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Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

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 #1575337  by Sand Box John
 
MWAA will miss Labor Day deadline for Silver Line Phase 2, likely pushing back opening
Matt Blitz
Reston Now
07 02 2021 11:00

Silver Line setback likely to delay rail service to Dulles airport, Loudoun County
Lori Aratani
Wshington Post
07 06 2021 19:01

The issue is the tie in work that happen on the weekend 06 26 and 27 2021 were not totally completed.
 #1580234  by Sand Box John
 
Silver Line Phase II Likely to open in May of 2022
By Justin George
Washington Post
09 09 2021 1825 EDT

Image
A Metro sign points to the yet-to-be-opened Ashburn station on the long-delayed Silver Line extension. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Abbreviated story:

Metro officials said Thursday that construction of the Silver Line’s second phase could be complete in November, paving the way for a possible opening of the long-delayed project during the first part of next year.

Construction of the nearly 11-mile extension would bring rail service from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station to Dulles International Airport and through to Ashburn. The latest estimate for opening comes after the project has been plagued by issues, including misaligned track and weak concrete panels, that have delayed its opening by nearly two years.

Andrew Off, Metro’s vice president of the Rail Operations Control Center and Strategic Transformation, told Metro board members that the transit agency was told the $5.8 billion project is scheduled for “substantial completion” in November, at which point Metro could take ownership after it determines the extension is ready for operations. Capital Rail Constructors is handling construction, which is being overseen by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

While Metro officials did not give board members an expected opening date, transit officials repeatedly have said they could test for about two months before taking possession of phase two, then another three months to open the line, which includes six new stations.

The airports authority still forecasts fourth quarter of this calendar year as declaring substantial completion,” Off said.

Keith Couch, project executive for Capital Rail Constructors, said in a statement that the company is targeting substantial completion for the last quarter of this year. MWAA officials, however, said Thursday they could not predict a timeline for that designation.

MWAA spokeswoman Marcia McAllister said the authority is waiting for results of testing of the automated train control system scheduled in late October — a test that will require the temporary closure of the Wiehle-Reston East station — to “tie in” both phases of the Silver Line.

“At this point we do not have a completion date planned,” she said.

The previous date by which the project was to have met “substantial completion” was Labor Day. But MWAA scuttled that projection because it said upcoming tests were essential.

Off said MWAA began testing trains and the train control system late last month, which he called a “major milestone.”

“Once substantial completion is declared, we enter an undefined — in time — period called operational readiness testing,” Off said. “This is our opportunity to complete and witness and document all tests.”

Although the project’s contractor has estimated the testing period would last about 60 days, Off said the transit agency can take the time it needs to make sure the extension is ready to operate. Once satisfied with testing, Metro would take custody and control. The transit agency would need about 90 days to make final preparations necessary to open the extension.

Joseph Leader, Metro’s chief operating officer, said hiring is underway to staff the extension.

By the end of August, Metro had put 154 employees through orientation. Hiring, Leader said, is accelerating as the transit agency seeks to fill 468 positions between now and the extension’s opening.

Metro officials said two significant construction issues are unresolved between Metro and MWAA, and Off said he and Leader are meeting with the airports authority twice a week to address them. They include a clearance issue within elevator machine rooms and a deficiency with a train turntable at a service and inspection building, both at the Dulles rail yard.

###

The remainder of the story report is about the Blue/Orange/Silver Capacity & Reliability Study (10.1 MB PDF file) 09 03 2021 1723

And the balking at the 25 billion price tag.
 #1580488  by perfbill
 
While this is not nearly the debacle they have been experiencing with the "why is it and who does it really serve" elevated on Oahu, it is still tremendously frustrating and saddening what these delays have meant and how much they have cost. Let's start with two years of revenue - well, maybe 16 months of revenue because of what happened in the middle part. Then, the contractors are not getting away without penalty, but the punitive portion does not seem proportional to the shoddy workmanship that they had to have suspected at some point would be found. I've driven on good Midwest US highways on concrete that is two or more decades old, because it was mixed right to begin with. Let's also consider that the Empire State Building, which was not a small project, was built in less than two years, and it even withstood a good sized airplane crash into the side at some point. It took about the same amount of time for each station to be completed, although there was not a depression on and labor was perhaps at an ebb at that time.

As an Ashburnite living just over two miles from the terminus, I can see both the benefit and the requisite issues that will come with the opening, but the former ultimately outweighs the latter, particularly when dealing with trips to Dulles, or even downtown. But I may yet be retired from my work before this thing is open. (Disclosure, I have worked from home as a web developer since 11/2019, so perhaps a little dramatic here.)

I just want to see a reckoning in the form of fines, a public dressing down (more than we have seen to date), and even more stringent RFPs in the future that don't necessarily target the lowest bidder, but the one with the best track record - literally in this case.

Thanks for keeping us up to date on this. I hope I live long enough to see this completed (yeah, early sixties, but this started in my early fifties, so...).
 #1580572  by Sand Box John
 
perfbill
Then, the contractors are not getting away without penalty, but the punitive portion does not seem proportional to the shoddy workmanship that they had to have suspected at some point would be found. I've driven on good Midwest US highways on concrete that is two or more decades old, because it was mixed right to begin with.


You have never driven on a highway made of precast concrete There are hundreds of different concrete mixture recipes. The recipe for non structural precast concrete is not the same as recipe for highway pavement.

Let's also consider that the Empire State Building, which was not a small project, was built in less than two years, and it even withstood a good sized airplane crash into the side at some point. It took about the same amount of time for each station to be completed, although there was not a depression on and labor was perhaps at an ebb at that time.

Though a 50 story sky scraper and a Metrorail station are composed of the roughly same volume of material they are employ two different types of engineering.

As an Ashburnite living just over two miles from the terminus, I can see both the benefit and the requisite issues that will come with the opening, but the former ultimately outweighs the latter, particularly when dealing with trips to Dulles, or even downtown. But I may yet be retired from my work before this thing is open. (Disclosure, I have worked from home as a web developer since 11/2019, so perhaps a little dramatic here.)

I just want to see a reckoning in the form of fines, a public dressing down (more than we have seen to date), and even more stringent RFPs in the future that don't necessarily target the lowest bidder, but the one with the best track record - literally in this case.


The Dulles Corridor Metrorail project was a first of its kind project executed under The Virginia Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995. The original consortium that was awarded the design build mange contract to build the 11 stations along the 23 mile Metrorail branch it all at once along with all the infrastructure that supports broke up at the eleventh hour. MWAA stepped in and took over the management of the project. The financing schemas were modified, no federal dollars were used to pay for any of the capitol costs of phase II and the project was split into to phases to make the overall project more easy to manage.

Thanks for keeping us up to date on this. I hope I live long enough to see this completed (yeah, early sixties, but this started in my early fifties, so...).

I have been following the build out of Metrorail sense I was 14, I expect the Silver to open before my 65th birthday next year.

In my opinion the single largest screw up was the choice of Union Switch & Signal Ansaldo STS over General Railway Signal Alstom Transport as the vendor for the signalling and train control system for Phase II. All of the hardware on the rest of the railroad including Phase I was procured from General Railway Signal Alstom Transport.
 #1580637  by Sand Box John
 
west point
Yes have driven on precast concrete highway. It is a rough 26 mile bridge on I-10 west of New Orleans.


The basic point I made still applies. The concrete mix recipe for precast structural concrete bridge decks is not the same as the recipe in the non structural precast concrete panels used in the stations.

The girders supporting the elevated at Dulles Airport are precast structural concrete, The elevated segments in Tysons Corner are post tension precast concrete. Both used different concrete mix recipes then in your I-10 bridge as well as the non structural precast concrete panels used in five phase II stations.
 #1581281  by KTHW
 
No update, but I saw what looked a 12 car train sitting in/out of the future Reston Station. Was driving by and didn't get a chance to count the number of cars, but the train stretched from the back of the platform to what appeared to be four car lengths past the front of the platform. I assume they lashed up two six car trains to cut down on the number of operators needed to move it from the yard to its testing point on the SL extension. Still, never seen such a long train on WMATA tracks before.
 #1581433  by Sand Box John
 
KTHW
No update, but I saw what looked a 12 car train sitting in/out of the future Reston Station. Was driving by and didn't get a chance to count the number of cars, but the train stretched from the back of the platform to what appeared to be four car lengths past the front of the platform. I assume they lashed up two six car trains to cut down on the number of operators needed to move it from the yard to its testing point on the SL extension. Still, never seen such a long train on WMATA tracks before.


Two other possibilities:
  • Two or more of the cars may have become bad order requiring a tow to a yard.
  • Traction power substation switch gear load testing.
 #1584173  by Sand Box John
 
MWAA Press Release
11 04 2021 1516 EDT

Silver Line Phase 2 Reaches Major Milestone

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials announced Thursday they have declared substantial completion for work by Capital Rail Constructors (CRC) on Phase 2 of the Metrorail Silver Line extension project. The work by CRC, a joint venture led by Clark Construction Group and Kiewit, is a key component of the project to extend the region’s Metrorail public transit system to Dulles International Airport and beyond.

Substantial Completion means major construction is complete and allows operational readiness testing to begin, during which the contractor will demonstrate the project’s functionality, as a key step toward delivering the new rail line to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates the Metrorail system.

“This is a significant step toward completing the 11.5-mile extension that will provide rail service for residents in Reston, Herndon and eastern Loudoun County and give Metro riders direct access to Dulles Airport,” said Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Airports Authority. “In addition to providing new public transportation options, the Silver Line is a major catalyst for jobs and economic development in the National Capital region.”

The project also includes a 90-acre rail maintenance yard at Dulles International Airport, being built by Hensel Phelps, which is also nearing completion under a separate contract.

Phase 1 of the Silver Line opened in 2014, extending Metrorail service from East Falls Church to the eastern edge of Reston and triggering major transformations in the Tysons Corner and Wiehle Avenue areas. Those same trends are beginning along Phase 2, with changes already underway along the Dulles Corridor in Reston, Herndon and Ashburn, and at Dulles International Airport. The Silver Line’s goal is to help ease traffic congestion by providing alternative routes and easier commuting times, access to regional entertainment, shopping and Dulles Airport.

###

Now WMATA can start the clock and set the opening date. Any additional delays will be on WMATA provided MWAA and its contractors didn't miss something on their check lists.

Every new segment added to the Metrorail system sense the first opening in 1976 handed over to WMATA by the contractors was done the same way.
 #1586012  by BitterOldRRExec
 
Sand Box John wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 11:23 am You weren't around when WMATA opened the station at National Airport. Back then there were only two options for getting from the station to the terminal, walk across the terminal roadways from single entrance on the south end or board a shuttle bus adjacent to that entrance.

Money is what prevented the station at Dulles from being located closer to the terminal.
National was the odd case of the terminal moving to the station.
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