Metro Service to DC's Dulles Airport Finally Arrives, 60 Years in the Making

(Bloomberg) -- Sixty years after Dulles International Airport opened, air travelers in Washington, DC, will be able to do something that residents of scores of other global cities take for granted: Take a train to their plane.

A long-planned 11.5 mile extension of the US capital’s Metrorail system is set to begin serving the airport this week. The second phase of the Silver Line adds six new stations throughout Northern Virginia and marks the culmination of a $3 billion effort to bring rail service to Dulles, whose Eero Saarinen-designed main terminal opened in 1962.

For DC residents like Will Redmond, the new line will be welcome. “I always fly out of National [Airport], because I want to be able to take the Metro to the airport, so this does open up more options for me,” said Redmond, 29, referring to the capital’s smaller air hub.

The Silver Line’s debut, just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday travel season, comes as the Biden Administration seeks to fulfill its pledges to bring US rail transportation infrastructure closer to international standards. But the decades-long effort to connect the capital’s largest airport to its Metro network is also something of a cautionary tale in transit planning.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/metro-service-to-dc-s-dulles-airport-finally-arrives-60-years-in-the-making/ar-AA148UIT