WASHINGTON — DC Metro says it is ready to open its Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday Rush but lacks the equipment to do so — and is blaming the watchdog Washington Metrorail Safety Commission.
In a Wednesday press release, Metro said the Silver Line is “operationally ready,” but a date for opening rests on the Safety Commission providing both certification for the new line and agreement with a plan to return its 7000-series cars — sidelined for more than a year by wheel issues — to service.
“It’s just a simple math equation,” Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager Randy Clarke said, as reported by WRC-TV. “We need x amount of trains to deliver x amount of service, and now we are adding even more miles of track for new service — so we need to bring more trains back to the system.”
The commission rejected a Metro return-to-service plan on Monday, saying the plan “is not supported by available safety information.” Metro’s press release claimed the rejection letter “continued confusion direction provided to Metro.” In response, the safety commission told WRC-TV it is concerned “that Metrorail may not be interested in carrying out its safety responsibilities, even going so far as to have senior leadership suggest at a public WMATA Board Meeting that Metrorail will only mitigate known safety issues if ordered to do so.”
But Metro submitted a revised plan on Thursday, the Washington Post reports, after both agencies met with U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner (both D-Va.), who told the organizations they needed to cooperate. The new plan includes a limit on the number of the 7000-series cars to be used during the first 30 days, which was not part of the previous plan.
A day earlier, the Post had reported that Warner and Kaine had called on Metro and the safety commission to end their “turf battles” and “get their acts together” to open the Silver Line, while U.S. Rep. Gerald Connelly said the there have been “breakdowns in communication” between the two side. Connelly (D-Va), is chair of the House Oversight subcommittee on government operations that Metra reports to on an annual basis.
Those communications issues are also covered in a report issued Wednesday by Metro’s Office of the Inspector General, which said the safety commission does not keep records, making it difficult to substantiate some claims by the agency. The safety commission says it does keep records but does not share some of them with Metro to protect confidential sources.
The 7000-series cars were sidelined after a derailment attributed to wheels shifting on their axles, a problem that had been detected, but not addressed, prior to the Oct. 12, 2021, derailment [see “Metrorail car in Arlington derailment …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 19, 2021]. The initial attempt to restore them to service was halted because of issues over testing. A small number of the Kawasaki-built cars — which represent more than half the Metrorail fleet — have gradually been returned to service.
Of course, WMATA still doesn’t know why the wheels aer falling off it’s trains. But I’m sure all the reports are properly collated and bound.
Does anyone else get anxious when Senators tell a safety regulator that it has to “cooperate” with the organization it regulates?
I skip “anxious” and go straight to “scared” in that situation.
“Cross your fingers … It makes it so much more fun when the ‘finger-pointing’ blame-game begins ….”
(Which it inevitably always does in these types of situations )
It is nice to know that when government agencies are involved with projects they can always blame another agency if something doesn’t work.
Stellar government of Washington DC and its neighbors, the Metrorail is the showcase example of the inability of one party rule that leads down the Alice In Wonderland Rabbit Hole, oh but can they defer criticism with political witch hunts as the infrastructure crumbles