Patch Readers Bristle At Renaming Herndon Metro Station

HERNDON, VA — It appears that many people aren't a fan of Metro's reported move to allow a major corporation to rename one of the new Herndon Metro stations that will open in the coming years.

Patch readers chimed in on Facebook, and no one was explicitly supportive as of Wednesday afternoon. Plenty were negative, however.

"It sets a bad precedent," said Jeff De-Cagna. "My fear is that today's cheap money will become very expensive in the future."

Jason Norton agreed.

"The public is paying for these things and then paying to use them," he wrote. "We shouldn’t be forced to have their names be eternal advertisements on top of that. Much like the stadiums the public pays for, this is disgusting."

Others asked whether this meant the corporation would pitch in to keep the trains running on time. Scott Wance asked if it would "keep the Silver Line from breaking down," while Glenn Snead asked if the company is "going to pay for its maintenance." Gloria Jones said she didn't care about the renaming, as long as the train "pulls up to the tracks every 12 min."

Others joked that this could have ramifications for other Metro stations.

"So... we might get stuck with the Boston Properties Metro Station in Reston?" asked Arielle K. Masters, referring to the developer who manages Reston Town Center and implemented an unpopular paid parking system a few years ago.

Replied David Steele, "it'll be the Paid Parking Metro Station."

WTOP reports that the Metro Board plans on Thursday to allow a Fortune Global 500 Company to sponsor and rename the new Innovation Center Metro station, citing documents prepared for the board.

This would be a one-time deal and not a new Metro-wide policy, according to the report.

The documents reportedly described the opportunity as "unique and time-sensitive," and officials are currently in negotiations to lease headquarters to that company adjacent to the new Metro station.

Silver Line Phase 2 would expand the line out past the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station to Reston Town Center, Herndon, Dulles International Airport, and Loudoun County.

The expansion has run into numerous problems in the last year. Concerns about track quality prompted Metro officials to stop test trains from running on the Silver Line rail extension earlier this year, according to the Washington Post.

The contractor, Capital Rail Constructors (CRC), told the Post that it had not been told to stop trains, although the officials explained that it was because no test runs were planned.

Also earlier this year, the Washington Business Journal reported that several critical fixes and repairs need to be made in order for the Ashburn station to open next summer, including issues with track cross-levels and gravel around the tracks.

Metro hopes to open the station by July 2020, but Metro board member Michael Goldman called the list of things that need to be fixed a "dark and foreboding cloud" over that planned opening, WBJ reported.