Long-awaited rail link to Dulles Airport great for flyers but also for attracting new airlines

Washingtonians have pined for the day they can take the train to Dulles International Airport for nearly six decades. That day, finally, arrived Tuesday. The local Metro system begins revenue passenger rail service to the airport around 2 p.m. local time. Travelers will be able to ride the roughly 27 miles between downtown Washington, D.C., and Dulles in about 53 minutes that — while not necessarily rapid — is faster than making the drive at rush hour in the region’s notorious traffic. The inauguration of rail service to the airport, which is part of an 11-mile extension of Metro’s Silver Line, fulfills a long-held dream to connect the exurban airport to DC. Opened in 1962 on what was then mostly farmland, planners early on dreamed of a rail link to the city. Talk and studies only became reality when work began on the first phase of the Silver Line in 2009; construction of the extension to Dulles began in 2014. And the final link is not without controversy: The extension to the airport opened four years late and, with a $3b price tag, $250m over budget. But making the rail link a reality means more than just offering travelers — and airport staff — another way to get to Dulles. It is also an important tool when it comes to attracting new airlines to the US.capital’s main international gateway. Budget carriers “have an expectation that they’re going to have transit to downtown,” Jack Potter, CEO of Dulles operator the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, told DCist recently. They “are excited about [the Silver Line] and you’re gonna see some new service coming our way in the coming months and years as a result of this train.”<br/>