Franconia–Springfield is an island platformed Washington Metro station in Springfield, Virginia, United States. The station was opened on June 29, 1997, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Providing service for the Blue Line, it is the southwestern terminus of the Blue Line, and is located at the junction of Franconia-Springfield Parkway and Frontier Drive. The station serves a suburban area and is mostly used for commuters, with 5,069 spaces – Metro's largest parking garage. It is a major transit hub, providing not only Metro service, but also Virginia Railway Express, Metrobus, and local and intercity bus service, including Greyhound buses. It also served as an Amtrak station for the Northeast Regional line between 2003 and 2010. Amtrak's code for the station was "FRS."With 6,970 daily riders by a 2016 count, Franconia–Springfield station is the 8th-most used WMATA Metro station in Virginia.HistoryPrior to construction by WMATA, Franconia–Springfield station was the site of Franconia Station, a standard railroad station built by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. It was built in 1870 and torn down in 1952. Original Metro plans called for 2 separate stations for Franconia and Springfield, but by the time Metro got to building the station, plans had been changed to combine the 2 stations due to the expense and complications of running 2 separate branch lines to the two towns, as it would have required adding an entirely new "color service".
