The local group that oversees Metro safety inspected live subway tracks Wednesday, ending a nearly seven-month dispute with the transit agency over access to the system it is supposed to monitor.
The Tri-State Oversight Committee sent out three crews donned in hard hats and safety vests to walk tracks where maintenance work was being done in tunnels, aboveground and on elevated portions of the 106-mile system.
The teams — made up of one committee member, a paid safety consultant and a Metro escort — were looking to confirm that trains slowed down in areas where employees were working and that all were communicating with proper hand signals, so the committee could ensure Metro was complying with safety rules it created several years ago after track workers had been killed.
“We’re glad we’re able to get out there,” Eric Madison, chairman of the committee, said outside the Judiciary Square Metrorail station before heading out to inspect. “There’s definite progress being made here.”
In May, Metro Chief Safety Officer Alexa Dupigny-Samuels denied the committee access to any live tracks, even with an escort, saying it would not be safe. The dispute continued even after two Metro employees were killed in separate accidents on the tracks.
The last time the committee inspected live tracks was in 2007, but members have said they went through a different Metro division to arrange the visits.
The struggle became the latest example of the committee’s lack of power over Metro. Earlier this summer they had sparred over Metro’s Rohr 1000 Series rail cars, which have been called uncrashworthy.
The issue came to a head last month when top officials learned about the impasse over the track inspections. The board of directors ordered the agency to comply with the oversight group, and the chief safety officer was rebuked when told to report to the agency’s police chief on important matters.
The issue came to a head last month when top officials learned about the impasse over the track inspections. The board of directors ordered the agency to comply with the oversight group, and the chief safety officer was rebuked when told to report to the agency’s police chief on important matters.
Wednesday’s inspections were unrelated to Sunday’s crash in a rail yard that injured three workers and caused more than $9 million in damage to rail cars and tracks. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into that crash, with assistance from the oversight committee.
Madison said that if the groups spotted any safety concerns on their inspections, they would immediately report them to Metro. The group may schedule other inspections later this month, as well, he said.
