Norton Gets Commitment on Assuring Metro Safety (7/14/09)
Norton Gets Commitment on Assuring Metro Safety
July 14, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - At a hearing she requested, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton today (D-DC) said that she would "not hesitate to take a Metro train, even after the June 22 collision, because the Subcommittee's oversight convinces her that the system is safe, despite the Metro tragedy." However, she said, "it is fair for riders to seek reassurance now, or seek to know whether there is reason to be concerned about the daily trip on a Metro train."
Norton also announced that the regional delegation has been successful in securing the first $150 million of the $1.5 billion over ten years, authorized by Congress to be matched by the District, Maryland, and Virginia, because John Olver, Chair, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, found funding although the Administration's budget did not contain funding despite urging from the region.
At the hearing, Norton asked WMATA General Manager John Catoe whether the tax advantage Metro got from the old trains until 2014 had influenced his decision on replacing those cars. He responded that had he been able to get the funds for the 30 percent of the fleet consisting of the old cars, he could and would have substituted available newer cars, without incurring a $250 million penalty.
Norton got a commitment from Deborah Hersman, of the National Transportation Safety Board, to consider recommending interim measures to promote safety, along with its typical recommendations that would usually cost the system billions of dollars. She was concerned that not until after the collision did WMATA adopt the common-sense, low-cost precaution of placing newer, more crash-worthy cars at the front and rear ends of the train, with older cars in the mid section only. Instead, WMATA was running the older cars in complete units. Only the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 had recommended this step WMATA is now taking, although, the NTSB never made this recommendation. Norton asked and received a commitment from Hersman to consider such interim steps in addition to the more costly steps that have comprised their usual recommendations.
Norton came to the hearing after managing her resolution with co-sponsors from the region and other Members of Congress in memory of the nine who died in the collision, seven from the District of Columbia, and one each from Maryland and Virginia.
Norton's opening statement follows:
Statement of
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
July 14, 2009
I want once again to thank Chairman Stephen Lynch for his consistent attention to the safety and the operations of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority system by responding to my request early in his tenure as chair with a hearing he called on April 24th and again today granting my request for this hearing in light of the June 22nd Metro tragedy. Before requesting today's hearing, I took the precaution of speaking with the appropriate Metro and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials concerning a hearing before the investigation is complete and learned that it is not unusual to be asked to testify before an investigation is fully completed. The investigation of this collision may require in access of a year.
Following our hearing in April, we had every reason to believe that the Metro system was a safe system, and because of the consistent oversight of this subcommittee, I continue to believe that the system that serves this region and millions of visitors is safe. I would not hesitate to board a Metro train even after the tragedy of June 22nd. However, the public is not fully aware of what this subcommittee has learned during years of consistent oversight about the overall safety of the system, and in any case, the public deserves to know much more following the recent catastrophe. It is fair for riders to seek reassurance now, or to know whether there is reason to be concerned about the daily trip on a Metro train. The public has bits and pieces of information about what may have caused the accident and about what is being done now to assure its safety. Today's hearing will make public all that is known now as Congress opens its own investigation and will allow the public to separate urban legend from authoritative facts and eye witness testimony.
Long before the June 22nd accident, the regional congressional delegation had been working to secure funds for Metro for capital costs, such as replacement of Metro cars burdened by increasing numbers of federal and congressional employees subsidized by the federal government to take Metro, who form the majority of Metro's week day employees. Today, the region is particularly grateful to chairman John Olver and the House Transportation/HUD Appropriations subcommittee for finding funds in his appropriation for the first $150 million installment of the $1.5 billion Congress has authorized over a 10-year period. Regrettably, despite our efforts, the funding was not authorized until 2008 after control of congress changed, but we particularly appreciate the efforts of the former chair of the full committee, Tom Davis, who started us down the road to today's funding and will testify today. The necessary funds were not included in the President's budget, despite urging from the delegation, but Chairman Oliver nevertheless found the funds to meet this year's commitment. I know that millions of visitors, public and private employees and residents are deeply grateful.
I have just come from managing a floor resolution recognizing those who were injured and remembering the residents we lost to this tragedy --- seven from the District of Columbia, one from Maryland and another from Virginia. We do not have responses that can console the losses of the victims and their families, and those who were injured. However, we can begin with today's hearing and the first appropriation for Metro under our bill to demonstrate to all the families, friends and associates, and to current riders that this tragedy has already had immediate effects for assuring the safety of our transportation system.