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

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, 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, 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.

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, Capitol South, Crystal City, Eastern Market, Farragut West, Federal Center SW, 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, 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, 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

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. 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.

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.

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

** William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building (

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 headquarters) **

(

headquarters) *** National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. *** White House Visitor Center ** Environmental Protection Agency ** J. Edgar Hoover Building (

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 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.