WASHINGTON — The head of the federal agency that has taken on safety oversight responsibilities for the Metro system says the expected final vote next week to appoint a new Metro general manager is a “very important first step.”
Acting Federal Transit Administration Administrator Therese McMillan told reporters Thursday that the expected appointment of Paul Wiedefeld at a Metro Board meeting Nov. 19 is a major step toward improving the safety of Metro.
“WMATA has taken a huge step forward in terms of getting leadership. and that is going to be critical in terms of implementing all of the safety recommendations, certainly, that the Federal Transit Administration has made, but a number of other safety priorities as well,” McMillan says.
Metro must comply with dozens of recommendations from the FTA’s Safety Management Inspection conducted following the deadly smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza this year and separate National Transportation Safety Board investigations.
Metro’s last permanent general manager, Richard Sarles, announced plans to retire more than a year ago. The process to select his replacement has been full of stops and starts and apparent missteps.
Jack Requa has been the acting general manager since January, through a period that included a major transformer fire near the Stadium-Armory station that is causing reduced service and a derailment near the Smithsonian station that investigators found could have been avoided.
McMillan says that in addition to her administration’s temporary roles of inspecting and investigating any issues with Metro as needed, the U.S. Department of Transportation will ensure that federal dollars are focused on safety.
Metro has worked with the agencies responsible for oversight to outline plans for fixes. Some of those plans could take years.
“What’s important now [that we] have identified those issues is how are they going to get implemented — and we noted before that getting that done is really going to be … among other things, about leadership at the top. That’s happened, and we’ll go forward from there,” McMillan says.
Despite some misunderstandings about whether the FTA has fully taken over Metro, McMillan emphasizes that the FTA is just filling an oversight role that D.C., Maryland and Virginia should already have addressed.
“WMATA runs WMATA, and … leadership is critically important … I think that is the most important change that we’ve seen recently,” McMillan says. “Safety is a foundation for all good things. If we keep our employees safe, if we keep our customers safe, we’re providing them good customer service, I would say, at a very fundamental level.”
