Fixing Metro's Silver Line may take a year, but trains running by summer possible, FOX 5, April 16, 2014

We missed this news item from FOX 5's John Henrehan, but it suggest how the Silver Line Phase 1 might proceed.

DULLES, Va. -The manager of the Silver Line project says communications devices along the roadbed are not reliable enough. He has proposed a "Plan B" fix, but that fix may take a year.

A spokesperson at Metro says the transit agency could still run trains to the new stations, but only if human operators are stationed in a control room along the right-of-way.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is overseeing the Silver Line project, has only a week to decide whether to accept the rail line from the companies that built it. . .

Dan Stessel, a spokesperson for Metro, told us replacing the circuit boards could take as long as a year, but Metro could still run trains on the Silver Line. According to Stessel, the Airports Authority has agreed to pay Metro to staff (with a human) the train control room on the new Silver Line right-of-way. That would last until all the circuit boards are replaced.

Well, the week has long since passed and we still haven't heard a word from MWAA, DTP, or WMATA on the status of the Silver Line's "substantial completion."  If this report is correct about proceeding without a fix of the RTU problem (which seems almost certain), the line may run like like rail and subway lines did a half-century ago--with visual control over the trains--for at least a year. 

And, by the way, of any extra costs MWAA agrees to pay WMATA for staffing, MWAA will actually pay only 4% of while DTR users will pay half under the inequitable "Funding Partners" agreement.  The rest will be paid by Fairfax and Loudoun counties.


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