Transit Fanatic Establishes Fastest Time
Through All 97 Metrorail Stations

WMATA Speed Race Record Set on First Full

Day of Rail Expansion: 8 Hours 54 Minutes

Nov. 16, 2022

By LUCAS WALL

WASHINGTON – A 45-year-old travel blogger and transit enthusiast established Wednesday the new speed record to pass through all 97 Metrorail stations in a single day, making the 14-segment journey from the brand new Ashburn Station to Huntington Station in 8 Hours 54 Minutes without a single break.

The new benchmark is 55 minutes longer than the previous Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority record of 7:59, set by Scott Bennett in December 2019 before Tuesday’s six-station Silver Line expansion opened, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. But new title holder Lucas Wall of Washington said that 91-station record is history, and he expected the new speed best time would increase with 11.5 more miles of Silver Line track to traverse.

“I did this WMATA Transit Race – also known as the D.C. Metro Challenge – to raise awareness of this long-awaited transit expansion in the national capital region and set the mark transit racers must strive to beat,” he said. “As a frequent traveler who has visited 135 countries, I fly often in and out of Washington Dulles International Airport and have been waiting decades to start and end my journeys with Metrorail.”

Transit racing is a hobby of transportation fanatics across the world, but this was the first time Wall did it. He picked the first full day of Silver Line service to ensure no matter what time he achieved, it would set the new 97-station record.

“The previous fastest time is negated every time a transit system opens new stations,” Wall said. “After participating in several of the Silver Line opening ceremonies and special inaugural rides Tuesday, it just seemed natural to continue that excitement Wednesday by racing through the entire Metrorail network.”

Some transit racers set different rules they must follow. Wall operated by the most common: pass through every station in as short a time as possible using only transit. Two of his 14 segments involved buses between end-of-line Metrorail stations: one from Shady Grove Station on the Red Line’s western branch to Glenmont Station on the eastern branch and from New Carrollton Station at the Orange Line terminal to Downtown Largo, eastern end of the Blue and Silver lines.

Wall departed Ashburn Station at 9:08 a.m. and arrived into Huntington Station at 6:02 p.m., squeaking under his goal of covering the entire Metrorail system in less than nine hours. He subsisted on peanuts and was grateful for access to clean bathrooms at four stops, noting they were all convenient to use while awaiting transfers.

“Things went incredibly smoothly today, with most of my 13 transfers taking 10 minutes or less,” he said. “The only bad delay I ran into was Prince George’s County Transit Bus 21 from New Carrollton to Largo, which ran 16 minutes late. Despite Metro still not having returned to pre-pandemic train frequency, I lucked out by not having any significant delays in the rail system.”

Wall notes his record is likely to be broken by a future racer who comes up with a better plan to circumnavigate the 97 stations and benefits from what he hopes will be future shorter times between trains – and that whoever holds this record won’t do so for long as Metro’s 98th rail station is expected to open at Potomac Yard on the Blue and Yellow lines sometime next year. That will void the fastest time again with another system expansion.

There are infinite ways a racer can tackle the challenge of riding through every station, with important decisions of where to start and finish as well as the order of each segment. Metrorail has 41 stations served by at least two lines, making reducing time-wasting duplicate stops difficult. Wall journeyed through 34 repeated stations for a grand total of 131 stops.

A possible handicap for racers seeking to cover the entire Metrorail spiderweb is the closure of the Yellow Line – including major rehabilitation of the bridge over the Potomac River – until May 2023. Wall said he doesn’t think this added much time to his journey – but it does eliminate a shortcut option between L’Enfant Plaza in the District of Columbia and the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. All Yellow Line stations are being served by Blue and Green line trains during the shutdown.

Photos of all 97 stations are posted on Wall’s Facebook page along with many other pictures of Wednesday’s adventure. Videos of the race are posted to his YouTube channel.

Segment 1: Silver Line from Ashburn to East Falls Church. 12 stations down, 85 to go. Time elapsed = 43 minutes.

Segment 2: Orange Line from East Falls Church to Vienna. New stations = 3; total 15 stations down, 82 to go. Time elapsed = 58 minutes.

Segment 3: Orange Line from Vienna to Metro Center. New stations = 9; total 24 stations down, 73 to go. Time elapsed = 1:43.

Segment 4: Red Line from Metro Center to Shady Grove. New stations = 14; total 38 stations down, 59 to go. Time elapsed = 2:25.

Segment 5: Red Line and Ride On Bus 10 from Shady Grove to Glenmont. New stations = 1; total 39 stations down, 58 to go. Time elapsed = 3:14.

Segment 6: Red Line from Glenmont to Gallery Place/Chinatown. New stations = 11; total 50 stations down, 47 to go. Time elapsed = 3:49.

Segment 7: Green Line from Gallery Place/Chinatown to Greenbelt. New stations = 9; total 59 stations down, 38 to go. Time elapsed = 4:21.

Segment 8: Entire Green Line from Greenbelt to Branch Avenue. New stations = 10; total 69 stations down, 28 to go. Time elapsed = 5:15.

Segment 9: Backtracking on the Green Line from Branch Avenue to L’Enfant Plaza. New stations = 0; total 69 stations down, 28 to go. Time elapsed = 5:42.

Segment 10: Orange Line from L’Enfant Plaza to New Carrollton. New stations = 10; total 79 stations down, 18 to go. Time elapsed = 6:12.

Segment 11: Prince George’s County Transit The Bus 21 from New Carrollton to Downtown Largo. This is the first time I hit a significant delay. Bus 21 departed 17 minutes late and arrived 16 minutes tardy. But it was still a few minutes quicker than backtracking by trains. New stations = 1; total 80 stations down, 17 to go. Time elapsed = 7:04.

Segment 12: Entire Blue Line from Downtown Largo to Franconia/Springfield. New stations = 15; total 95 stations down, 2 to go. Time elapsed = 8:27.

Segment 13: Backtracking 2 stops on the Blue Line from Franconia/Springfield to King Street/Old Town. Penultimate segment. New stations = 0; total 95 stations down, 2 to go. Time elapsed = 8:49.

Segment 14: Blue Line Extra (normally Yellow Line) from King Street/Old Town to Huntington. New stations = 2; total all 97 stations. Time elapsed = 8:54.