The wheels of Congress may run a little more smoothly next year when a new $18 million subway system linking the Capitol building with two Senate office buildings goes into operation.
The four red-white-and-blue trains, each with 18 seats and space for 18 straphangers, in January will begin replacing two smaller shuttle cars worn down by carrying millions of passengers over more than three decades.The underground, in service since the Dirksen Senate office building opened in 1958, today links the Capitol with three Senate and one House office buildings. The free shuttle carried lawmakers to more than 1,000 roll call votes this year, as well as transporting daily thousands of tourists, schoolchildren, lobbyists and staff.
Eight years in planning, the fully computerized vehicles will run on a loop with trains stopping at the Dirksen, Hart and Capitol terminals about every 60 seconds.
They will have the same 17-mph speed as the current conductor-operated cars but should cut traveling time in half because of the additional trains and the new loop system. Now, the trains run in simple shuttles back and forth between the terminals.
Travel time from the Hart building, the farthest away from the Capitol, should not be much more than two minutes including waiting once the system becomes fully operative in May or June.