The Dulles Airport To Downtown DC Metro Line Fails Its First Test Run

The Dulles Airport To Downtown DC Metro Train Fails Its First Test Run

If you live have traveled to Washington, D.C., you probably know Metro, the train service that services the city and surrounding suburbs, is an absolute mess.  Metro is notorious for its poor and unreliable service, constant state of construction, and accidents that have injured and killed people on their commutes to and from work.  It’s the hope of many in D.C. that the Dulles Airport to downtown DC Metro train service on the Silver Line will start sometime this decade.

Well, that doesn’t appear like it was necessarily happen.  A test of the tracks for the Dulles Airport to downtown DC Metro line failed…miserably.  Anybody who has flown into Dulles and had to get to D.C. knows it can be timely, expensive, or both.

Yesterday, the Capital Rail Constructors ran a test run in the presence of Metro officials for the track extension to Dulles.  The plan was to run tests on the track over the next month.  The plan is currently to have the Metro station at Dulles fully operational by 2020.  Well, on the first test run, the train quit after 1,000 feet because of problems with the track.  This is the latest in a string of issues that have delayed the Silver Line project continually over the past five years.

It’s unknown what this will do with the current timeline, but it doesn’t necessarily look good.  It’s an 11-mile stretch of track between Reston and Dulles Airport, and the train couldn’t even go over 1,000 feet.  This is terrible news, but it also shows the gross incompetence of those involved in this project.  It’s inconceivable how reliable public train service to downtown D.C. can be such a hard thing to accomplish.  For now, you’re stuck using Washington Flyer to metro, the 5A bus to downtown D.C., or Uber.