DC Metro crash spurs federal oversight push
WASHINGTON — Supporters of a bill that would give federal regulators power to force transit agencies to make safety improvements are rallying around a ruling that the lack of federal oversight contributed to the fatal Metro crash in Washington last year.
Supporters believe the National Transportation Safety Board's strong language favoring federal oversight will make it easier to convince lawmakers that it is needed nationwide. But Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., put a hold on the bill after it was introduced last week to keep it from being fast-tracked through Congress.
A faulty electronic circuit was blamed for the crash that killed nine people, but the NTSB said Tuesday that Metro's "anemic safety culture" and the Federal Transit Administration's lack of authority to oversee safety contributed. The board said previous attempts to get Metro to organize its safety operation failed because federal safety oversight is lacking.
NTSB Chairwoman Deborah A.P. Hersman will brief the Washington Metro Area Congressional Delegation on the Metro crash report on Friday.
The $66 million Public Transportation Safety Act, which is now before the full Senate, would give the transportation secretary authority over public transportation safety, require transit agencies to establish comprehensive safety plans and improve the effectiveness of state safety oversight agencies.
"Facts should motivate people," Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said of the NTSB's report. "It should help us be able to move our bill."
However, Coburn's hold on the bill could block it indefinitely. He puts holds on all bills that spend new money that is not offset elsewhere in the budget, according to spokesman John Hart. The NTSB's findings are a legitimate consideration, but Coburn also is skeptical of the federal government's ability to improve public safety from the top down and concerned about any burden it might put on states, Hart said.
Mikulski was motivated by the crash to introduce her own bill, which also includes federal oversight for rail transit. That bill is still in a Senate committee.
"We're running a safety deficit at Metro and we need to be able to spend financial resources to implement the NTSB's findings," she said.
The FTA has been barred from regulating the operations of transit systems since its creation in the 1960s because it was seen as a local matter.
The FTA's only tool to sanction an agency is to withhold 10 percent of funding to the entire region, said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff. That step is rarely taken and often the solution to a problem is not less funding, but more, he said.
