[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 44 (Monday, March 21, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FAILURES OF WMATA

  (Mrs. COMSTOCK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address an issue of grave 
concern to my constituents.
  Last week's unprecedented closure of the entire Metrorail system 
demonstrated Metro's ongoing safety failures. This week, the Federal 
Transit Administration launched its safety blitz of Metro, focusing on 
the training and oversight of inspectors and the maintenance workers, 
as well as the management of track defect data.
  Paul Wiedefeld, the new general manager of Metro, issued a letter to 
the public several weeks ago identifying many of the problems, 
including management problems. First and foremost, he said: ``The 
safety culture at Metro is not integrated with operations, nor well-
rooted at all levels.''
  For example, although this has already been noted, he noted that 
there were more red lights blown through in 2015 by its operators than 
in either 2013 or 2014. Clearly, we are going the wrong direction, and 
we need to improve Metro.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues on this important 
measure to protect the Metro system of the Nation's capital.

                          ____________________