WASHINGTON– When Congress is in session, people look to the Senate and House floors to seek out lawmakers. But many can be found underneath the U.S. Capitol building instead.
It could be described as organized chaos as members of Congress rotate among different obligations in the Capitol complex.
The mode of transportation? A subway system.
Dating back to 1909, the old-fashioned trains are where House and Senate members replicate a morning commute, congregating as they await the train.
Many journalists stake out and follow members of Congress, looking for a comment on the day’s issues as they rush to trains or elevators.
Why is there a subway system and how does it work?
There are lots of offices and committee rooms in other buildings besides the one with the big dome.
The subway system works mostly through the Senate. The office buildings are within walking distance of the Capitol building. But if a senator were to walk outside, they would likely be in danger of getting mobbed.
A good portion of a senator’s work occurs outside of the Capitol building. Therefore, there is a need for safe and expedient travel.
“Most senators avail themselves of the subway simply because it’s convenient,” said Daniel Holt, the associate historian at the Senate Historical Office. “In big cities, they build up and you get elevators. Well, the Capitol complex doesn’t build up; it builds out.”
In the current system, the type of trains differs based on the building it is headed to. In the Dirksen and Hart office buildings, it is an automated system built in 1994. It’s quick and can be best compared to a train in an airport that transports passengers to their gate.
That said, the Russell office building has older trains. It has a conductor who controls the locomotive. It’s open-air and it is connected to cables above it.
“There’s a certain novelty of the historical feel of that one going back to the way it worked in the 1960s,” Holt said.
The difference in the type of trains is because of money.
A congressional divide
In current politics, it would seem like a joke if senators debated whether to upgrade the Capitol subway system. But during the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was a divisive issue among senators – not along partisan lines, however.
When the Hart building opened in 1982, the existing system was extended. It worked for a while, but capacity issues arose as senators moved into the building. Therefore, a new system was pursued, but the cost struck many senators as unreasonable because these upgrades didn’t impact regular citizens.
The new subway system cost around $18 million in 1994, according to Holt. The Russell system, built in the 1960s, would’ve made the upgrade too expensive.
“The newer version of it was created and opened up in 1994. There were some senators who were not happy about the cost of the new system,” Holt said. “So they did not ride it, and they even instructed their staffers not to ride it, as a commentary on the expenditure that it took to build the new system in the 90s.”
As years passed, more senators started using the subway. Some still opt to walk the tunnels instead of taking a ride. It’s a pleasant walk along the corridors, lined with the flags of each state mounted on the walls of the tunnels.
History of the subway system
The first iteration of a subway system came shortly after the turn of the century. At that time, automobiles called Studebakers transported members of Congress through the tunnels to their destinations.
That changed in 1912, when a monorail car took over. Currently, outside of the subway in the Russell office building, one of those cars is on display.
“When you’re in the Russell rotunda, underground, outside of where you get on the station, that monorail car . . . was installed in 1912,” Holt said. “That is one of the earliest systems that existed from 1912 up until the early 1960s when that got replaced.”
The current system for the Russell building is the second generation, but it displays a “a great snapshot of one part of Senate history,” Holt said.
“You have the old car on display, then you have the new system,” Holt said. “So there’s, like, this great little snapshot of Senate infrastructure history just by seeing those three different systems.”
Hidden benefits
There are few places in Washington where the U.S. president can disappear into the crowd, but the subway has been known to provide that luxury of everyday life.
Even for the president.
In 1911, President William Taft took a detour to check out the Capitol subway while walking through Washington.
“Unfortunately, at the time, he didn’t tell anyone that he [would be checking out the subway],” Holt said.
His decision to ride on one of the Studebakers briefly caused a panic.
“There was a very brief period where President Taft was underground in the Capitol Complex, riding the subway,” Holt said. “Authorities at the White House were feverishly looking for him until he re-emerged and explained where he had gone.”
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