Metro remains noncommittal on an expected opening date for when phase two of the Silver Line will begin operations.
The 11.4-mile extension from Reston into Loudoun County is expected to open this fall. However, the $2.8 billion project has repeatedly missed estimated targets for opening, leading the transit agency to take a cautious approach to sharing a timeline for when rail service will officially begin.
(Updated at 9:25 a.m. on 6/28/2022) Metro has reached a major milestone with its Silver Line Phase 2 project.
The 11.4-mile rail extension from Reston into Loudoun County has achieved its “operational readiness date” and was formally handed over to Metro at 6 a.m. today (Thursday), interim Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager and CEO Andy Off announced during a board of directors meeting.
(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) Officials say it’s just a matter of weeks before the long-anticipated opening date of phase two of the Silver Line will be known.
At a Fairfax County transportation committee meeting yesterday (Tuesday), Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill said he expects to find out about a date for operational readiness within two weeks.
Updated at 9:40 a.m. on 6/9/2022 — Metro could announce an operational readiness date for the Silver Line extension “within the next several weeks,” interim CEO and General Manager Andy Off told the Board of Directors’ safety and operations committee today (Thursday).
Earlier: Capital Rail Constructors — the builder of phase two of the Silver Line — estimated that the long-delayed project could be handed over to Metro by July 29.
Another logistical piece to formally open phase two of the Silver Line has been completed, but the opening date remains entirely unclear.
At meeting on Tuesday (May 24), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion to formally accept maintenance responsibilities of county-owned transit facilities related to the 11.4-mile Metrorail extension in Loudoun County.
When Metro riders get off the future Herndon-Monroe Metro Station, town planners want the first impression of the town to be a unique experience.
That’s part of the reason why town officials are working on the Herndon Metrorail Promenade, a 500-foot-long and nearly 70-foot-wide gateway plaza that will connect the Metro station to Herndon Parkway.
No one raised even the semblance of a timeframe for opening the long-delayed extension of the Silver Line into Loudoun County during a Metro board discussion on the issue yesterday morning (Thursday).
Officials provided no specific date for when the 11.4-mile extension could begin operations. A late summer opening was anticipated after a series of previous delays, but even that appears tentative at best.
County Libraries to Resume Standard Hours — Fairfax County Public Library will once again open its eight regional branches seven days a week, and its 14 community branches on Mondays, effective this Sunday (April 3). The system truncated its hours starting in January due to the surge in COVID-19 cases and high staff vacancies. [FCPL]
Omicron Subvariant Identified in Fairfax County Patients — “BA.2 is now estimated to be responsible for about one in three COVID-19 infections in the country and one in five COVID-19 infections in Virginia. While BA.2 appears to be more contagious and can spread faster, it is not known to make people sicker.” [Fairfax County Health Department]
