L'Enfant Plaza station

L'Enfant Plaza
L'Enfant Plaza
Washington Metro rapid transit station
General information
Location	600 Maryland Avenue, Southwest; Washington, D.C. 20024; 690 Virginia Avenue SW (VRE)
Owned by	Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Line(s)	; ; ; ;
Platforms	2 side platforms (upper level); 1 island platform (lower level)
Tracks	4 (2 upper level, 2 lower level)
Connections	Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Adjacent stations/12px' not found. Virginia Railway Express: Lua error: expandTemplate: template "VREX color" does not exist. Lua error: expandTemplate: template "VREX color" does not exist. at L'Enfant; Metrobus: 5A, 52, 54, 74, A9, A42, A46, A48, V5, V7, V8, W9; MTA Maryland Commuter Bus; Loudoun County Commuter Bus; OmniRide Commuter
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	F03 (upper level); D03 (lower level)
Fare zone	Zone 1 (VRE)
History
Opened	July 1, 1977; 47 years ago (WMATA); June 1992; 32 years ago (VRE)
Passengers
2014	20,222 daily 2.6%
Services
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L'Enfant Plaza is a Washington Metro station in the Southwest Federal Center neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). It is a transfer station, with two levels: the upper level has two side platforms and is used by the Green and Yellow Lines, while the lower level has an island platform used by the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines.^[4] It is also where the Yellow and Green lines converge going north. The station serves five out of the system's six lines, serving the most lines out of any station in the system; only the Red Line does not serve the station.

L'Enfant Plaza is the last station in the District on the Yellow Line before crossing the Potomac into Virginia on the 14th Street Bridge.

Description

Location

The station is located in Southwest Washington, with entrances at the L'Enfant Plaza shopping mall concourse at 9th and D Streets, on D Street between 6th and 7th Streets, and at Maryland Avenue and 7th Street. It is in the center of an area crowded with federal buildings and is a transfer point allowing passengers to easily cross the Potomac between Virginia and central Washington, making it a very busy station. L'Enfant Plaza is named for the French-American planner of Washington, D.C., Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant.^[5]

VRE station

Directly above the Metro station, on Virginia Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets, is the Virginia Railway Express L'Enfant station, which provides commuter rail service both to Fredericksburg and to Manassas Regional Airport in Bristow. Numerous Amtrak trains pass through this station, most without stopping. There is one side platform on the north side of the station with 3 tracks passing through.^[6] There are walkways on each side of the station that lead to 6th and 7th Streets respectively.^[6]

History

The station opened on July 1, 1977.^[7] Its opening coincided with the completion of 11.8 miles (19.0 km)^[8] of rail between National Airport and RFK Stadium and the opening of the Arlington Cemetery, Capitol South, Crystal City, Eastern Market, Farragut West, Federal Center SW, Federal Triangle, Foggy Bottom–GWU, McPherson Square, National Airport, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Potomac Avenue, Rosslyn, Smithsonian and Stadium–Armory stations.^[9] Orange Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on November 20, 1978;^[10] Yellow Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on April 30, 1983;^[11] Green Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on May 11, 1991;^[12] and Silver Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on July 26, 2014.^[13] This makes the station unique in that the lower level island platform opened before the upper level side platforms.

On January 12, 2015, smoke began appearing in the station which suspended service at L'Enfant Plaza during the afternoon rush hour. The smoke caused 1 death and 84 people were being treated at local hospitals. Green Line and Yellow Line trains were temporarily suspended while Blue Line, Orange Line, and Silver Line trains bypassed L'Enfant Plaza.^[14]

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit / Entrance
B1	Mezzanine/VRE station	One-way faregates, ticket machines, station agent
	Side platform
	Westbound	← Manassas Line toward Broad Run/Airport, Fredericksburg Line toward Fredericksburg (Crystal City) → Manassas Line/Fredericksburg Line toward Union Station (Terminus) → ← Amtrak does not stop here →
	Center track	← Manassas Line/Fredericksburg Line and Amtrak do not stop here →
	Eastbound	← Manassas Line/Fredericksburg Line and Amtrak do not stop here →
B2 Upper platform level	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Southbound	← Template:WMATA icon toward Branch Avenue (Waterfront) ← Template:WMATA icon toward Huntington (Pentagon)
	Northbound	→ Template:WMATA icon toward Greenbelt (Archives) → → Template:WMATA icon toward Fort Totten (Archives) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right
B3 Lower platform level	Westbound	← Template:WMATA icon toward Franconia–Springfield (Smithsonian) ← Template:WMATA icon toward Vienna (Smithsonian) ← Template:WMATA icon toward Wiehle – Reston East (Smithsonian)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Eastbound	→ Template:WMATA icon toward Largo Town Center (Federal Center SW) → → Template:WMATA icon toward New Carrollton (Federal Center SW) → → Template:WMATA icon toward Largo Town Center (Federal Center SW) →

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Gallery

Street performers are often seen and heard outside the station's entrance. (WebM video, taken on escalator)
Station entrance pylon in 2004. A stripe for the Silver Line has since been added.
Crossvault on the ceiling of the upper level of the station