Dulles Rail Issues
2017-02-10: Loudoun Times-Mirror: What will Metro really cost Loudoun?, by Sydney Kashiwagi
As the Washington Metrorail system readies to move into Loudoun County, the annual costs associated with the transit authority's operations and construction are becoming frighteningly real and worrisome for local officials.
2014-12-18: FxCo: Fairfax Gets Lowest Interest Rate Federal Loan for Silver Line Phase 2
Fairfax County officially closed on its $403 million, low-interest federal loan yesterday that will help pay for the construction of the Silver Line's second phase. The county received the second lowest interest in the history of the federal loan program -- a 2.73% interest rate.
2014-08-13: Bacon's Rebellion: No Silver Lining for the Silver Line?
The problem is that the three Metro lines must squeeze through the same Potomac River tunnel to enter Washington, D.C. That tunnel has a finite capacity of 26 trains per hour. Trains assigned to the Silver Line are trains that cannot run on the orange and blue lines.
2014-08-05: WaPo: The Silver Line's first week by the numbers
On average, 15,942 passengers boarded a Silver Line train at one of the five new stations each weekday in its first week. Metro claims that puts them roughly two-thirds of the way to achieving the goal of 25,000 weekday boardings after one year of service. However, most passengers are people who used to ride the Orange Line; roughly 6,000 boardings were new riders.
2014-07-25: Bacon's Rebellion: Tim Kaine Versus the Mole People
Some day, someone will write a book about the Silver Line project and the extraordinary political maneuvering it took to make it happen. Virginia is archiving 1.3 million emails generated by Governor Tim Kaine and members of his administration.
2014-07-24: Metro: Silver Line Ad (Youtube 1:23) -- "Taking taxpayers for a ride?"
... or "Driving you crazy?"
2014-07-23: Fx Free Citizen: No Go for the Silver Line and Metro, by FCTA's Tom Cranmer
2014-07-14: Fx Ti404: Still searching for Silver Line's silver lining, by a Reston commuter
2014-05-31: WaPo: Higher tolls pushing many off the Dulles Toll Road
"You can put me down as an angry toll road user," he said. "It's not that I'm cheap or don't have the ability to pay. I just wonder, when is it all going to stop?"
2014-05-30: MWAA: Dulles Corridor Enterprise Financial Update
2014-05-28: Fx Ti404: Major rail issues remain unresolved, by FCTA's Rob Whitfield
2014-05-01: WaPo: Silver Line to get nearly $2 billion in federal loans
...to help pay for the second phase of the project that will extend the new Silver Line to Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County.
2014-04-13: Moody's: Moody's assigns Baa1 to Series 2014 Dulles Toll Road
Moody's Investors Service assigns a Baa1 to the Series 2014 Second Series and affirms the A2 for the first senior, the Baa1 for the second senior and the Baa2 for the subordinate lien toll road revenue bonds of the Dulles Toll Road (DTR) operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). All liens have a stable outlook.
2014-04-03: Fx Ti404: Still no oversight on Dulles Rail project?, by FCTA's Rob Whitfield
A Philadelphia-based accounting firm for the Federal Transit Administration has found instances of lax internal financial management and budget controls at WMATA. The period studied was from April 2012 to March 2013. It seems likely that procurement and federal contract management problems have existed at WMATA for a far longer period.
2013-11-27: WaPo: No place to park on Metro's Silver line
For years, Fairfax County residents have endured Metro's Silver line construction mess. Now that the line is about to open, many potential riders have one simple question: Where do we park?
2013-09-18: City Paper: Metro Growth Will Make Life Worse Before It Makes Life Better
The new Silver Line will funnel more riders into the crowded downtown stations of a burdened and aging transit system that currently struggles to keep up with a backlog of repairs.
2013-04-05: Fx Ti404: 'Great Train Robbery' going off without a hitch, by FCTA's Rob Whitfield
The audacity of the British train robbers pales in comparison to actions of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority and partners in the Dulles Rail Robbery. The estimated Dulles Rail capital costs have increased from $1.9 billion in 2000 to over $6 billion today.
2012-12-28: WMATA FY2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
2012-08-04: What to Expect from Bus Service, by Fred Costello-084
2012-05-15: USDOT response to Congressman Wolf's request for IG review of MWAA
2012-05-15: WT: Report: Mismanagement rampant at airports authority
The regional authority overseeing one of the largest public works projects in the country is rife with mismanagement, a glaring lack of transparency and lavish spending habits that have included thousand-dollar dinners and a $9,200 plane ticket to Prague, according to a scathing interim report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general.
2012-01-29: Bacon's Rebellion: Beware Optimistic Traffic Forecasts
WSA, a transportation consulting firm, is scheduled to soon complete its third traffic and revenue forecast for the Dulles Toll Road for use in a final go/no-go decision on Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project. Don't trust the results, says a study released Friday by the Reston Citizens Association. WSA chronically over-estimates its traffic counts.
2011-12-11: Bacon's Rebellion: Stacking the Deck for Heavy Rail
The Rail-to-Dulles project is a classic example of how the transit-selection process in the United States is rigged in favor of rail projects and seriously biased against buses.
2011-03-29: FCTA: Making Dulles Rail Cost Effective, updated report by Fred Costello
2010-12-28: Examiner: New, lower rider estimates for Dulles Rail expose big costs
What if they built a $6 billion Metrorail extension and nobody came? That's not just a rhetorical question. ...
2005-08-08: WaPo: The Cost of Dulles Rail
Dulles rail is starting to look like a vanity project, kept alive by its powerful friends despite the growing realization that most similarly rated projects around the country would never see the light of day.