Category: Mass Transit

Lucas Wall established Nov. 16, 2022, the new speed record to pass through all 97 Washington 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. This contest is called the WMATA Transit Race – also known as D.C. Metro Challenge (WMATA = Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority).

This is the pre-race video dubbed “Segment 0” in which I walk to the new Innovation Center Station and take the newly opened Silver Line west to the terminal at Ashburn Station to get in position to start the race.

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.

A 45-year-old travel blogger will set off Wednesday morning to establish the new speed record to transit through all 97 Metrorail stations in a single day. The previous record before today’s six-station Silver Line expansion was 7 hours 59 minutes, set by Scott Bennett in December 2019, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

“With today’s opening of Silver Line Phase 2, expanding Metrorail from 91 to 97 stations, the prior record is history,” said Lucas Wall of Washington. “I want to raise awareness of this long-awaited transit expansion in the national capital region and set the mark future transit racers strive to beat. 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.”