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Silver Line Delay May Be Costly Contractor could owe millions if it misses early April deadline Tysons Corner, Va. The contractor building the Silver Line faces millions of dollars in fines if it fails to complete the project by an April deadline. Dulles Transit Partners, the contractor building the ﬁrst phase of the $5.6 billion rail line, had announced Feb. 7 that it believed its work was ﬁnished, raising hopes the project could be turned over to Metro this month and that passenger service could start in the spring.

But after a 15-day review, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said Monday that the contractor had failed to meet seven of 12 criteria set out in its contract. Issues ranged from missing safety certificates to problems with the automatic train control system — a key safety component that controls train movement and speed and an issue that has dogged the project for months. According to provisions in the contract between DTP and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, DTP has until April 9 to complete work on the first phase of the project. If the company fails to finish the work, it will have to pay

Next Steps Once MWAA certifies that DTP has completed its work, it will work with Metro to determine when officials there will take control of the Silver Line. While MWAA is responsible for managing construction of the rail line, Metro will operate it. Metro has 90 days to complete its testing once it takes control of the line. (T WP)

$25,000 per day until the work is completed. The ﬁne increases signiﬁcantly if the delays continue. If DTP is more than 92 days late, it would owe MWAA nearly $2.8 million. In addition, it would

have to pay a daily ﬁne of $75,000 per day. Ultimately, if the project is delayed more than six months from that April date, DTP could be required to pay more than $9 million. Under the terms of the contract, the payments are capped at $60 million. Metro ofﬁcials, who are responsible for determining when Silver Line service will begin, have been tight-lipped about a start date and would not comment on how this latest delay might impact their plans. However, given this latest report, it’s possible that the start of passenger service could be pushed into t he summer. LORI AR ATANI (THE WASHINGTON POST )

KAREN BLEIER (GETTY IMAGES)

NEW N! VERSIO

PLEDGES

More Metro Money Transit leaders on Wednesday scored some of the cash they need to carry out the ambitious goals for rail and bus service in the next decade. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray collectively committed to giving the transit authority an additional $75 million beyond pledges already made for Metro’s long-term projects. (THE WASHINGTON POST )

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