Norton Working on Safety Language for Metro

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Highways and Transit Subcommittee, was writing an amendment in response to last week's emergency National Transportation Safety Board Metro recommendation, she said that she was pleased to see that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is already responding and that they seem to be "on the same page." Norton said, "Faced with serial accidents, it should relieve every Metro rider that the Federal Transit Administration will take direct oversight of Metrorail for now. DOT has jurisdiction as well over the Federal Railroad Administration, which is most familiar with safety oversight of railroads, including the PATH (New Jersey to New York), which is similar to Metrorail. The FTA may be able to proceed on its own, but I will continue to work with my Republican colleagues and the Administration on appropriate language to be included in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill."