Photo by T.D. Ford.
The Federal Transit Association just released their much-anticipated inspection report of WMATA and—shocker—it’s pretty scathing.
Among the highlights of the report are “organizational deficiencies and operational concerns that significantly limit WMATA’s ability to recognize and resolve safety issues.” Those issues include how Metrorail schedules and conducts maintenance work and handles emergency situations, such as the January 12 smoke incident at L’Enfant Plaza that was caused by an “electrical arcing event.”
“These are serious findings that strongly indicate that, despite gains made since the Fort Totten accident, WMATA’s safety program is inadequate,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “WMATA management, its board of directors and its state safety oversight agency must work together to address FTA’s required actions, because the safety of passengers and personnel must be the top priority.”
The FTA’s report includes 44 Metrorail findings and 10 for Metrobus. Among the most glaring concerns was that WMATA work crews lacked adequate training, as well as checklists and instructions, to help them “perform critical inspection, testing, and maintenance activities.” Inspectors from the FTA also observed “poorly utilized information management systems and technology” that makes training and testing for WMATA’s programs very difficult.
The most significant issue the report highlights, however, is “serious safety lapses” in the Rail Operations Control Center, the nerve center for the operation of Metrorail. “Collectively, these issues significantly impact the ability of the Metrorail system,” the report states.
So what’s next? Well, the FTA and the National Transportation Safety Board are issuing a “safety directive” to WMATA, outlining what they need to do to address the problems highlighted in the report.
“WMATA must commit to more employee safety training, increased track time for maintenance work, and a greater effort at identifying and reducing safety risks to deliver the level of safety its passengers and employees deserve,” FTA Acting Administrator Therese McMillan said.
Additionally, the FTA is requesting that the WMATA Board make changes to its Fiscal Year 2016 budget in order to address the safety concerns of its system.
You can read through the full report below:
