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Red Line: Destination Dulles Airport?

ALTHOUGH FEDERAL OFFICIALS and state and local authorities in Virginia are squabbling over the future of the proposed Dulles Metrorail extension, that hasn't stopped Metro from preparing for the rail service to Dulles International Airport. Last week at the Farragut North station, one Red Line train we spotted, oddly enough, displayed "DULLES" as its final destination. Is there some secret rail line that the feds, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and the TysonsTunnel.org activists don't know about? Is there a direct transit link connecting places like Takoma and Twinbrook to Dulles Airport and the rest of the world beyond? Does it go through Georgetown? And most of all, who paid for it?

Image courtesy WMATAMetro confirms to Express that its maps don't lie: There is no rail line to Dulles. So where is this mysterious "Dulles" destination on the current rail network? Look no further than Northeast D.C. near New York Avenue. Sort of.

Says Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein:

The train operator accidentally had a typo so the destination signs read Dulles.
Still, that doesn't exactly explain why there is a Dulles destination code for trains when there isn't even a station. At the earliest, Metro won't reach Dulles until at least 2015.

As it turns out, Metro has been preparing for the Dulles extension and destination codes have been programmed for trains and track equipment across the system. And the "Out of Service" code for the not-yet-existing Dulles Airport station is one digit off from the Brentwood Yard code, Farbstein said.

The Brentwood Yard, located between the New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University and Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood stations, services Red Line trains. When a train goes out of service, the train operator must change the destination code, which aids navigation through the system and helps keep accurate information displayed on passenger platform-level information signs.

So no trains yet to Dulles. But it's nice to see that at least one local agency is moving forward with the Dulles rail project.

» "Revived Tunnel Talk Could Delay Tysons Extension" [Free Ride/Express]
» "White House Blamed for Metro Extension Delays" [Free Ride/Express]
» "Feds Cast Doubt on Tysons Rail; Saga Drags On" [Free Ride/Express]

Image courtesy WMATA

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COMMENTS (1)

  • The Dulles Station is the third button in that magic elevator to the zoo in Woodley Park . . .

    By AUA , Posted August 8, 2007 1:43 PM
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