FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 3, 2000
Contact: Gail Taylor
Telephone: 202-366-4043
FTA 1-00
U.S. Transportation Secretary Slater
Announces
$600 Million Loan Guarantee for Washington Metro
Delivering on President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s agenda to make American communities more livable, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced a $600 million loan guarantee for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to begin a $2.3 billion capital improvement program.
The loan guarantee to WMATA is the first to be made possible by the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 (TIFIA), an innovative financing program established in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which President Clinton signed into law on June 9, 1998. Lehman Commercial Paper, Inc., New York, is the lender.
"This innovative financing program is a catalyst for creating jobs and continuing our nation’s record economic growth," said President Clinton. "Today it is benefitting our neighbors in Washington, D.C., and future innovative financing like it will support important transportation projects of critical importance in other parts of the nation."
WMATA will use this loan guarantee to expedite upgrading and modernizing of the original 103-mile Metrorail system, some parts of which are more than 20 years old. These upgrades will include rehabilitation of the entire railcar fleet, overhaul of buses, purchase of over 1,000 buses over the next 10 years, replacement of the automated train control system, installation of protective canopies over outdoor escalators, rehabilitation of escalators and elevators system-wide, and installation of a new automated traveler information system. The rehabilitation also will enable Metrorail to work together more effectively with the Metrobus and other county and local bus systems in the metropolitan region.
"In his State of the Union message, President Clinton asked for a continued commitment to making American communities more livable," said Secretary Slater. "This project is a good example of how we are working to meet regional needs – innovating to expand the base of financing alternatives available to address needs that might not otherwise be met."
Through TIFIA, the U.S. Department of Transportation can provide credit assistance rather than grants to public and private sponsors of major surface transportation projects. WMATA’s is the the first of five projects announced by Secretary Slater last September to receive the innovative financial assistance. The other four are State Route 125 in San Diego; Miami Intermodal Center; Tren Urbano, San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the Farley-Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Project, New York.
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