In the News

The NTSB released a short report Wednesday chock full of damning details about shoddy track and shirked inspections at Metro. Our Lauren Gardner scoops that WMATA has only been inspecting tracks at crossover points system-wide monthly instead of twice per week as required under the agency's standards. Two cars of a Metro train derailed last week at a crossover point near the East Falls Church station.

WMATA supervisors will now shadow track inspectors during crossover inspections ahead of SafeTrack surges, and those examinations will happen twice a week as required. But it's unclear how the agency shifted to a monthly inspection schedule in the first place. WMATA spokesman Dan Stessel wouldn't comment directly on the NTSB statement, other than to note that the agency's investigation continues.

Not to be outdone: FTA followed up on NTSB's statement with news that it would soon release a report detailing its own investigation of WMATA's "systemic safety deficiencies in the maintenance and repair of track."

Spokesman Paul Kincaid also defensively noted that DOT investigators responded "immediately" to the July 29 derailment and that the department "was the first federal agency" at the scene. (Remember that DOT and FTA took flak from Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia earlier this year for not having federal officials accompany WMATA inspectors on the tracks during the March 16 system shutdown.)

'Useless' standards: Speaking of Connolly, he said in a statement that some of the deteriorations along the tracks were noted as long ago as 2009. "It is not enough to simply have standards on the books," Connolly said. "In this case, Metro had more stringent standards than required by the federal government, but those standards are useless if they are not carried out each and every day and enforced from top to bottom."

http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-transportation/2016/08/metro-madness-215702