From Worn Decals to Permanent Porcelain: Custom Tiles' Platform Safety Work for WMATA
Durable transit platform tile isn’t a luxury — it’s a safety requirement. When millions of riders pass through a station every year, even small wayfinding details take a beating. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) came to Custom Tiles with two related platform safety challenges, and both called for the same solution: custom-printed porcelain tile built to survive conditions that wear out ordinary materials fast.
The Problem: Safety Markings That Don't Last
Metro platforms serve a mix of six-car and eight-car trains. Since trains have stopped at the head of the platform rather than the middle, six-car trains leave a gap — and riders who don’t know exactly where the doors will open end up crowding, or running for the last car. WMATA’s original fix was a set of vinyl floor decals reading “6 CAR TRAIN ENDS HERE.” They worked, but heavy foot traffic, cleaning equipment, and weather at outdoor stations wore them down quickly, requiring frequent replacement.
A related safety issue exists at some stations along the platform edge itself, where gaps between the train and the platform are wider than normal — including at Braddock Road. Here, too, WMATA needed a marking that would hold up to constant exposure and clearly show riders the safe boarding zone.
The Solution: Custom-Printed Porcelain, Built for Transit Conditions
Custom Tiles worked directly with WMATA’s Facilities Maintenance and Procurement teams to develop a porcelain tile system to replace the decals:
16″ × 48″ printed porcelain tile murals, produced to the same “6 CAR TRAIN ENDS HERE” design riders already recognized.
Non-slip, high-traffic rated for constant indoor and outdoor pedestrian use.
Fully resistant to moisture, de-icing chemicals, and freeze/thaw cycling — critical for platforms exposed to Washington-area winters.
Foolproof, Error-Free Installation
Tiles were shipped pre-numbered with removable labels, laid out to match an exact installation pattern so crews could install each mural correctly without guesswork.
The same porcelain system was proposed and used for the Braddock Road platform edge markers, addressing the wider train-to-platform gap in that location.
From Pilot to System-Wide Consideration
What began as a request for a small set of platform markers grew into an ongoing relationship. After the first installation held up well in service, WMATA’s maintenance team reached out to Custom Tiles again about using the same porcelain system at other stations experiencing decal and surface wear from weather and de-icing exposure — a strong signal that the tile solution was outperforming the materials it replaced.
Why It Matters
Transit agencies operate under constant pressure: high foot traffic, unpredictable weather, and tight maintenance budgets. A wayfinding solution that needs replacing every year or two isn’t just a cost problem — it’s a safety problem, since worn or missing markers stop doing their job. Custom Tiles’ kiln-fired porcelain process gives agencies like WMATA a marking system designed to perform for the life of the platform, not just a season.
Custom Tiles, LLC has been an approved WMATA vendor since 2023, supplying custom-printed porcelain tile for platform safety applications across the Metro system.
Custom Printed Porcelain Floor Tile: Beauty, Durability, Slip-Resistance
