Metro is planning to spend $851 million in next year’s capital budget to pay for big-ticket items such as buses and new rail cars. But smaller, less high-profile items are on the list, such as $2 million worth of track fasteners. “We really have to replace things critical to our system to make it safer,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. “It doesn’t sound exciting to riders but it is important.”

These are the items that make the trains run smoothly on the track bed, and the parts that help operate the wheelchair lifts on buses, keep the trains cool in summer or just keeps the buses from breaking down.