Press Releases

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, released the following statement regarding the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Inspector General’s report on the working relationship between WMATA and the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC). The report follows Chairman Connolly’s  request for an investigation after the October 12, 2021 derailment of a 7000 series railcar.

“In my capacity as a subcommittee Chairman on the House Oversight Committee, I requested that the WMATA OIG investigate the working relationship between WMATA and the WMSC. Through the course of the subcommittee’s rigorous oversight of Metro, we observed serious deficiencies in the safety oversight operations of the system that were the direct result of breakdowns in communication and collaboration between WMATA and the WMSC. 

This latest OIG report confirms the need to improve WMSC and WMATA cooperation, which has caused substantial problems and must be addressed. I hope this work by the WMATA OIG helps strengthen WMSC-WMATA operations, an issue we believe is fundamental to improving the safety and reliability of Metro and addressing a pervasive culture of mediocrity within the system. I do, however, believe the OIG could have done the public a service by providing more substance to back up the findings and recommendations of the report. To that end, the WMATA Board must work to immediately appoint a permanent OIG and ensure the OIG is working at full capacity on its critical oversight mission.”

The full IG report is available  here.