Federal Triangle station is a

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

station in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, United States. The island-platformed station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

(WMATA). Providing service for the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

, and

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

Lines, the station's entrance is beneath the

William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building is a complex of several historic buildings located in the Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C., across 12th Street, NW from the Old Post Office. The complex now houses the headquarters of the Enviro ...

History

The station opened on July 1, 1977. Its opening coincided with the completion of of rail between National Airport and

RFK Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium, is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. located on East Capitol Street near the Anacostia River. Opened in 1 ...

and the opening of the

Arlington Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

, Capitol South, Crystal City, Eastern Market, Farragut West,

Federal Center SW Federal Center SW station is a Washington Metro station in an area known as the Southwest Federal Center in Washington, D.C., United States. The island-platformed station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolit ...

, Foggy Bottom–GWU,

L'Enfant Plaza L'Enfant Plaza is a complex of four commercial buildings grouped around a large plaza in the Southwest (Washington, D.C.), Southwest section of Washington, D.C., United States. Immediately below the plaza and the buildings is La Promenade shoppi ...

McPherson Square McPherson Square is a city square, public square in downtown Washington, D.C. It is bound by K Street (Washington, D.C.), K Street Northwest to the north, Vermont Avenue NW on the East, I Street NW on the south, and 15th Street NW on the West ...

, National Airport,

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

Pentagon City Pentagon City is an unincorporated neighborhood located in the southeast portion of Arlington County, Virginia. It is located near The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. Location Pentagon City is located less than a mile from the Potomac ...

, Potomac Avenue, Rosslyn, Smithsonian, and Stadium–Armory stations. Orange Line service to the station began upon the line's opening on November 20, 1978. Silver Line service at Federal Triangle began on July 26, 2014. On January 13, 1982, an eastbound Metro train on the Orange Line derailed just east of the station resulting in three fatalities, the first fatalities in the system's history. From March 26, 2020 until June 28, 2020, this station was closed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Between January 15 to January 21, 2021, this station was closed because of security concerns due to the

Inauguration of Joe Biden The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, on the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the 59th inauguration and marked the commencement o ...

Location

The station serves an area of Washington crowded with federal buildings, on 12th Street between

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...

NW and

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the Northwest, Washington, D.C., northwest and Northeast, Washington, D.C., northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and ...

NW, including the triangular area formed by 15th Street, Constitution, and Pennsylvania known as

Federal Triangle Federal Triangle is a Triangle, triangular area in Washington, D.C., formed by 15th Street NW, Constitution Avenue, Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and E Street NW. Federal Triangle is occupied by 10 large c ...

, from which the station takes its name. The triangle includes such federal buildings as the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, the

Herbert C. Hoover Building The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce. The building is located at 1401 Constitution Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C., on the City block, block bounded by Constitution ...

(

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...

), and the buildings of the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

and the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

Station layout

Federal Triangle utilizes the simple island platform layout. There are two tracks: track D1 is used for trains bound for New Carrollton and Largo, and track D2 is used for trains going to Franconia–Springfield, Vienna and Ashburn. As with all stations on the Metro, there are platform edge lights to warn passengers of incoming trains. In 2008, WMATA installed red-colored LED lights at Federal Triangle and centrally-located stations after a successful pilot at . There is a coffered barrel-vault ceiling at Federal Triangle, as is typical of other Washington Metro stations built at that time. There is only one entrance to the platform level, located slightly south of the center of the platform within a knockout panel for a proposed east entrance. Escalators from this mezzanine level lead to the plaza of the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building.

In popular culture

The station was featured in the 2007 film

Breach Breach, Breached, or The Breach may refer to: Places * Breach, Kent, United Kingdom * Breach, West Sussex, United Kingdom * ''The Breach'', Great South Bay in the State of New York People * Breach (DJ), an Electronic/House music act * Mirosla ...

Notable places nearby

* Several

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

buildings in and near the

(

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

headquarters *** Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium ** Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building (

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

headquarters) **

(

headquarters) ***

National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. The National Aquarium, Washington, D.C., was an aquarium in Washington D.C. It was located in the Herbert C. Hoover Building (owned by the General Services Administration), which is bounded by 14th Street NW on the east, 15th Street NW on the w ...

***

White House Visitor Center The White House Visitors Office is responsible for public tours of the White House, for maintaining a facility where the public can obtain information about the White House, and for other White House events such as the Easter Egg Roll, holiday op ...

J. Edgar Hoover Building The J. Edgar Hoover Building is a low-rise office building located at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Planning for the building began ...

(

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

headquarters) ** Old Post Office (Waldorf=Astoria Hotel) **

Ronald Reagan Building The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, named after former United States president Ronald Reagan, is located in downtown Washington, D.C., and was the first federal building in Washington designed for both governmental and pr ...

and International Trade Center *

Freedom Plaza Freedom Plaza, originally known as Western Plaza, is an open plaza in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States, located near 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, adjacent to Pershing Park. The plaza features an inlay that partially depict ...

* National World War I Memorial *

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

** Several

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

museums on the Mall, including the

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

and

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

References

External links

* The Schumin Web Transit Center
Federal Triangle Station

12th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{Washington Metro stations navbox Stations on the Blue Line (Washington Metro) Federal Triangle Stations on the Orange Line (Washington Metro) Stations on the Silver Line (Washington Metro) Washington Metro stations in Washington, D.C. Railway stations in the United States opened in 1977 1977 establishments in Washington, D.C. Railway stations located underground in Washington, D.C.