Labor Day weekend, don't expect to whisk to DC easily. WMATA is closing five stations – Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, Silver Spring and Takoma for track work repairs, including replacing track switches near the Silver Spring station.

"We try to do them on the holidays because of lower ridership," said Taryn McNeil, public relations coordinator for WMATA.

Three shuttles will replace service between the stations. The red shuttle will run between all five stations and Fort Totten, the green shuttle will run from the Georgia Avenue/Petworth station to Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont stations, and the yellow shuttle will run from Fort Totten to Takoma and Silver Spring.

Closures start at 10pm Friday evening, although last Glenmont-bound train will leave from Wheaton at 9:59pm and the last Shady Grove-bound train will leave at 9:38pm. Repairs will be finished by 1am Tuesday, and the stations will be open for the morning commute on Tuesday.

WMATA says the new track switch is part of fulfilling recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board's report following the June 2009 collision of two Metro cars between the Fort Totten and Takoma stations.  Additional repairs taken on this weekend will include new track and track fasteners, replacing emergency fire lines and adding in new fiber optic communications cable to support cell phone service.

Add 40 minutes onto your travel if you're using the shuttle service.

VIDEO: See how Wheaton Metro riders say the closures will affect them.