Washington leaders propose Metro safety commission

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a press release Wednesday that “this is an important step toward improving the safety and reliability of Metro.”

The proposal would make the Metrorail Safety Commission independent of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and give it broad safety oversight powers. The commission would adopt a “written safety oversight program standard,” review and approve the WMATA Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, and investigate hazards, incidents and accidents.

It will replace the toothless Tri-State Oversight Committee, which made many recommendations to fix the system, but did not have enforcement power. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in the fall turned safety oversight of Metro over to the Federal Transit Administration and had been pressing the jurisdictions to create the new oversight panel.

The three jurisdictions that oversee Metrorail — Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia — will review the draft in upcoming weeks, with the WMATA Board of Directors, the Federal Transit Administration and a Department of Transportation adviser specially appointed after increasing worries about the viability of the aging system.

The legislation will be introduced later this year before the D.C. Council and during the 2017 General Assembly sessions in Maryland and Virginia.

“Collaboration between Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., is crucial to ensure the safety and security of WMATA,” said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican. The commission;s board will have six members, two from each jurisdiction.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia, said at a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing earlier this week that WMATA’s responsibility to respond to three jurisdictions is a “built-in structural problem” the system has not been able to “get over.”