MWAA: Rail Yard Won’t Delay Silver Line

After reports that delays on a rail yard project at West Falls Church could delay the start date for the Metro’s Silver Line, a representative for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority denies the claim.

MWAA is constructing the 23-mile Silver Line extension.

Marcia McAllister, spokeswoman for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, an arm of MWAA, acknowledged the contractor’s schedule had slipped on the Falls Church rail yard. The rail yard is needed to help accommodate the additional trains operating along the Silver Line, which will run from East Falls Church to Reston in its first phase and beyond to Ashburn when complete.

McAllister said the part of the rail yard project experiencing delays was a service and inspection building. And while the contractor hopes to get back on schedule and have the project done before the end of the year, that building would not prevent the Silver Line from operating, she said.

“Metro has said they begin service without that building being completed if necessary,” McAllister said. “If that building’s not completed … they can still open.”

McAllister said earlier this year that MWAA anticipates completing construction of the Silver Line’s first phase by the end of the summer, and representatives from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates Metro, said they hope passengers will be riding the new line by the end of 2013.

McAllister cautioned that weather would also remain a factor.