Obama budget gives $150 million to DC Metro

President Obama’s proposed 2015 budget includes $150 million for the Washington, D.C., Metrorail subway system.

The funding would be used to address the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) “reinvestment and maintenance backlog to improve the safety and reliability of service and to expand existing system capacity to meet growing demand,” according to documents released on Tuesday by the Department of Transportation.

{mosads}The department said the money for the capital area transit authority would continue “a ten-year $3 billion capital improvement program in which federal funding is matched dollar-for-dollar by local and state support.”

The funding proposal follows a recent announcement by state and local government officials in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia of $75 million in new funding for Metro to go toward the agency’s “Metro Momentum” rehabilitation and expansion plan.

WMATA officials say an infusion of cash will be necessary in the coming years to meet the metro area’s transit needs by the year 2025.