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After Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) went off on WMATA for lax safety standards and endless excuses at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Thursday (C-SPAN’s got the video here, Mikulski shows up around the 40-minute mark), suddenly Metro Board Chairman Jim Graham is talking about firing some people. The Washington Post reports this morning that Graham claims that “very substantial management changes at Metro” were already in the works before Mikulski spoke her mind, and that the changes are going to happen soon and quickly.

Which managers might get the heave-ho remains to be seen, but Graham’s comments to the Post indicated that General Manager John Catoe was involved in the process, suggesting that he himself is not on his way out. Catoe’s comments to the Examiner’s Kytja Weir, who notes the raise he got only a couple months after the June 22 Red Line crash:

“I expect to be held accountable,” Catoe said. “I will commit every ounce of my energy to focus on these safety issues. I will do my best.”