Norton to Question WMATA Officials on Unprecedented Safety Overhaul at Hearing this Month; Says Region’s Immediate Priority Should Be on Establishing State Safety Oversight Agency

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, today said that she will use a Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, May 24, 2016, on Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) safety to question WMATA on the unprecedented safety overhaul, announced today, and whether the one-year period will be sufficient to reach acceptable safety standards outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Norton said that after trying to schedule track work during early-morning and late-night hours, WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld, reinforced by NTSB’s final report on last year’s L’Enfant Plaza smoke tragedy, must be supported in his conclusion that the system cannot be fixed without longer periods spent on rebuilding sections of the Metro system. Norton is one of the “Big Four” House Transportation leaders who wrote the recently-passed five-year surface transportation bill, the FAST Act, where she got an additional $193.5 million in transit funding for D.C. over five years.

“The announcement today should lay to rest the dispute that emerged during the NTSB’s hearing on whether the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) or the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) should be tasked with conducting direct safety oversight over WMATA. Congress, through MAP-21 and the FAST Act, authorized FTA to assume direct safety oversight of a transit system if the State Safety Oversight Agency is unable to do so. Thus, FTA has a mandate from Congress, and as a practical matter is the only actor capable of quickly taking on safety oversight of WMATA while General Manager Wiedefeld embarks on the unprecedented rehabilitation of the system.

“While the safety overhaul is being conducted, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia must not lose focus on the separate issue of establishing an independent State Safety Oversight Agency. Apparently, the D.C. Department of Transportation is working with the Virginia and Maryland Departments of Transportation to submit the necessary legislation to the D.C. Council this fall. Maryland and Virginia authorities must be ready to submit legislation in January 2017 so that a State Safety Oversight Agency can be up and running by the middle of 2017, coinciding with the conclusion of the one-year safety campaign.”

Norton, who is on committees with oversight of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), will schedule calls to ask if teleworking for federal employees can be facilitated, particularly when certain sections of Metro are undergoing substantial repairs.

Norton has already asked leadership to schedule a meeting with the entire regional House delegation to meet with General Manager Wiedefeld and WMATA Board of Directors Chairman Jack Evans.