Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) says it can have the Silver Line extension to Dulles Airport Station in time for Thanksgiving travel, but the official opening of the line will need to acquire approvals of the extension’s safety certification report, as well as the Return to Service Plan for the 7000-series railcars from the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC).
“We committed for the Silver Line extension to being operationally ready for the Silver Line extension in October, and we have met our deadline,” said General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke. “Since control of the extension was turned over to Metro, we and our partners at the Airports Authority, Fairfax, and Loudoun have worked diligently to complete all of the steps needed for Metro to offer safe and reliable service for rail travel to Dulles Airport and Loudoun County, and we are just awaiting concurrence from our Safety Commission partners.”
WMATA took custody and control of the extension from the Airports Authority on June 23 and is finalizing its safety certification report to WMSC this week. WMSC has worked alongside WMATA for months and has stated that it expects to add their concurrence to WMATA’s within hours or days after receiving the report from the authority’s Chief Safety Officer. WMATA does not view the final Silver Line safety certification report as a barrier to preparing for the opening of passenger service before Thanksgiving holiday travel.
