A senior Metro official two weeks ago accused Dulles Rail project managers of failing to resolve a series of technical problems that are potentially serious enough to prevent the transit agency from operating the proposed line, letters between the two agencies show.
The most recent letter, a Jan. 16 memo from John Thomas, director of Metro’s office of major capital projects, highlights a behind-the-scenes rift over dozens of complex engineering issues and illustrates one of the reasons why the Federal Transit Administration says it won’t fund a critical $900 million for the project’s first phase.
Thomas accused the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority of not being “interested in the timely resolution of these items” and again asked for a meeting with the agency. The letter follows a Dec. 3 response from the Airports Authority to concerns Metro listed in a letter to the authority on Nov. 8.
“[Metro] is concerned that the process this far to resolve the open items will not result in a solution that will permit [Metro] to accept the rail extension upon its completion,” Thomas wrote. “We are also concerned that once the project is in final design, it may be too late to start resolving those issues.”
The FTA is expected to deny the funding chiefly because the project is too expensive to meet the agency’s standards for cost and ridership. But Administrator James Simpson on Thursday signaled that “potential conflicts” between Metro and MWAA are among reasons why the project likely will not move forward. It was a clear reference to Thomas’ letter.
Thomas compiled the technical problems in a Nov. 8 letter to MWAA, listing two issues as “major.”
Those two problems revolve around where to properly place a box carrying communications and power cables, and a study of how much power is needed to supply trains along the proposed track. Whether the two agencies have made progress on resolving the issues is not clear.
Metro and MWAA spokeswomen denied a rift existed between the two agencies, as did Metro board member Cathy Hudgins. Hudgins said Metro was doing its “due diligence.”
“And that’s the only thing I would expect out of Metro,” she said.
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