Welbes testifying before the House panel. Photo: courtesy of FTA.
In an update to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform panel, the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Executive Director Matthew Welbes has stated that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) is implementing needed safety changes to its Metrorail system, but it must do more. The FTA assumed temporary and direct safety oversight of WMATA Metrorail in October 2015 due to serious incidents and safety lapses at WMATA, and the shortcomings of the Tri‑State Oversight Committee’s (TOC) oversight and enforcement authority.
“While FTA has seen improvements at WMATA, significant work remains to bring the Metrorail system into a state of good repair, develop and improve WMATA’s safety culture, and improve WMATA’s financial outlook,” Welbes said to the panel. “WMATA must continue to prioritize safety over service, and commit to providing customers and workers with the assurance that their safety is the first priority.”
Welbes noted that the WMATA leadership has taken significant steps in prioritizing safety over revenue service, pointing out, however, that “establishing and ensuring an enduring safety culture is the critical task ahead.” He also noted that the FTA’s oversight role is temporary and will continue only until the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia set up a new State Safety Oversight Agency (SSOA) for WMATA to replace the TOC, which did not effectively respond to critical Metrorail safety oversight issues.
The FTA’s safety directives have guided WMATA prioritization of SafeTrack work to locations where urgent repairs were most required to reduce the risk of smoke and fire events, with WMATA correcting numerous degraded fire and life safety equipment in tunnels that affect emergency passenger evacuations. Welbes pointed out that the SafeTrack repairs are necessary and long overdue, and that once made, “they must be sustained with a long-term preventative maintenance plan as well as a strong safety culture or else WMATA will fall right back to an unacceptable condition.”
In February 2016, the FTA informed Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia that they must receive FTA certification of a new state safety oversight program— including creation of a new SSOA compliant with Federal requirements— by February 9, 2017. Failure to meet this deadline could result in withholding up to $15 million in federal transit funding from 23 communities throughout Maryland, Virginia and the District. The FTA is preparing to transition safety oversight to the new SSOA in 2017.