Vital Dulles rail jumps the tracks

VIRGINIA IS well-positioned to tough out this year's financial turbulence because it possesses two critical gateways to the global economy: Dulles International Airport and the Port of Virginia, here in Hampton Roads.

If either of those gateways gets blocked, the economic pain will spread across the entire commonwealth. That's why every Virginian should be concerned at the stunning and surprising blow federal officials dealt last week to plans for passenger rail service to Dulles.

After 40 years of planning and $140 million in federal investments, leaders at the Federal Transit Administration said Thursday they intend to cut off $900 million for the project, about one-fifth of the price tag.

Extending the subway to Dulles is no bridge-to-nowhere. Twenty-five million people pass through the immense airport every year, many of them on their way to and from 40 international destinations. With more than 379,500 takeoffs and landings in 2006, it ranks as the 28th-busiest airport in the world. Dulles generates an estimated $11 billion in business.

But congestion is choking a global hub that drives the commonwealth's economy with high-income jobs and high-dollar commercial properties.

If state and federal leaders permit the flow of commerce in and out of Dulles to falter, the economic repercussions will echo in every municipal budget in Virginia.

After giving the project green lights for so many years, it is hard to find a coherent rationale for the Bush administration decision.

Federal transit officials, in rejecting the project, rehashed old issues, including the growing cost and the ability of the airport authority to manage the construction. State officials were led to believe those concerns had been resolved when Virginia cut $250 million from the extension's first phase last year and the FTA's regional staff signaled acceptance of the management plans.

The speed with which private equity investors have parachuted in with offers to make up the $900 million gap naturally raises suspicions.

In recent years, a revolving door has been spinning between the Bush administration and companies eager to turn the project into a for-profit enterprise, one that would push tolls skyward and place a valuable public rail service in private hands. The highest profile example is John Flaherty, former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Transportation and now a principal at The Carlyle Group, the first company to signal its interest in the rail initiative.

That reshuffling has generated distrust made more tricky by political intrigue. Northern Virginia tipped last year's election in favor of U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, who in turn helped tip the Senate in favor of Democrats. That may not be the primary motivator of federal transportation officials in the Dulles debacle, but old grudges are making it harder for both sides to focus on the merits of the project.

State leaders rightly feel blindsided, and they have yet to receive satisfactory answers to their questions about why federal officials have made such an abrupt about-face. FTA Administrator James Simpson owes the commonwealth a better explanation and a second look at this crucial economic project.