Passengers react as smoke fills a Metro train in a tunnel outside the L’Enfant Plaza station Jan. 12. (Courtesy of Saleh Damiger)
A heated exchange during Thursday’s Metro board meeting appeared to show the strain the beleaguered transit agency is under after a critical federal report and two days of public hearings into the fatal Jan. 12 smoke incident.
Midway through a committee meeting, board member Leif A. Dormsjo addressed a top Metro executive about comments made during a closed session. James M. Dougherty, Metro’s chief safety officer, apparently was discussing a recent report by the Federal Transit Administration that pointed out significant flaws in the agency’s system for ensuring that trains and buses operate safely.
“You said that you didn’t feel that the [FTA] would have scrutinized any other property in the aftermath of a similar incident, but because we’re in the nation’s capital, the FTA is focused” on Metro, Dormsjo said to Dougherty.
“Why would you say that? And why would I care? If they’re doing it here and not somewhere else, why would I care as a board member?” Dormsjo asked.
He continued: “If the scrutiny is exposing concerns and real lack of management control over the key safety issues, why would I care whether it’s only happening here? You seem to think that the FTA may be picking on [the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] because we’re in the nation’s capital.”
“Not at all, sir,” Dougherty replied. “I’m not saying that, and if that’s what came across, then I’m sorry for making it sound that way.”
The exchange was a barometer for the state of affairs at Metro a day after officials with the National Transportation Safety Board concluded hearings grilling top executives about the sequence of events on Jan. 12, when scores of riders were trapped on a train filled with noxious fumes, resulting in the death of one person.
It also comes a week after an FTA safety-management review outlined 91 actions the agency needs to take for its rail and bus operations.
Metro officials said Thursday that the FTA report will get a swift response and that they will work to review and address each of the report’s required actions.
They called the findings troubling but maintained that as a whole, the system is safe to use.
The federal safety inspections, they said, mirrored their own inventory of concerns. For many, most concerning were the findings about the central Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC), which Mortimer L. Downey, the board’s chairman, called the “heart and brain of our system.” The ROCC is akin to the system that controls the nation’s air traffic.
The federal review found that the ROCC is heavily understaffed, with 34 train controllers managing the movement of more than 100 trains.
But the staffing is 20 short of the 54 controllers the transit authority has authorized. This leaves staff working six and seven 12-hour days per week. Even with that, supervisors at times cannot find staffers to fill the open slots.
“The Rail Operations Control Center is the heart of our rail system, and if it is not operating at peak efficiency, peak effectiveness, we are going to have serious problems and we can’t guarantee safety,” said board member Kathy Porter.
“I really think that we have to do a top-to-bottom review of the Rail Operations Control Center, very seriously consider the recommendations the FTA made and either fix this or come up with very good reasons why they don’t need to be fixed.”
Dougherty said that many of the issues highlighted by the federal oversight study were valid. Others, he said, were less clear, as they exist independent of regulations on rail operations.
He emphasized that efficiency within the system should not compromise safety, as some Metro critics have maintained is often the case. The FTA review found that maintenance workers have not been given proper access to address a backlog of repairs dating to 2012.
“Safety is more important than on-time performance,” Dougherty said.
Board member Michael Goldman called the various findings “distressing.” He, too, highlighted the issue of a trade-off between efficiency and safety. In an interview after the meeting, he expressed concern that issues within Metro weren’t directly reaching the board.
“The FTA report is a big wake-up call,” he said. “It’s especially concerning to me as a board member that these kinds of issues are not coming to the attention of the board.”
The agency was given 30 days to respond to the FTA concerning the safety report. The NTSB investigation into the Jan. 12 smoke incident is continuing, and a final report is not expected until early next year.
It was evident that Metro officials also would use the 30-day response period to clarify some of the FTA’s findings.
“I’m not saying that it’s unfair, I’m saying there’s some things that can be clarified,” Dougherty said, responding to Dormsjo earlier in the meeting.
“There’s no standard,” he said. “No other transit agency in the country has to follow those [recommendations] at this point in time.”
Jack Requa, Metro’s interim general manager, said that this week’s NTSB hearings were an opening for the transit agency. “I think the last three days presented a good opportunity to question and comment and clarify,” he said.
In other business Thursday, the board amended its capital budget for the next fiscal year to include $431 million to buy 220 additional state-of-the art rail cars.
Metro had been awaiting clearance from the FTA for the early retirement of its older 5000-series rail cars so it could finalize the deal to purchase the new 7000-series cars. That hurdle was cleared earlier this month.
The board also gave Metro staff authority to take any further action needed to complete the elimination of the paper Farecards in the system.
Staff told the board that the agency is on track to make the switch in early 2016.