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Northern Virginia Metro stations to reopen ahead of schedule

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The metropolitan Washington region’s Metrorail system says it will reopen two stations in northern Virginia ahead of schedule as service begins to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The East Falls Church and Arlington Cemetery stations are set to reopen Aug. 23, Metro announced Monday. Those reopenings come one week after Metro reopened the West Falls Church and five Silver Line Stations in northern Virginia ahead of schedule.

The rail system took advantage of extraordinarily low ridership during the worst of the pandemic to accelerate planned maintenance and construction work. The closed stations are reopening ahead of schedule.

Once East Falls Church and Arlington Cemetery stations reopen, two of the system’s 91 stations will remain closed: the Dunn Loring and Vienna stations in northern Virginia, which are slated to reopen Sept. 8.

Metro and IndyCar team up for a busy weekend of Freedom 250 Grand Prix events

No, you weren't hallucinating Thursday morning — that was an IndyCar being pulled along the Metro tracks through a portion of D.C. It was part of a promotion between the Freedom 250 Grand Prix and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to remind people that the best way to navigate the expected huge crowds this weekend is to take Metro. "Even IndyCar knows the fastest way to get around is actually on Metro," said Randy Clarke, the transit agency's general manager and CEO. "We're really excited about this, and this car was a really kind of fun way to show a different way that people can see the Metro system, and we're having a little fun." The IndyCar, described as a work car that will not run in any of the races scheduled over the weekend, was fastened aboard a flat-bed train car and pulled along the yellow line, beginning at the King Street station up to the Mount Vernon station then back south to the L'Enfant Plaza station. Metro riders gawked at the multicolored, low-profile racecar as the train paused at L'Enfant for a photo op.
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