Lawmakers demand DC Metro safety improvements

Lawmakers who represent districts in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area are demanding that the capital area’s Metrorail subway system make dramatic safety improvements after a string of recent smoke-related incidents. 

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is expected to release a report on the safety management procedures at Metro on Wednesday. 

Members of the Washington, D.C.-area congressional delegation said Tuesday that they have received a heads up that the regulators’ findings will point out a need for the Metro system’s leaders to make major changes quickly. 

{mosads}”This FTA safety inspection confirms what many of us have feared, that Metro continues to lack a top-to-bottom culture of safety,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said in a statement.  

“Restoring rider confidence in the system will require tougher oversight and new resources from all partners at the local, state, federal levels,” he continued. ” Sadly the FTA is just the latest oversight agency to cite concerns with Metro’s emergency management, training protocols, and maintenance backlog.  It’s long past time that Metro makes safety its top priority.”  

The agency that operates the D.C. Metro system, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), has come under fire since a passenger was killed in a January incident involving a train becoming filled with smoke after experiencing an electrical problem. 

Investigators have attributed the problem with the train, which was heading toward Northern Virginia on Metro’s Yellow Line, was caused by faulty insulator on the subway tracks that was generating too much heat, trapping passengers underground in smoke-filled cars.

The incident resulted in Metro’s first passenger fatality since a high-profile crash on the Red Line in 2009 that killed nine people and led to widespread changes at the capital-area transit agency.

Metro and Washington, D.C. officials have been criticized for allowing such a long gap before emergency responders could reach passengers who were stuck on the smoke-filled train. 

Lawmakers who were briefed on the FTA’s report on the accident said Tuesday that Metro needed to completely change their approach to safety.   

“My constituents deserve a transit system that is safe and reliable. Metro is their way to work, their way home and something families depend upon,” Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) said.  

“The FTA report makes it clear that WMATA has a lot of work to do.  We saw in January what is at stake and WMATA needs to take constructive action as soon as possible,” he continued. “This month the regional delegation has fought for more funding for WMATA, but safe and effective infrastructure requires both adequate funding and top-level management and we need to see immediate steps from WMATA so that safety will be improved.”

Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), who is the lone Republican in the D.C.-area delegation, agreed. 

“Metro’s mismanagement and unacceptable safety record for its riders are deeply troubling,” she said in a statement. “I have thousands of constituents riding the rails every single day and they expect and rely on Metro to be safe.  The FTA’s safety inspection points out serious flaws with Metro that need to be corrected immediately. Metro must make safety its top priority moving forward, and we would welcome some new leadership in doing so.”