Since Metro took control of the Silver Line on May 27, the 90-day countdown for the new train line to start service officially began. But during a conference call this morning, WMATA officials said work that must be completed for service to start is taking longer than expected.
Most of the delay is coming from Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority contractor Bechtel, Deputy General Manager Rob Troup said. He declined to say if the delays are major or minor, but did say that Metro is “doing everything we can to put the service out there quickly and efficiently.” When Metro took control of the Silver Line a few weeks ago, Troup said that “there’s a lot of items that need to occur” in order to get the Silver Line up and running.
A week before the Silver Line is to start service for riders, it will start doing simulation service, with Silver Line trains operating on the same tracks as the Orange and Blue Lines. During that week, riders will be able to get on Silver Line trains, but will be offloaded at the East Falls Church station, as the train will continue on as part of its test runs.
“We obviously expected some of these items to take a little longer,” Troup said. “But we wanted to see more work done and more work done completely.” Troup said that, although Bechtel is taking longer than expected on completing some tasks (the specifics of those tasks he declined to share), he says they’re “up for the task.” He said that that roughly 25-30 percent of the items that need to be completed are at this time.
So does this mean the Silver Line will be delayed once again? Possibly. Troup wouldn’t say if Metro would need more than the target 90 days or when simulation service would start. “Personally, I’m not going to put myself in a position where I have to hit a date,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to put the service out there quickly and efficiently.”
Despite not providing a firm date as to when service might start, WAMU’s Martin DiCaro reports that Metro told the local chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union that simulation service would begin on July 20th. Troup declined to comment on if that date was accurate.
