The safety oversight group overseeing Metro now has a layer of teeth to force the transit agency to fix safety problems: money. Top officials from Maryland, Virginia and the District have agreed to suspend or cancel their funding of Metro’s infrastructure costs if the transit agency fails to resolve safety concerns brought up by the Tri-State Oversight Committee.
“We don’t anticipate this is the type of thing that is going to be used, and we hope it is never going to be used,” TOC Chairman Matthew Bassett said.
But he acknowledged it marked an important commitment that gave new power to the committee, which has faced extensive criticism in the past year and a half for having no power over the transit system.
The committee had been nearly invisible before the June 22, 2009, Red Line crash killed nine and injured dozens more. The chairman of Metro’s board of directors and other high-ranking Metro officials did not even know it existed. It had no office, phone or Web site but was charged with making sure the transit agency’s rail system was safe.
The TOC also had no direct funding authority or ways of forcing Metro to comply with its safety recommendations. The only recourse was that the Federal Transit Authority could withhold up to 5 percent of a state’s grant funds if the TOC didn’t meet its requirements, thus making any penalties one step removed from direct control. And the FTA never withheld any cash.
Metro and TOC officials butted heads last year when Metro’s safety chief refused to allow the oversight team access to the rail system’s tracks to make sure the agency was following safety protocols for its workers. During the impasse, two track workers were killed in separate incidents.
Bassett declined to comment on whether the oversight group had any past interactions with Metro in which it would have liked power to have funding pulled.
Metro’s board is slated to review the agreement this week but does not have the power to change the funding component, Bassett said.
“We’re fine with that,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.
