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Metro passes $4.8B budget for FY25
Metro’s board of directors on Thursday passed a $4.8 billion capital and operations budget for fiscal year 2025, which avoids massive service cuts, although fares will increase by 12.5% beginning July 1. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which oversees the Metrorail and Metrobus public transportation systems, had warned of “catastrophic” cuts to service because [...]
Transportation 2023: RANDY CLARKE
In July 2022, Clarke joined WMATA, the Washington, D.C., regional public transit system, which manages the Metro subway system and Metrobus. He took leadership of WMATA when it was struggling with lingering low ridership from the pandemic and the removal of 60% of its railcars due to a wheel defect. Things have picked up somewhat. […]
Potomac Yard-VT Metro station opens in Alexandria
In its heyday during World War II, Potomac Yard handled freight for six different railroads and employed 1,500 workers to keep trains moving, until it succumbed to economic pressures. On Friday, after decades of planning, the transformed former rail switching yard opened as Metro‘s 98th station, serving the Yellow and Blue lines between the Braddock […]
Potomac Yard Metro station opening May 19
Potomac Yard Metro station will open May 19, Alexandria‘s mayor and Metro’s CEO announced Wednesday. Metro’s 98th station, it will be located near Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus and Amazon.com Inc.’s Arlington HQ2 East Coast headquarters. “Our team is working hard to put the finishing touches on the station, and we look forward to welcoming customers [&hellip[...]
Potomac Yard Metro station set to open in May 2023
After more than two decades of planning, Alexandria‘s Potomac Yard Metro station has a finalized opening date — May 2023 — according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which announced its plans Tuesday. The station, Metrorail‘s 98th in the Washington, D.C., region, was originally set to open in spring 2022. It will serve the […]
Metro opens $3B Silver Line extension
As a cold rain fell around noon Tuesday, leaders from Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority cut the ribbon on the $3 billion second phase of Metro‘s Silver Line, extending rail service 11.4 miles to six stations and stretching into Loudoun County. Minutes later, they crowded onto a 7000-series train […]
Metro CEO, COO resign, effective immediately
Paul J. Wiedefeld, general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, is stepping aside, effective immediately instead of June 30, as he had planned, according to a statement he released Monday night. “I have decided to make my retirement effective today to provide a more timely transition to Interim General Manager Andy […]
Metro announces next general manager, CEO
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s new general manager and CEO is Randy Clarke, the current president and CEO of Austin, Texas’ Capital Metro. The board of the authority, which runs Metrorail and Metrobus, announced Tuesday that Clarke will assume the position in late summer. Metro’s current general manager and CEO, Paul J. Wiedefeld, announced in […]
Wiedefeld announces retirement as Metro CEO
Paul J. Wiedefeld, the general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, plans to retire in six months, the transit authority board chairman announced Tuesday. Wiedefeld was hired in November 2015 to lead the authority, which manages the Metrorail and Metrobus transportation systems in the Washington, D.C., region. In a statement, Wiedefeld […]
New Metro railcars set to be built in D.C. region
Metro’s new fleet of railcars will be built in the Washington, D.C., region, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced Wednesday. Hitachi Rail Washington LLC, an entity related to Japanese manufacturer Hitachi, has been awarded a contract worth up to $2.2 billion to build up to 800 railcars. The base order for the system’s 8000-series […]
Metro awards $179M contract to replace escalators
Metro will begin replacing 130 escalators in 32 stations in May, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced Tuesday. The transportation authority that runs the Metrorail and Metrobus lines in the Washington area has awarded a $179 million, seven-year contract to KONE, a Finnish elevator and escalator company with its U.S. headquarters in Illinois. Metro‘s […]
Ex-WMATA official sentenced in federal fraud case
A former assistant superintendent of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) was sentenced Tuesday to 14 days of incarceration and two years of supervised release after conspiring with a former pro football player to defraud the transit authority of more than $300,000. In January, Kirby Smith pleaded guilty to violating federal law by supplementing his […]
