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
- Online fundraiser established for Local 821 officer’s family
- Ground broken on Brightline West — new rail jobs incoming!
- After FRA rule, Jared Cassity explains why we still need the Rail Safety Act
- ALERT for L.A.-area members — operator stabbing suspect at large
- SMART-TD wins SEPTA members’ security in their chosen craft
- Shining brightly in the midst of darkness
- Early-bird pricing for TD National Training Seminar ends April 30
- SMART-TD endorses U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana) as the next governor of the Hoosier State!
- FTA action on bus, transit safety plans praised by SMART-TD
- 27 transit members reinstated back to work in Montebello, California