WASHINGTON — With Metro suffering through declining ridership, a derailment last week and a series of trains running past red signals, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is expressing concerns about whether the system is working.
“They’ve got to prove to us that they can run a Metro system — safely, and on time. Once they do that, then we’re happy to be part of the solution moving forward on funding, but we’re not there yet,” McAuliffe said.
He praised Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld overall for his work since taking over last fall, but said that ultimately, management must turn the system around.
“We have now selected someone to run it for us; they need to run it for us. Safety is our top concern, always our top concern, and then reliability. We want people to be able to get on Metro at a designated time [and] be able to get off when they’re supposed to. If you cannot do that, then the system doesn’t work.”
Although a significant portion of Virginia’s financial contribution to Metro comes from local jurisdictions in Northern Virginia, McAuliffe said Metro is “not yet” in a position to ask for more money from the state. “I want to see results,” he said.
McAuliffe said he would not “second-guess” Wiedefeld’s proposal to permanently cut back on service on weekends. Wiedefeld has said it would allow more time for maintenance.
