FTA says “significant work” remains to improve WMATA

WMATA/File photo

Despite the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority’s (WMATA) recently announced safety enhancement initiatives, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Executive Director Matthew Welbes is calling for more heavy lifting on the transportation authority’s end.  

Executive Director Welbes told a U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform panel that although the FTA has taken notice of the improvements made by the transportation authority so far, “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.”

“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 added. “Establishing and ensuring an enduring safety culture is the critical task ahead.” 

He also emphasized that the FTA’s oversight of WMATA is temporary and will go on only until the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia establish a new State Safety Oversight Agency (SSOA) for the transportation authority.

Representatives say the FTA is currently conducting direct safety oversight of WMATA through its inspection and investigation authority and its authority to redirect federal funds to safety critical activities.

According to the FTA, its oversight has enabled all rail traffic controllers in the Metrorail Rail Operations Control Center to complete their required annual certifications for the first time since 2012, with about 2,000 employees who were carrying expired Roadway Worker Protection program certifications having been retrained and properly certified.

The FTA’s directives also guided WMATA prioritization of SafeTrack work to locations requiring the most urgent repairs to reduce the risk of smoke and fire hazards. The led WMATA to correct several instances of degraded fire and life safety equipment in tunnels needed for emergency passenger evacuations.

Welbes stressed that the SafeTrack repairs are necessary and overdue, and said that after these tasks are completed, “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.”

A letter submitted by the FTA in February 2016 informed the states of Virginia and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia, that they must gain FTA certification of a new state safety oversight program— including creation of a new SSOA—by Feb. 9, 2017. The FTA says a failure to meet the deadline could result in withholding up to $15 million in federal transit funds.

The FTA is also gearing up for the transition of safety oversight to the new SSOA in 2017.