Metro’s ‘Culture of Saftey’ Still in Question


“A safety of culture is taking root at Metro,” said Paul Wiedefeld, director of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, at the National Press Club last week. That was a day before yet another “incident” caused a temporary shutdown of the Silver line on Dec. 1.

It’s been almost nine months since Wiedefeld shut down the entire Metrorail system for several days to make emergency inspections of all the operations, tracks and cars — “the toughest decision of my career,” the soft spoken director recounted. But a focused plan of repairs called SafeTrack was begun almost immediately. It accelerates three years’ worth of work into approximately one year, requiring months of single-tracking and complete shutdowns of various sections of the Metro system in time slots called “surges.”

“After SafeTrack, the above-ground tracks will be in a state of good repair,” Wiedefeld said. “Something that hasn’t been there is more than a decade.”

Sixty percent of delays are caused by railcar failure and 18 percent by track problems, according to Wiedefeld. Plans to retire the 1000- and 4000-series cars is already underway. “By the end of 2017, Metro goals are to cut delays caused by track problems by 50 percent, and delays caused by railcar failures by 25 percent,” he said.

The political problems are something else. There are hot discussions throughout the Washington metropolitan area — the District, Maryland and Virginia — to raise fares, to negotiate state subsidies or to privatize parts or all of the system.

At his Press Club speech, Wiedefeld “dodged questions about which parts of the Metro system he might be willing to privatize in addition to paratransit operations,” wrote Martin Di Caro National Public Radio’s transportation reporter. “But federal law bars him from privatizing certain aspects of the operations.”

Congress has increased its oversight of the system and may do so even more under the Trump administration.

“I look forward to meeting Elaine Chao,” the transportation secretary nominee, said Wiedefeld, who will have to look forward to more oversight hearings along with Council member Jack Evans who is chairman of the Metro board.

Meanwhile, the Metro system is gearing up for the presidential inauguration ceremonies on Friday, Jan. 20. Wiedefeld said that there will be special commemorative SmarTrip cards for the day.

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