William World News William F. Yurasko's blog v.14 – Nats, Penn State, Redskins, greater DC , travel, more

Dulles Rail Still Has Miles to Go, Hurdles to Clear – The PostA lot still needs to happen for the Silver Line to get built and there are a few ways and a number of people who will try to stop it.
Metro, WMATA, Silver Line,Mass Transit, subway, Tyson’s Corner, FTA, MWAA, Dulles Airport
©MMX [...]

EDITORIAL – Dulles Rail’s Revival – The Post
Its resurrection is a triumph of common sense over dogma and suggests that, contrary to the general impression of the state of governance in Washington, rational outcomes remain possible when grown-ups put their heads together. More specifically, it is a testament to the wisdom and perseverance of officials [...]

Dulles Rail Gets Federal Approval – The PostAs expected (since this morning at least), USDOT announced today that it is now supporting the proposal to build the Silver Line along the Dulles Corridor.
In a letter to Kaine and in a 10 a.m. conference call with the governor and Virginia congressional leaders, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary [...]

Dulles Rail Set to Get Federal Approval – The PostApparently, Virginia and the U.S. Department of Transportation has found a way to make the Dulles Corridor Metro project, tentatively called the Silver Line, meet the “Federal Transit Administration’s standards for cost efficiency, construction and expected ridership.” It appears U.S. DOT secretary Mary Peters overruled FTA. [...]

Tysons Tunnel Supporters Withdraw Lawsuit – WTOPI have not seen much news about the Silver Line (Ashburn to West Falls Church via Dulles & Tysons) for some time now. Today, the news broke that TysonsTunnel.org has decided to drop its lawsuit against U.S. Department of Transportation because of the expected denial of $900 million of [...]

Dulles Rail faces new bids – The Wash. ExaminerDel. Dave Albo, R-Springfield and Del. Joe May, R-Leesburg inserted language into a budget bill that would force the first leg of the Silver Line to be rebid. Given the shady way the project was put together, that sounds reasonable.
This was from Saturday:
2 Top Republicans Try to [...]

Somehow I missed a chat hosted by Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein about the Dulles Corridor Metro project. It is quite an interesting and presents several points of view, though Pearlstein favors building it through a Metro line above other modes and wants it to go through Tysons. Pearlstein also outlines how he wants the [...]

U.S. Input Sought to Save Rail To Dulles – The PostGov. Tim Kaine, in an open letter (PDF), has asked the Federal Transit Administration to identify specifics on how to get the $900 million funding. He should have asked for this days ago.
WMATA head John Catoe disagrees with FTA’s assessment that Metro can’t handle another [...]

Would it surprise you to learn a source close to Governor Tim Kaine has told WTOP that the governor knew the were storm clouds over the Dulles corridor rail project last summer? Perhaps the governor has been playing politics since the FTA voiced no confidence in the project recently. Shocking.
The Wash. Examiner says there is [...]

Governor at center of two transit disputes – The Wash. TimesSpeaker of the House William J. Howell claims to have been ignored when he warned the the Dulles Corridor Metro project was flawed. He was opposed to involving the Metropolitan Washington Aiports Authority in the project and in favor of private financing that may have [...]