Forest Glen station is a side platformed Washington Metro station in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on September 22, 1990, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Its opening coincided with the completion of of rail north of the Silver Spring station and the opening of Wheaton. Providing service for the Red Line, the station is located at Georgia Avenue (Maryland Route 97) and Forest Glen Road. The station is the deepest on the system and the state of Maryland at deep, so high-speed elevators, rather than escalators, are used for access to the surface. After community opposition to the above-ground station, Montgomery County approved a modified plan for an underground station.

On August 13, 1991, all six elevators broke down due to a malfunctioning fire sensor, blocking access to and from the station for several hours.

On June 1, 2024, all Red Line stations north of Fort Totten, including this one, were closed to allow the Maryland Transit Authority to work on the upcoming Purple Line. Takoma re-opened on June 29 while the rest of the stations re-opened on September 1, 2024.

Layout

Building the tunnels through soft rock close to the surface would have been either very costly or impossible, so engineers decided to dig the tunnels through harder, more solid rock deeper in the ground. Due to tracks resting at a depth of , Forest Glen is the only station in the system without direct surface access by way of escalators. Because of the lack of escalators, Forest Glen is the only station equipped with smoke doors to protect customers during a train fire and evacuation. South of this station, trains emerge from the tunnel.

This station, along with Wheaton station farther north and Fort Totten's lower level, has separate tunnels and platforms for each direction, instead of the large, vaulted common room seen at most other underground stations in the Metro system; this design, which is similar to many of the London Underground's tube stations, was used to save money due to the station's depth.

References

  • Forest Glen Road entrance from Google Maps Street View