Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Metro expects to release its final schedule this week for the yearlong rebuilding effort known as SafeTrack, which will include long periods of single tracking and closures as crews work to repair the system’s outdated infrastructure. The plan was expected to be finalized by this past Monday, but Metro said it would not meet the deadline thanks to directives from the Federal Transit Administration, forcing WMATA to shuffle its closure schedule.
The FTA is ordering Metro trains through downtown to slow down, maintaining a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour, in an effort to use less electricity and hopefully minimize the chances of electrical arcing or explosions. That directive was put in place in time for the Monday morning rush, but Metro didn’t alert riders to the potential delay until midday Monday.
As part of the SafeTrack plan, Metro was planning to close the Blue/Orange/Silver corridor between Eastern Market and Minnesota Avenue stations in August, but the FTA included the section as part of a list of track work that needs to take place immediately. Thus, Metro is expected to shuffle the schedule before its final release.
Another FTA directive recommended Metro use fewer 8-car trains in order to minimize electrical use, something to which Metro has not responded one way or another.
“There are times where I feel like my head is exploding with Metro, because it seems like we get over one disaster, and then another one happens,” Virginia Senator Mark Warner told WMAL at an event Monday. “I give (Paul) Wiedefeld, the new General Manager, credit for no longer kicking the can, laying out an aggressive plan. It is going to cause disruption.”
Warner said the lack of a robust safety culture, especially at the Operations Center, is “inexcusable.”
“The General Manager has been given authority to fire those Metro employees who aren’t with the new program,” Warner said. “There may need to be that kind of shockwave through the system.”
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