2004, Rep. DeLay was hailing the leadership team at METRO for both its "vision for a mobile Houston region, and the kind of open minds and flexible management style it will take to realize that vision", adding that "[METRO] are holding a forum to look at all forms of technology and how those technologies fit into the mobility in Houston"; at least one observer noted that DeLay was advocating for "innovative rail solutions", not light rail. In 2004, an alternatives analysis selected a shorter route for the Southeast Corridor. The North and Southeast corridors received their records of decision from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in July 2008. Construction began in July 2009 on the North/Red Line Extension (North Corridor), including nine stations from UH–Downtown to the Northline Transit Center Station. The Purple Line (Southeast Corridor), with ten stations, and the Green Line, with nine stations, also began construction in July 2009. According to the project schedules, the Red Line Extension would enter revenue service by 2013 and the Green Line by 2014. However, METRO announced on September 9, 2010 that the opening dates for the Red Line Extension, Purple and Green lines had been pushed back to 2014 and by September 2014, the start date had slipped back to April 4, 2015. In November 2009, METRO applied for a $900 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to fund future construction. Allegations were made that METRO lied about the income from their sales tax revenue to allow them to gain $900 million in federal funds for all five planned rail expansions. However, city officials found no such attempt by METRO to mislead them, but the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) continued to withhold its approval for the money until further figures can be examined. On December 8, 2011, the FTA finally announced the award. The award of $900 million was broken into two $450 million grants from the New Starts transit program, to fund construction of the Red Line Extension and Purple lines. METRO offered the public a chance to name stations on its expansion lines. Part of the funding allocated by the FTA under its New Starts program for the North, Southeast, and University Corridor projects included up to million to expand the LRV fleet to 104 vehicles and replace the existing 19 LRVs on the Red Line. METRO selected a public-private partnership model for the North and Southeast