Metro details Red Line platform doors, may extend to other lines

Washington, D.C. — July 22, 2026

Metro released new design details Tuesday, July 21, 2026, for automated platform doors it wants to install on the Red Line, part of a $913 million modernization plan set to go before the WMATA Board of Directors at its Thursday, July 23, 2026, meeting, according to WTOP News and WJLA.

The doors would stand about five and a half feet tall and open automatically when a train arrives, blocking access to the tracks below, WJLA reported. Where doors aren't installed, glass screens would fill the gap. The plan calls for doors at 20 of the 27 Red Line stations, and the project remains in an early phase, with station surveys to come before engineering and installation, WTOP reported. Metro has said installation would not begin before 2028 and has not yet disclosed a cost for the doors separate from the overall project.

Metro officials said the doors, like recent taller fare gates that cut down on fare evasion, would not stop every track intrusion but should reduce them, WJLA reported. The transit agency has recorded more than 80 track trespasses and 10 deaths in 2026 so far, more than either 2024's six or 2025's eight, with more than five months left in the year, according to WTOP and WJLA. Officials said some of those incidents involved people entering the tracks intentionally.

The Metro Board approved the broader modernization program, which also includes a new signaling system and a path toward fully automated trains, as part of the fiscal 2027 capital budget adopted in April 2026, according to WMATA.

For now, the plan covers only the Red Line, which runs between Maryland and D.C. and does not serve Virginia. But Metro officials told WJLA they may extend platform doors to other lines in the future. The Blue, Orange, Silver and Yellow lines carry riders through Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax County, including Tysons and Reston, so any later expansion would reach Northern Virginia stations directly.