The future. Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

D.C., Maryland and Virginia each committed $25 million today to Metro’s Momentum plan, which seeks to upgrade the system by expanding the number of eight-car trains and making other improvements.

This is half of what Metro’s fiscal year 2015 budget is seeking from each jurisdiction. At a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments meeting earlier this month, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles warned if they don’t secure the funding, an option to order 220 additional 7000-series cars will expire in August 2015. This would set the plan back five years.

“Thanks to the strong leadership of Mayor Gray and Governors O’Malley and McAuliffe, we can continue our rebuilding efforts and lay the foundation for all eight-car trains, with power upgrades, Union Station and Gallery Place station expansion designs, and buses for priority corridors,” Sarles said in a statement.

Earlier this week’s, Metro’s planning blog made it clear how important regional, as opposed to federal, funding is.

Metro knows that the region needs these investments now. That’s why Metro’s proposed capital budget for Fiscal Year 2015 includes an additional $150 million, providing the first real down payment on the $6.5 billion Metro 2025 plan to fund some of the primary, critical nuts and bolts that are essential to improving capacity. And Metro is not hiding the ball – the cost goes up from there.

This additional $150 million in funding in FY15 is projected to be funded by the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, and securing these funds will require regional consensus. Metro will continue to work with regional leaders to advocate for federal support, but waiting for that support to materialize before beginning the much-needed investments in transit capacity is a dice roll at best.

A release about the commitment notes:

In their announcement, the Governors and Mayor committed to beginning work to renew the Capital Funding Agreement for Metro, with a larger commitment of capital to support and advance the Momentum strategic plan.