A Virginia group committed to successful completion of the Dulles Rail project proposed nearly $800 million in cost cuts Tuesday in an attempt to keep a sky-high price tag from derailing the entire effort. The move marks the first crack at reconciling the vision for Dulles Rail promoted by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is in charge of the project, with the demands of local and state officials, whose constituents will pay for it.

The nonprofit group, called the Washington Airports Task Force, sided with local officials in calling for an aboveground station to be built at Washington Dulles International Airport, instead of the more expensive underground station approved by the airports authority. That savings alone would total about $330 million, or about 9 percent of the project’s estimated $3.5 billion price tag.