LISTEN: Metro Installing Temporary Fix For Broken Chilling Systems at DuPont Circle and Farragut North

Heather Curtis
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – There’s good news for Metro riders at DuPont Circle and Farragut North this summer – Metro got all of the permits it needed to start installing a temporary chilling system to cool the stations this summer until a permanent solution can be figured out.

A 750-ton portable cooling tower in the service lane of Connecticut Avenue is expected to be up and running by the end of June. Installation began Thursday.

Underground Metro stations aren’t cooled by air conditioners but rather chilled water air handling units called chillers.

The permanent system, which brings cold water to the stations from a plant in the median of Connecticut Avenue, has been giving trouble since 2015. Metro tried repairing the pipes to stop individual leaks and then relined all of them, but they gave out in May.

Workers will need to dig a three-foot-deep trench across Connecticut Avenue to run pipes from the cooling tower to the chillers. General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said

The portable system will be taken down at the end of the summer.

“We’re working on the permanent solution, but I want to get through the design first before we commit to any scedule on that,” Wiedefeld told reporters. He added he will push to get it done as quickly as possible and is aiming for next year.