A lot of holiday travelers will be taking Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles International Airport for the first time this year, after its new station opened at the airport last week.
But trains don’t stop directly at the airport, meaning passengers need to go on a bit of a journey once they arrive.
“It’s nothing different than any other airport walk,” said Dan Miller, who lives in Fairfax, Virginia.
Miller just took a Metro train to Dulles for the first time and described it as being “really convenient.”
“I’ve had walks just as long at other airports around the world,” Miller said. “It reminds me of Denver.”
When Metro passengers step off their train at the Dulles station, they are greeted by a striking panoramic view of the entire airport. They immediately head down an escalator, go through the turnstiles and begin a walk through a long and winding underground tunnel that includes three separate moving walkways.
Travelers then head up two more escalators to get to their terminal area in the airport itself.
The whole process should take about five minutes, with travelers guided the entire time by arrows and clearly marked signs.
“Now I don’t have to park my car or anything,” Miller said. “It’s nice.”
Metro’s new stretch of the Silver Line adds three stations in Loudoun County and three others in Fairfax County.
A ride from the Metro Center station in downtown D.C. to Dulles is expected to take 53 minutes, and riding the entirety of the Silver Line from Ashburn to Largo Town Center should take about 93 minutes.
Coming in at a final construction cost of over $3 billion, the new portion of the Silver Line opened more than four years after its original target date and more than $250 million over budget, paid for by Fairfax and Loudoun counties, as well as with Dulles Toll Road revenues.
