Norton to Speak at Ceremony Recognizing One-Year Anniversary of Metro Collision

Norton to Speak at Ceremony Recognizing One-Year Anniversary of Metro Collision

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak on Tuesday, June 22, at a memorial ceremony for the nine area residents who were killed in the June 22, 2009 Metrorail collision, seven from the District of Columbia. The event will take place at 10 a.m. at the Fort Totten Metro station, 550 Galloway Street, NE.

Norton, a senior member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has been a congressional leader on Metro. Last year, shortly after the collision, she requested the first hearing on the safety and operations of Metrorail. During questioning of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other witnesses, Norton learned that all of the fatalities occurred in Metro's oldest 1970s vintage cars. Consequently, she introduced H.R. 3975 to require NTSB to issue affordable interim safety recommendations, pending funding for NTSB final recommendations. Her bill required NTSB to recommend short-term steps, such as, putting older train cars between the newer cars. The Norton bill is included in the NTSB Reauthorization bill, which passed out of committee in March.

At a recent oversight hearing on Metro, Norton called for an entirely independent Metro safety commission, funded directly by the legislatures of D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The Congresswoman is now working on the second $150 million installment of the $1.5 billion over ten years, authorized by Congress for capital improvements and must be matched by the District, Maryland and Virginia.

Norton is also a cosponsor of the National Metro Safety Act, which would implement and enforce national safety standards for all subway systems. In addition, she introduced legislation to rename the D.C. National Guard Tuition Assistance bill in honor of Major General David Wherley Jr., the former commander of the D.C. Guard who was killed along with his wife, Ann, in the Metro collision.

Norton said, "With Metro leadership in transition, we reach the first-year anniversary of one of the worst subway accidents in our history. On this anniversary, we must first remember those we lost, and with that tragic memory in mind, hasten to rebuild Metro into a truly safe and efficient 21^st Century system."