Metro gets green light on safety, state of good repair projects
Written by jrood
February 14, 2001 Metro in Washington, D.C., has received pre-award authority from the Federal Transit Administration to move forward with more than $220 million worth of projects that address Metro's most urgent safety and state-of-good-repair needs.
The projects are funded
under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act that provides Metro
with $150 million of federal dollars annually that is matched by $150 million
by the District of Columbia, the State of Maryland and the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
"This pre-approval allows
Metro to continue to improve service reliability and safety for our customers
and employees," said Metro General Manager Richard Sarles.
Projects receiving
preapproval include:
-Implementing National
Transportation Safety Board recommendations – $10.3 million.
-Rehabilitating track
components such as running rail, crossties, fasteners, third rail insulators
and turnouts- $44.4 million.
-Rehabilitating the
Orange/Blue/Yellow lines between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and
Stadium-Armory Metrorail stations – $34.5 million.
-Overhauling rail
components such as parking brakes, truck controls, coupler control boxes and
air compressors – $20 million.
-Replacing and upgrading
heavy-duty track maintenance equipment – $17.3 million.
-Replacing rail car
components such as wheels, trucks, brake systems, HVAC and traction motors –
$12.4 million.
-Rehabilitating
escalators – $4.9 million.
-Rehabilitating
elevators – $2.4 million.
-Rehabilitating Western,
Northern and Landover bus garages – $ 18.9 million.
-Replacing Automatic
Vehicle Location equipment that was installed on buses prior to 2002 – $9.4
million.
Pre-approval of Metro’s
7000 series rail car procurement is pending as Kawasaki works with the FTA to
demonstrate compliance with the Buy America requirements. Kawasaki has notified
Metro that it has extended its notice-to-proceed date for the manufacture of
Metro’s new railcars from July 5 to August 13 to allow time to work with the
FTA.
