In July, Foxx met discreetly with the top executive leaders of the region-Mayor Muriel Bowser, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe-to discuss reforming the beleaguered transit agency.
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Metrorail can’t catch a break.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has put the kibosh on the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations issued September 30 to bring Metrorail under the “direct oversight” of the Federal Railroad Administration, the Washington Post reports.
Per the Post, a spokeswoman for Foxx said he nixed that suggestion saying it “would unnecessarily complicate and delay safety improvements that WMATA workers and riders deserve”.
In his response to the NTSB’s request, Foxx indicated that the FTA oversight would be a “faster, more effective way” to address the problems at WMATA under the federal MAP-21 law, in which Congress increased FTA’s authority to enforce safety rules at transit agencies.
“I look forward to learning more about Secretary Foxx’s proposal to ramp up FTA’s safety oversight of the Metrorail system but remain concerned that immediate, effective oversight not be victim to bureaucracy”, he said.
“The FTA will maintain this higher level of oversight until a compliant and capable SSOA is established to replace the TOC”, Foxx wrote. “We will continue to work closely with the FTA to improve safety of the WMATA system and are fully engaged in implementing corrective actions recently approved by the agency”, he said.
Daily operations for Metro will still be run by WMATA, but they will also have respond to the FTA.
The NTSB said it made the recommendation for more federal oversight because it has investigated 11 incidents on the Metro in the last 33 years that involved a total of 18 fatalities.
Passengers walk toward a train at Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metro station.
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The NTSB, which is investigating a smoke incident that killed one person in January, had recommended that Foxx shift the responsibility for safety oversight to the Federal Railroad Administration, another agency within the Transportation Department with more experience and a larger staff than the FTA. “The NTSB therefore proposes that the DOT seek the authorization under 45 USC Section 1104 to classify WMATA as a commuter authority, thus placing WMATA under the regulatory authority of the FRA”.
