WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Over the next three weeks, Metro’s maintenance crews will work overnight on parts of track that’re showing their age and need to be replaced. For passengers, this translates to longer wait times during late-night trips.

Starting Monday, February 27, all Blue, Blue+, Orange, and Silver Lines trains will run through stations every 26 minutes after 10 p.m. Metro will operate the reduced schedule after 10 p.m. on the following days:

  • Feb. 27 – Mar. 2 (Monday-Thursday)
  • Mar. 6 – 9 (Monday-Thursday)
  • Mar. 13 – 16 (Monday-Thursday)
  • Service on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays over the next three weeks will not be affected
  • Aging concrete slabs on Metro’s tracks that will be replaced over the next three weeks. (Courtesy: WMATA)
  • Aging grout pads on Metro’s tracks that will be replaced over the next three weeks. (Courtesy: WMATA)

“Over the three-week period, work crews will replace the grout pads, concrete slabs that must support the weight of trains and to which the tracks are anchored,” the transit agency said in a news release. “Grout pads must be replaced over time, an arduous and time-consuming process. The bolts, fasteners, insulators, and rail are removed first and each grout pad is demolished. Then new concrete is poured into a mold and cured for several hours before reinstalling the rail.”

Metro says its crews will focus their work on a section of track that is three miles long.

Although passengers on the affected lines will have to wait every 26 minutes for a train after 10 p.m., officials say that ridership after that hour accounts for roughly four percent of overall daily ridership.

Train timetables during all other parts of the day will not change.

Before you head out to the station to wait on the platform, you might want to check out Metro’s “LiveTrain” map, which displays the next time a train will arrive at any given station.