U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx this week rejected an urgent recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board that would have shifted oversight of Metro to an agency with a larger staff and longer track record of overseeing rail safety. Officials could conduct surprise inspections and issue directives to Metro to immediately address safety problems in the system.
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“It would unnecessarily complicate and delay safety improvements that WMATA workers and riders deserve”, she continued.
The NTSB said last month that an investigation had found little improvement in WMATA’s safety oversight since a 2009 Metrorail accident that killed nine people.
The NTSB’s recommendation called for the Department of Transportation to identify the D.C. Metro system as a “commuter railroad” instead of a public transit system, which would have allowed the FRA to regulate the agency. “And these agencies have different authorities and areas of expertise”, Emmerling said.
When Hart released the NTSB proposal, he said the current oversight body, the Tri-State Oversight Committee, was inadequate.
Emmerling said that the department agreed that urgent action is needed, but she said transportation officials believe “there is an even more effective and faster way to achieve the safety goals we all share”.
The NTSB wanted Foxx to order the Federal Railroad Administration to oversee Metrorail. Almost a half dozen reports have exposed lapses in everything from the way Metro keeps its books to the way it trains – or in many cases doesn’t – front line personnel responsible for safety.
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Metrorail safety will be placed under the direct oversight of the Federal Transit Administration in a plan announced late Friday. Foxx apparently has bigger plans for improving Metro that wouldn’t just involve shifting regulatory oversight of it from one USDOT department from another.
