Photo by Chris Rief aka Spodie OdieMetro General Manager John Catoe has released this lengthy statement on the future of the transit agency’s safety standards, which he delivered to the WMATA board of directors today. In it, he declares a “war” to make sure the transit system is as safe as it can possibly be.
The statement comes after Catoe announced that he would replace two of his top managers in the wake of a year of spectacular safety failures. Nine people died in the June 22 Red Line crash, and two Metro workers were killed in separate incidents later in the year. Then last month, another train collision, this one after-hours, injured three Metro employees at the West Falls Church rail yard.
An excerpt of Catoe’s statement:
To win the trust of customers, employees and others- we have battles in front of us, the proportions of which have never been confronted before. Until now. These battles involve not only the Metro system, but every person in every corner of our nation who plays a role in operating any kind of transit service. We must do everything we can to protect our riders, to restore their confidence in mass transit and to prevent all barriers, including resources, from impeding our efforts to run the safest systems possible. If people don’t feel safe, we won’t have riders. There can be no doubt in their minds about safety- period.
Statistically, mass transit remains the safest mode of transportation- above automobiles and airplanes. However, in every mode — in every work place — in every aspect of our lives, the threat of accidents is always there. But we must make every effort to avoid them. I, along with every Metro employee, will do whatever is necessary to minimize that risk. This is not lip-service. This is my declaration of war- war on anything and everything that stands in our way of making our system as safe as it can possibly be.
This is a far cry from Catoe’s previous efforts to reassure the public, which have tended to be more of the “I’ll do the best I can” variety. But whether it’s too little, too late as far as the public is concerned remains to be seen. One specific plan Catoe mentions is that early next year, he will finally begin the process of replacing Metro’s older, 1000 series rail cars — the same kind of car that was blamed for possibly making the Red Line crash worse than it could have been. Shortly after the crash, the NTSB urged Metro to replace all of its 1000 series cars, but WMATA countered that it simply did not have the money to implement that recommendation.
