Norton Calls for an Independent Metro Safety Commission (4/21/2010)

Norton Calls for an Independent Metro Safety Commission

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), today during an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled "The Washington Metro System - Safety, Service, and Stability," pressed for an entirely independent Metro safety commission, funded and directed by the legislatures of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, not through public agencies in these jurisdictions. She said that an announcement today that left in place the Tri-State Oversight Committee (TOC) was insufficient because it leaves the TOC without sufficient enforcement oversight authority. Norton asked the witnesses Peter Benjamin, chairman, board of directors, Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA); Matt Bassett, chairman, TOC, WMATA; Jackie Jeter, president, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689; and David Alpert, vice-chair, Metro Rider Advisory Council, whether they would support an independent TOC or a Metro safety commission, and all said that they would. Norton said that she hoped that the three jurisdictions would submit authorizing legislation for an independent Metro safety commission to their respective legislatures.

The Congresswoman also expressed frustration that, almost a year after the fatal Metro crash that killed nine people, little progress has been made toward major improvements in needed operations, but she commended Richard Sarles, Metro's new General Manager, for initiating several new safety measures that "would help restore confidence in Metro's safety."