Metro is trying to overcharge the Dulles Rail project by $75 million for new rail cars, threatening to delay long-awaited plans to build a subway line out to Washington Dulles International Airport, according to airport officials.
James Bennett, retiring chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said Metro is unfairly trying to dump the entire $100 million-$120 million engineering, prototype development and design costs for as many as 748 rail cars onto his organization’s purchase of the first 64 cars. Metro will operate the extension and is responsible for placing the purchase order.
Metro wants to charge the airports authority $4.1 million per new car used for the Dulles extension, while paying $2.5 million for new cars that Metro would use to replace some of its aging fleet systemwide, according to Bennett. The rail project budgeted $3 million per car, based on earlier estimates; the project would be $75 million short of Metro’s proposed prices at that rate.
“This $75 million cost differential cannot be absorbed by the [Dulles Rail] project,” Bennett said in a letter to Metro.
Bennett suggested that Metro order 428 cars from Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. “as soon as possible with equal sharing of total costs on a per car basis.” That move would price the cars at $2.7 million each.
Metro, which is looking to fill a projected $189.2 million hole in its fiscal 2011 budget, is looking to buy new cars to replace the agency’s older Rohr 1000 series cars, which have crumpled like tin cans during accidents and have long been deemed unsafe by federal safety experts.
The steel bodies of the new rail cars, known as 7000 series cars, can better withstand crashes.
Metro’s board of directors is slated to discuss the contract for the rail cars in closed session Thursday.
“We’re having discussions with them and I am confident we will resolve any issues they have,” Metro interim General Manager Richard Sarles told the Washington Examiner.
Metro officials have said the first cars bought typically cost more because additional purchases are optional.
But Sarles said he could not forecast whether the issues with MWAA would be resolved by Thursday’s meeting. The agency had planned to approve a contract with Kawasaki last month, but the board needed more time to review the agreement.
Kytja Weir contributed to this article.
