Va. Rail Plan Exempted From Stricter Cost Gauge

Since then, engineers have been working to make significant cost cuts, for two reasons.

First, the $2.4 billion price is well beyond the federal, state and local funds lined up for the rail line; and second, the project had to meet federal cost-effectiveness standards to win the federal share.

The exemption essentially lowers the cost-effectiveness standards by which it will be measured.

In April, the administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, Jennifer L. Dorn, issued a letter saying it will target funding recommendations to transit projects that win a "medium" or higher rating for cost-effectiveness.

The new legislation releases the Tysons rail project from that restriction.

Dan Scandling, spokesman for Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), a supporter of the project, defended the exemption as keeping the rules consistent, rather than having them change in "midstream."

Leaders of the project said they must cut the project's cost, regardless of the exemption.

Under the financing plan for the Tysons portion, previously estimated to cost $1.5 billion, about half the money would come from the federal government, about one-quarter from Dulles Toll Road collections and other state revenue and about one-quarter from commercial property owners along the route, who have agreed to pay a special real estate tax.

"We still have to separate the wants from the needs," McAllister said. "It needs to be affordable."