Senators are getting trapped in a subway built exclusively for their convenience, prompting calls for more funding and causing some amusement for those who opt to walk the Senate’s tunnels instead.
Riding the tiny, three-car train, which shuttles between the U.S. Capitol and two Senate office buildings, has become a gamble for senators, staffers, and congressional reporters alike. It was constructed to cut down on walking time, and when operating smoothly can travel from end to end in under two minutes. But the train’s automated system, brought online in the 1990s, also stops abruptly and can leave riders briefly stranded on the tracks.
The latest episode came on Thursday, when a half-dozen senators, feet away from their destination, were forced to sit patiently as reporters snapped photos of them in good humor on the other side of the plexiglass.
At other times, riders have been forced to disembark the train and carefully navigate to the walking path that runs along its tracks.
“I’ve been stuck on it, probably, oh, 20 times,” said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), making the trek back to his office on foot. “If time wasn’t a factor here, I would never take it.”
That walking path, adorned with flags of all 50 states, is a popular alternative for senators who say the train only saves a marginal amount of time. In the era of smart watches, some skip the train to be health-conscious.
“I need to walk,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who works in the farther-away Hart Office Building. “I get 50,000 steps a week in.”
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The frequent stoppages, which can last seconds or sometimes minutes, are nonetheless a source of frustration for the dozens of senators who rely on the train daily and can interfere with their official duties.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), one of several appropriators trapped on Thursday’s train, returned to a committee hearing that afternoon with a smiling but earnest request that the trains get adequate funding.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) replied that he and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), the top appropriators for legislative branch funding, used their time stranded together to agree on the need for a fix.
“Not that I don’t like spending time with him, just not stuck on a train,” Mullin joked.
Frustration with the train system dates back decades and is rooted in the steady expansion of the Capitol complex. The automated line, a magnet-powered system modeled after Disney World’s monorail, opened in 1994 to accommodate senators in the newly constructed Hart Building.
There was inadequate cabin space in the 12 years before the new train was installed, according to the Senate Historical Office, leading to long wait times and missed votes. Half of the Senate’s 100 members are housed in Hart.
There is a loose consensus that today’s subway only saves about 90 seconds each trip for those in Hart. The time saved is even shorter for the intermediate stop at the Dirksen Office Building.
For this reason, some senators don’t feel the subway is worth the trouble.
“I try to walk,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). “I don’t want to get stuck.”
But others complain that a reliable system is needed, given the hearings and meetings interspersed between Senate votes.
“It doesn’t save you much, but we operate on these schedules that are just crazy,” said Kelly. “And over the course of a week, it can add up to a significant, significant amount of time.”
A timely train became an even greater imperative earlier this year when Republicans implemented a 30-minute rule to instill discipline in Senate votes that had been dragging on for an hour or longer.
Even when the trains are fully functional, stray senators can be found sprinting to the chamber to make the cutoff.
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At less critical times, the stoppages can still be highly inconvenient. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) was among those trapped late at night after President Joe Biden delivered his final State of the Union address to Congress last year.
The mechanical failures, usually taken in good spirits, are accompanied by smiles, waving, and light ribbing from passersby who often take the train but, looking on at someone else’s misfortune, dodged a similar fate.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), a member of Democratic leadership, said the subway is “probably in need of an upgrade” but ranked it as a low priority as he waited for a train.
“It doesn’t crack the top 100 things that I think about on any given day,” he said.
A separate train system, two open-cabin trams that service the older Russell Office Building, has received fewer complaints. The trams are generally reliable and operated manually by drivers who travel to and from the Capitol by request.
But they, too, have been periodically taken out of service for maintenance. In 2023, workers were forced to push riders back to the station after a shock fell out of the bottom of the train.
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The trams, in operation since the 1950s, replaced an earlier monorail system and, before that, two yellow Studebaker cars nicknamed “Tommy” and “Peg.”
The Architect of the Capitol, which operates the subway system, did not respond to a request for comment about future maintenance plans. Appropriators have earmarked $698 million for the entire department’s 2026 budget.