Metro’s Operations Control Center, tucked away in the agency’s Fifth Street headquarters, is the heart of the 106-mile subway operations, communications and security systems.
And if anything should happen to the center, known as “the OCC” by employees, Metro’s operations would “be severely impacted, if not rendered inoperable,” officials said.
That’s because there is no functional backup for the center.
Butthat could soon change. Metro officials said Thursday that two federal grants — expected to be allocated in the next few weeks — could help the transit agency finish the backup center, located at a secret site in Landover, by 2008.
Officials said they expect to receive nearly $90 million from two Department of Homeland Security grant programs in the next month, $15 million of which would pay to outfit the backup center with technology and communications systems to ensure the system could continue to function in the event of a terrorist attack at or near the main control center.
On average, the control center handles the daily movement of more than 121 trains that operate 650 railcars and travel 185,000 miles of track, make 30,000 stops and carry between 600,000 and 700,000 passengers, officials said.
The plans in detail
» Metro also plans to increase redundancies throughout the system, so if one line is shut down in an emergency, other lines could remain functioning.
» Metro is one of the few transit agencies that do not have “backup” controls.
» Officials said they want to move “as quickly as possible” to complete the project.
