It is about time that there is a rail connection from Dulles to the metro system and downtown DC.  If one travels around the world, other countries have a rail system that connects their major airports.

The decades-long effort to bring Metrorail service to Washington Dulles International Airport is expected to reach a major milestone today when Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and Transportation Department officials finalize a deal for $900 million in federal funding.

"This is the end of that trail," said Gordon Hickey, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who will be joined at the signing ceremony by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other officials. "It's a great economic driver for Northern Virginia and the whole region - the whole state, even."

The deal with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is managing the project, assures that work will proceed on the first phase of the $5.2 billion rail extension - 23 miles of track known as the Silver Line.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) gave its approval to the plan in December, and the Bush administration in January signed off as well, sending the extension to Congress for a 60-day review.


The funding agreement makes the Dulles corridor rail project immediately eligible for the money under the FTA's New Starts program, which is the federal government's primary funding source for local transit "guideway" capital projects.

Congrats to all that have made this project a reality.