The underground platform at Fort Totten served as the northern and southern terminus until the mid-city Georgia Avenue–Petworth and Columbia Heights stations opened.

However, to eliminate this transfer, during weekday rush hour peak commuter times between January 1997 and September 1999, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) operated the Green Line Commuter Shortcut that bypassed Fort Totten station and used an underground connection to the Red Line and served all stations up to Farragut North in Downtown.

The Commuter Shortcut was discontinued in September 1999 when the northern and southern portions of the Green Line were connected, and the Georgia Avenue–Petworth and Columbia Heights stations opened.

[6] On May 7, 2023, the Yellow Line was truncated back from Greenbelt to Mount Vernon Square, following its reopening after a nearly eight-month-long major rehabilitation project on its bridge over the Potomac River and its tunnel leading into L'Enfant Plaza.

[7] On June 22, 2009, two southbound Metro trains on the Red Line collided between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, killing nine and injuring 80, the deadliest accident in the system's history.

[9] The lower-level platform for the Green Line is unique in that it is built into a hillside, part underground in a rock tunnel, and part at ground level in an open cut and has separate tunnels and platforms for each direction, instead of the large, vaulted common room seen at most other underground stations in the Metro system like at Forest Glen and Wheaton; this design was used to save money due to the station's depth.