Dulles Corridor Metrorail construction is marching toward a summer 2013 completion of Phase 1 of the Silver Line.
When that happens, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will turn the project over to the Metropolitan Washington Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for additional testing prior to their scheduling the opening date.
Construction has now passed the 85 percent mark. Stations are clearly visible and pedestrian bridges providing access to the Wiehle—Reston East, Greensboro, and McLean stations, are in place. The bridges at Spring Hill Station (Tysons West) and Tysons Corner Station (Tysons Central 123) are scheduled to be installed before the end of January 2013, weather dependent.
Track work is almost done. In fact, a specially outfitted Metrorail car, known as the clearance car, traveled the tracks for several days in December as part of the early assessments of the tracks and related structures to ensure that the these will be ready for WMATA trains.
Many months of testing will be done prior to the start of operations.
In addition, many of those who live near the storm water ponds, traction power substations, train control rooms and tie-breaker stations that have been installed all along the Phase 1 alignment from East Falls Church to Reston last fall witnessed the landscaping of most of those facilities.
As 2013 begins, the focus is on systems and completing station interiors and on-going work near I-66 and the Dulles Connector road where the Silver Line will merge with Metro’s existing Orange Line, according to project officials. Orange Line users can expect continuing service slowdowns over the coming months between the existing East Falls Church and West Falls Church stations as work continues.
