Talk:Silver Line (Washington Metro)

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This article is part of WikiProject Washington Metro, which is an attempt to better organize and unify articles relating to the Washington Metro system, and other transit in the Washington DC area. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

Where does the name "Silver line" come from? The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project says that the line has not yet been named and I haven't seen this name mentioned in any other sources. Greyfedora 21:04, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

It's been official for a while. Just plug "Silver Line" and "dulles" into Google and you'll see it repeatedly cited by this name in the media. --Jfruh (talk) 21:40, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Actually, just look at the map linked to from the main article: [1]. You can see that the new line is labelled "Silver Line" on the legend at the top of the page. This is on the Dulles Metro corridor's official site. --Jfruh (talk) 21:42, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Funding

I'm thinking that it would be good to have some mention about how the construction is to be funded. I think that the approach taken is somewhat unusual. I also think that funding is also one of the major reasons this extension is likely to be built (since the sources have been mostly identified at this point). There's also the question, when it comes to the tunnel issue, as to whether the federal government will or will not provide funding if the tunnel option is chosen (supposedly the government criteria considers overall costs instead of how much it will be putting in). Ultimately I think it's something worth mentioning in the article. Mecaterpillar 05:15, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ASCE Panel Findings

Since the ASCE Panel released their findings on Monday (July 31st), would anyone like to summarize their findings? There's quite a bit there (Follow the source I added, the ASCE press release), and I'd prefer it if someone else went about doing that 'cause it seems like it would take me quite a few sentences to summarize that although I find this paragraph from the press release rather telling:

During a press conference releasing the report, Robert S. O'Neil, the TRP's chair, explained that Commonwealth of Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer "did not ask our panel to recommend the preferred option. Instead, the Secretary asked our panel to ensure that the state had the best information available with which to make its decision. However... considering the magnitude and long-term impact of this project, and considering that the intangible benefits almost entirely favor the tunnel, it is reasonable to conclude that our findings suggest strong consideration of the tunnel alternative."

In any case, it seems like it's time to add a quick summary of that. Mecaterpillar 16:28, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Interesting read. Unfortunately, it will be a couple of days before I can digest the information and try to regurgitate it into another paragraph or two. Hopefully someone else is up to the challenge before that. With talk now of rebidding the whole phase 1 project, there could be a lot to write about in the article. --StuffOfInterest 19:36, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stations

Does anyone happen to know or have read somewhere why the planners are going to be overly redundant with the stations on the Silver Line? Is it really necessary to have 3 lines running from Stadium-Armory to Rosslyn? Why not have the Silver Line begin at Rosslyn? Better yet, why not have it take a new course and add new stations in the District? --Tjtenor2 18:40, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Having the Silver Line run all the way to stadium will minimize the chances of anyone having to make more than one train switch. At the very least, the line needs to run far enough to cross the Red Line so riders don't have to change from Red to Blue/Orange and then again to Silver. Why all the way to the Stadium? Not sure, but there could be some siding tracks around there which make it a more natural termination point than in the middle of the city. I've always found it a bit odd how the Yellow line just stops.

As for running a completely new route, expensive! Trying to push a new tunnel through downtown DC would cost hundreds of millions if not a couple of billion. I've seen designs calling for splitting the Orange and Blue lines through downtown, with a new branch running up through Georgetown, along K-street, and through Union Station. It would be nice, but getting funding for such an expansion won't be easy. --StuffOfInterest 18:47, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

As a further note, the funding for the new stretch of the Silver Line is coming partly from the Federal govt. and partly from the state of Virginia, as is the usual formula for US transit projects these days. New stations in the District would in theory require matching funds from the District; however, since DC is notoriously cash-strapped and also under strong Congressional oversight, I'm not sure that this is feasible or even possible. Presumably the Federal government would only expand in the District proper if it can be convinced that doing so would make it easier to operate the Federal government. --Jfruh (talk) 00:06, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

• The most natural spots for the Silver Line to split off of the OR/BL would be Farragut and Metro Center, in each case jumping onto the Red. The problem is that neither station has a full-fledged switcher; it just has some emergency track. That means they'd have to dig another hole without compromising the existing one. All across the system, you'll see that the general skepticism about public transit that dominated the 1970s resulted in a Metro system that is very inflexible and very difficult to expand. This is a general problem for ALL subways, but it's particularly disappointing that a modern system would be so constrained. --M@rēino 21:51, 6 November 2006 (UTC)