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Yesterday, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) board approved the terms of an agreement with the commonwealth of Virginia that would authorize the purchase of new rail cars.

WMATA’s capital improvement program relies on annual $50 million contributions from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia to enable the transit agency to receive $150 million in matching funds annually from the federal government.

After the Virginia agreement is finalized, WMATA plans to seek pre-award authority from the Federal Transit Administration to issue a notice to proceed to rail-car manufacturer Kawasaki Rail Car Inc.

“The pre-award authority is dependent on execution of the agreement by Virginia,” WMATA officials said in a prepared statement.

In May, the agency’s board approved an $886 million contract with Kawasaki for 428 new-generation Series 7000 cars, some of which will replace older Series 1000 cars. Delivery is scheduled to begin in 2013 and conclude in 2016.

WMATA plans to operate 128 of the cars on an expanded Dulles corridor line. Those cars will be funded by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.