USA Today reports that U.S. DOT Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx threatened to shut down the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA or D.C. Metro) if the company does not improve safety.
Foxx’s announcement comes after Metro employees refused DOT’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) access to a tunnel following an explosion of a third-rail insulator last week.
As a result, the FTA issued a safety directive May 7 to WMATA requiring the agency to:
“take immediate action to reduce the risk of smoke and fire events, to enhance the exercise of its emergency preparedness program, to conduct an organization-wide safety stand-down to focus all departments on core safety protocols and procedures, and to make decisions based on safety rather than on operational demands.”
Click here to read FTA’s safety directive in its entirety.
Read more of this story from USA Today.
Related News
- CSX Asks to keep Safety Reports out of the Crew Rooms, Injuries are Up, Fatalities Continue, and Transparency is Down
- WE WILL NOT “SHUT THE !#*$ UP AND DRIVE”!
- Railroad Retirement Benefits Set to Increase in January
- Semi Crushes Member in Decatur, Ill.
- Long-time Union Ally Mikie Sherrill Runs for New Jersey Governor
- FRA Suspends Safety Reports due to Government Shutdown
- SMART-TD to Port Terminal Railroad Association: Your Harassment Stops Now.
- Honoring the Professional Drivers Who Keep Our Children Safe
- Report Transit Assaults to Help SMART-TD Fight Back
- Another RRB Office Moves to New Location