Dulles Corridor Rail Association Provides Year-End Update on Silver Line Progress

The Dulles Corridor Rail Association, a nonprofit group advocating for rail along the corridor, held their annual meeting Monday, Dec. 9 at the Sheraton in Tysons Corner. 

Originally slated to open by the end of 2013, the Silver Line project was delayed in July, and again last week, because of software issues with the Automatic Train Control system. 

An opening date, which was to be sometime in February before last week's delay, has not been set. 

"Everybody is anxious to hear a date, but unfortunately I can't provide one tonight," said Pat Nowakowski, executive director of the project. "There's a few things we need to clean up before we get to that point. We will not, in any way, shape or form, take any steps or advance anything without ensuring the safety and reliability of the line. We're all anxious to be there, but we're going to do this thing the right way."

Nowakowski said he knows it's frustrating to the public to see many steps, such as shrub planting and signage placement, that would seem to be harbingers of a ready-to-go rail system. 

"We are understanding of everybody's desire to move quickly, and we are working all kinds of hours trying to get everything finished the way it should be, but we won't take a shortcut," he said.

Del. Ken Plum (D-36), chair of the DCRA, said, "a month or two here or there in a five-year project isn't bad at all."

Phase Two, which will run from the Wiehle Avenue station to Herndon, Sterling, Dulles Airport and Ashburn, is "fully underway" with a construction contract awarded, and a separate contract for construction of a rail yard at Dulles Airport currently out for bid. 

"The schedule says it will be done by 2018, and we fully expect to meet that," Nowakowski said. 

The DCRA generally hands out awards to special contributors to the Dulles rail at their annual meeting, and Monday was no exception. 

This year's honorees were the six Virginia governors who helped further the rail to where it is today, as close to the finish line as it's ever been. 

Past Governors Douglas Wilder (1990-1994), George Allen (1994-1998), Jim Gilmore (1998-2002), Mark Warner (2002-2006) and Tim Kaine (2006-2010), as well as current Governor Bob McDonnell were honored for their efforts. 

"This has been the culmination of a product by governors from both parties working together. I think this demonstrates the true Virginia way. That is, working in a bipartisan effort to get major infrastructure projects done for the citizens of the commonwealth," said Del. Tom Rust (R-86), a DCRA board member. "These six governors from different parties and different times had the same vision, and that was rail to Dulles and beyond, and they knew what an important economic development tool it would be."

Their respective Secretaries of Transportation, John Miliken (Wilder), Rob Martinez (Allen), Shirley Ybarra (Gilmore), Whittington Clement (Warner), Pierce Homer (Kaine) and Sean Connaughton (McDonnell), were also recognized. 

More information on the DCRA can be found here. 


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