West Falls Church is a

Washington Metro The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview

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in Idylwood,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on the Orange Line, the first station inside the beltway on the Orange Line going east. It is one of only two stations in the system to have three tracks, the other being the

National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...

station. The center track is used for train storage, and for relaying trains to the adjacent Falls Church Yard.

Facilities

The station serves the suburban community of

Falls Church Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Churc ...

and the Northern Virginia Center operated by

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. While the station has a street address on Haycock Road, it is physically located in the

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Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washingt ...

near Virginia State Route 7 (Leesburg Pike); riders access the platform and mezzanine by means of an elevated walkway from the parking area. This is a suburban transfer station, as commuter buses that serve communities near the Dulles Toll and Access Roads (Virginia State Route 267) connect to the Metro system at West Falls Church using a bus-only exit from the Access Road. These buses include

Fairfax Connector Fairfax Connector is a public bus service provided by Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and is managed by the county government. The bus system provides service within Fairfax County, and connects to Metrobus, Metrorail stations, Virgini ...

to points within Fairfax including Reston and Herndon, Metrobus to Tysons Corner, and

Loudoun County Transit Loudoun County Transit is a public-transportation service provided by the Loudoun County, Virginia government. The buses operate from Dulles, Leesburg, and Purcellville to Washington Metro stations as well as directly to Rosslyn, Virginia, Th ...

reverse commute A reverse commute is a round trip, regularly taken, from an urban area to a suburban one in the morning, and returning in the evening. It is almost universally applied to trips to work in the suburbs from homes in the city. This is in opposition to ...

routes to businesses including

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and MCI and transfer points in Dulles. With the opening of the Silver Line on July 26, 2014, many commuter bus routes that formerly terminated at West Falls Church were rerouted to instead terminate at locations along the new Silver Line stations in

Tysons Corner Tysons, also known as Tysons Corner, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, developed from the corner of Chain Bridge Road ( SR 123) and the Leesburg Pike ( SR 7). Located in Northern Virginia between the c ...

and Reston. West Falls Church was also the original staging point for Washington Flyer buses to Dulles Airport, but this shifted to Wiehle-Reston East with the opening of the Silver Line. The Silver Line joins the Orange Line via a flying junction immediately east of this station but does not serve the station. Plans originally called for the Silver Line to stop at West Falls Church, but it was cut out of the final plan.

History

The station opened on June 7, 1986. Its opening coincided with the completion of of rail west of the Ballston station and the opening of the East Falls Church, Dunn Loring and

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stations. In 1999, the station was renamed West Falls Church–VT/UVA, when the

initialisms An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia were added to the station's name, two years after the dedication of the shared graduate center. These initialisms were moved to a subtitle location on November 3, 2011. In May 2018, Metro announced an extensive renovation of platforms at twenty stations across the system. The platforms at the West Falls Church station would be rebuilt starting in late 2020. From May 23 until August 15, 2020, this station was closed due to the platform reconstruction project which closed stations west of

Ballston–MU station Ballston–MU is a side-platformed Washington Metro station in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. The station opened on December 1, 1979, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The station serves ...

. On August 16, 2020, the station reopened as the Orange Line terminus when Silver and Orange Line trains were able to bypass

East Falls Church station East Falls Church is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in Arlington, Virginia on the Orange and Silver Lines. East Falls Church station is the last aboveground, at grade, or open cut station for eastbound trains. East of this stati ...

. On September 11, 2022, the station's name was changed to drop the "UVA" initialism from the subtitle name, leaving the full name as West Falls Church–VT.

Station layout

References

External links

* *The Schumin Web Transit Center
West Falls Church Station

Station from Google Maps Street View
{{Washington Metro stations navbox Bus stations in Virginia Stations on the Orange Line (Washington Metro) Washington Metro stations in Virginia Railway stations in the United States opened in 1986 Transportation in Fairfax County, Virginia 1986 establishments in Virginia Washington Metro stations located above ground Railway stations in highway medians