Rail Route In Tysons An Uphill Challenge

Not only does the project lack the budget for $2.4 billion, planners said, but the construction effort also would flunk federal cost-effectiveness standards at that price.

"We're looking at everything to find savings," said Josh Sawislak, deputy project director for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, which is leading the project.

Among the proposed cost-cutting measures are a reduction in the number of rail cars, a drop in the size of the train platforms and the elimination of some elevators and escalators at the station.

There are drawbacks to virtually every cut, however: Reducing the number of rail cars would reduce the number of trains running at rush hour, one of the key reasons for building the project; shrinking the size of platforms could create safety problems; and eliminating escalators and elevators could run afoul of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Rejecting those other changes, however, leaves only the issue of the hill.

Aside from the former county landfill near Interstate 66 and West Ox Road, which rises to 567 feet above sea level, the Tysons hill ranks as Fairfax's highest elevation, county geographers said.

"It's a relatively flat county," said Charles Grymes, who teaches geography at George Mason University. "Unfortunately, railroads can't climb hills worth a hoot."

The largest single proposed cut -- $132 million -- involves elimination of the mile-long tunnel that was to have traversed the hill at Tysons Corner and included one underground station.

But completely eliminating that tunnel would raise railroad tracks as high as eight stories high.

The reason for the height is that railroad tracks can operate safely at only slight inclines. Metro guidelines generally limit slopes to no more than 4 percent, meaning that the tracks can drop no more than 4 feet over 100 horizontal feet.

If aerial tracks were run from the top of the Tysons hill, the ground would slope down much faster than the train tracks could, leaving the tracks several stories in the air at times. Eventually, the track would catch up with the ground, but in the meantime it would create big gaps between the ground and the tracks.

Engineers call this "chasing grade."

Abandoning the tunnel configuration could cause other troubles as well.

The property owners in Tysons Corner, who have agreed to put up as much as $400 million in tax money toward the project, based their offer on the original configuration of the train route. That offer might be rescinded if the configuration changes drastically.

"To the extent that there is a significant change, the county runs the risk of having to go back to landowners in order to spend the tax money," said John McGranahan, a lawyer who organized the tax district.