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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Metro's Richard Sarles: No promises on Silver Line, WTOP, April 8, 2014

WMATA chief Richard Sarles sat down for an interview with WTOP report Mike Murillo and, in the end, was totally non-committal on when the Silver Line would open much less how long it would take WMATA to test the line after it is turned over to WMATA by MWAA at "substantial completion."  In the end, he had the chutzpah to say this:
"As we move forward we will be very transparent ... about where we stand, where it's going and how we're doing with that time frame," Sarles said.
That after making no substantive, transparent comments in this interview.  WMATA just doesn't change!

Here are some excerpts from the interview:
The Silver Line project could be turned over to Metro in a soon as two weeks, sources close to the project tell WTOP. But Metro General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Richard Sarles isn't ready to confirm that.
What?  Planning and management is so poor at Bechtel, MWAA, & WMATA, they can't even tell the public what will happen in two weeks on a four-year, $3 billion project???
 "WMATA staff are continually working with MWAA to advance toward a point where they can turn it over to us," Sarles said when asked about a possible early July start for the Silver Line.
Blah, blah, blah....
The sources (who said the Silver Line would be ready by July 4) also say Metro is hopeful that trains can be up and running in 60 days, something Sarles also wouldn't confirm.
"Ninety days from whenever MWAA turns [it] over, that's what we've committed to," he said.
Really don't want to go out on a limb her--not even an inch!   He could have said WMATA would try to move the system into service as soon as it was assured of its safety, operating abilities, operators had been trained, etc., BUT HE DIDN'T.  And 90 days is WMATA's maximum allowable time under its agreement with MWAA.

What did YOU learn from this interview?  Well, Sarles checked a box for discussing the Silver Line, I guess, wasting valuable air time in the process.

Click here to read the rest of this uninformative interview.

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