The U.S. Secretary of Transportation replaced three D.C. Metro board members with new federal experts last week, as a disastrous week of malfunctions and violence unfolded on the transit system.
Secretary Anthony Foxx appointed three new board members Thursday with extensive experience of transportation oversight at the federal level, and tore into the Metro over their safety culture and failure to make speedy reforms.
“I met with each of the jurisdictions a year ago and urged them to stand up a new safety oversight office,” Foxx said in a statement. “They have not done so. Given the continued urgency, we will be forced to use every available lever at our discretion to force action as soon as possible to improve safety for the traveling public. No more excuses.”
Metro riders suffered from a week chalked full of malfunctioning equipment, major delays and juvenile violence. A track fire sparked by a piece of debris on the tracks led to massive delays, as smoke filled the tunnel and railcars as passengers were evacuated. Riders blasted Metro officials for poor communication, describing mass confusion in the smoke filled tunnel and people in tears, fearing for their lives. (RELATED: DC Metro Exec Says Dangerous Incidents ‘Will’ Keep Occurring)
“It was like chaos, and nobody knows what’s going on,” Sarah Alaoui, a passenger in the train told The Washington Post. “Who knows what’s going to happen to you in a sealed off Metro in the tunnels when you hear an explosion? There was no information.”
The chaos continued Monday with commuters on the orange line reporting smoke, apparently caused by an escalator fire, which spread through the Rosslyn station and filled an orange line train. A separate issue forced red line trains to single track Tuesday. Single tracking on the red line will cause delays this weekend, as officials initiate another round of track fixes to deal with the persistent and dangerous maintenance threats. (RELATED: ‘Chaos’ Reported On DC Metro As Delays Hit Red, Orange And Blue Lines)
Violence erupted on a Metro train Wednesday after a woman asked a juvenile to stop playing her music aloud. A verbal altercation ensued and eventually the juvenile grabbed the woman’s hair and slammed her head into the poles in the railcar. Police eventually apprehended the juvenile, however the woman complained Metro officials did nothing to help her when she came running asking for assistance, reports WUSA9.
“Building a safety culture is not easy and requires relentless focus at every level,” Foxx said in the statement. “These three new Federal members will build on our promise to bring a laser-like focus on making the transit system of our nation’s capital as safe as possible.”
Carol Carmody, former Vice Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and David Strickland, former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will replace two of the current members with voting authority. Robert Lauby, Chief Safety Officer of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), will serve as a new alternate director for Metro.
The Metro board has eight voting members with eight alternate directors. Foxx’s impatience stems from the failure of current Metro officials to establish a Safety Oversight Office. The passage of the FAST Act in 2015 turned control of federal D.C. Metro appointments over to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, a power formerly held by the General Services Administration (GSA).
Meanwhile, despite a reported $700 million in unspent federal grants for capital improvements for the Metro, Chairman Jack Evans says Congress must appropriate $300 million to help balance their budget sheet, and wants $1 billion annually from local governments to conduct the necessary repairs to keep the system running. Evans, who told Congress in April, “next time something happens, I’m blaming you guys,” said Monday, safety threats will persist until the money flows.
“It wont be fine,” Evans told WTOP. “Until this region finally gets it through their head that this system needs a real, real overhaul, then we’re going to continue to have incidents like this.”
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