Metro Rail... but Not About Rail to Dulles

Rail to Dulles has been the hot topic lately. Will it happen? Will the project get funded? But now comes a story from the Washington Business Journal about more than the Dulles project. A story about the funding needs of the whole Metro system.

According to the article, Metro’s General Manager John Catoe said today that the regional public transit system will need $7 billion for capital spending from 2010-2020 just to maintain current service, as well as $4.2 billion for expanding capacity and improving lighting, signs and parking facilities. The money would be spent repairing tunnels and platforms, fixing escalators, restoring bus garages, replacing one-third of the rail cars, buying buses and vans, making a power upgrade, build pedestrian tunnels between station.

The agency expects rail ridership to grow by 22 percent over the decade, and bus ridership to increase 9 percent. The current capital budget plan ends in 2010.

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