Rail timeline still ambitious, disputed

Virginia and Airports Authority officials still claim they can open the first phase of Dulles Rail by the end of 2012, despite a Federal Transit Administration report contradicting the ambitious timeline and an audit calling into question the project’s ability to meet any set schedule.

A gulf of as much asa year persists between what each side argues is a realistic opening date for the first half of the 23-mile rail line, which will run 11.6 miles of new track from west Falls Church to Reston, recent documents show.