Metro is putting together a budget for next year that predicts the new rail line to Dulles International Airport may open three months late and could have 1 million fewer riders than originally expected. The budget is the first official acknowledgement from Metro that the $6 billion rail project will not open on time, though the three-month delay Metro envisions is only half of the six-month delay that the project contractor said is possible. Any delay would be a blow to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which insists the first phase of the project is “on time and on budget” and which is still trying to negotiate financing for the second phase.
Metro, which will take over the Silver Line after the authority finishes building its first phase to Tysons Corner, released documents Monday showing the Silver Line’s start date in Spring 2014, instead of the January 2014 opening promised by MWAA.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said the agency was just trying to be prepared for several different possibilities in planning its budget. The document also considers the original start date as an option.
“This document is really pro forma, and we play through a couple of different scenarios and assumptions. We have an ongoing dialogue with MWAA about the project,” he said. “At this point we’re assuming start of revenue service on schedule or close to it.”
MWAA spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said that the airports authority is still trying to meet its original construction deadline for 2013, and that she could not comment further on Metro’s plans.
Airports authority board vice chairman Tom Davis said he also could not comment on Metro’s schedule estimates, but said that he thought the opening date would depend on how long inspections would take after the rail line is constructed.
Metro also expects about 1 million fewer people to ride the Silver Line in its first year than predicted in the original 2004 environmental study of the project.
Metro predicts 14.4 million people will ride the Silver Line in its first year. The environmental study, conducted by both Metro and federal and Virginia authorities, predicted about 15.3 million riders in the first year.
Stessel said he didn’t know how the 2004 study determined ridership, but that the rough economy may have caused the lower forecast.
