[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11278-11279]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              METRO SAFETY

  Ms. MIKULSKI. What morning business this is. For those of us in the 
National Capital region, this is indeed a very solemn day. One year ago 
today, nine people died on Washington's Metro. We were shocked and 
horrified when a red line Metro train struck another train. Eight 
passengers were killed, including one Marylander from Hyattsville. A 
train operator also died, and over 50 passengers were injured.
  Those men and women died not as a result of a terrorist attack or of 
sabotage, these deaths happened because of Metro. It was a failure of 
management, it was a failure of technology, and it was a failure of the 
culture of safety at Metro.
  Today our hearts go out to those families, those who lost loved ones 
and those who bear the permanent injuries of that fateful day. Since 
that day there have been 4 more deaths at Metro. This brings the total 
to 13 deaths in the last year. Let me repeat that--13 people died by 
Metro in the last 12 months.
  After that June 22 crash 1 year ago, four Metro employees died on the 
job. One last August was a track repairman from Silver Spring who was 
hit by maintenance equipment. In September, another employee died. A 
communications technician was hit by a train. In January, two more 
Metro employees died. They were automatic train control technicians 
when they, too, were struck by a maintenance truck.
  Well, in December, I said enough is enough. We always say a grateful 
nation will never forget after a terrible accident and we go to a 
memorial service. Well, for me what happened at Metro was not a 
memorial service, it was a call to service and for action by us. The 
best way we can honor the memory of those who died and those who were 
injured is to reform Metro.
  I have called for that reform. In December during my testimony on 
rail safety legislation I introduced, I spoke out and said it was time 
for change at Metro. They needed new leadership. They needed a fresh 
approach. They needed to adopt a culture of safety that was unrelenting 
in terms of their focus on the details to protect the people who work 
on the Metro and the people who ride the Metro.
  I was shocked to learn there are no Federal safety standards for any 
Metro. So whether we are talking about the National Capital region 
Metro or New York's subway system or California's subway system, there 
are no Federal safety standards.
  That is why I worked with NTSB and the Federal Transit Administration 
to develop legislation that would do two things: give our own U.S. 
Department of Transportation the authority to establish and enforce 
Federal safety standards so we would have uniformity, conformity, and 
metrics for measuring safety on the Metro that we help fund. It also 
would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to implement the 
National Transportation Safety Board's recommendation list which 
includes requiring that railcars have crashworthy standards, emergency 
entry and evacuation standards, and regulations for train operator 
shifts.
  We have safety standards for commercial airplanes. We have safety 
standards for buses that carry passengers. But we do not have safety 
standards for railcars that are used in subways. I think that is wrong.
  What we also found was that safety inspectors that are part of a 
unique governing system were denied access to the Metro tracks. That is 
when we said we needed to find out what was going on. I called for a 
Federal audit of Metro, a Federal investigation of just what was going 
on there.
  Thanks to Secretary LaHood and FTA leader Peter Rogoff, well known to 
those of us in the Senate, they did an outstanding audit which was 
indeed an outstanding service for us all. Their findings were shocking, 
hair-raising, and chilling. What did we find out?
  Supervisors and train operators did not exactly know where Metro 
workers might be doing maintenance on the tracks until they actually 
saw them. Can you imagine? People driving the train had to see with 
their own eyes their workers to make sure they did not hit them.
  There was no technological warning system. Operators weren't given 
the exact location of workers on the tracks. Information was 
generalized and workers were often in different locations than what 
operators were told. So the Metro itself was a lethal tool. Metro did 
not have the manpower to implement its own safety programs. It did not 
have a list of the top ten safety hazards and concerns. The list goes 
on and on about the audit.
  I held a very vigorous oversight hearing, both Senator Cardin and 
myself. We pushed Metro to come up with a checklist for change. We 
insisted that they come up with this checklist. I demanded that they 
give it to us right then and there.
  They told me they were going to be working on it, and I said: Look, 
tell me what you are going to do. Well, listen to how ground shaking it 
was: Replace the oldest railcars on the fleet, develop a realtime 
automatic train control redundancy system, strengthen the expertise of 
the safety department, complete the roadway worker protection program, 
develop a training and certification program for bus and rail 
personnel, strengthen employee knowledge of rules and rules compliance, 
develop an accident and investigation database, create a strong 
internal training tracking database, fill vacancies in the safety 
department, and improve the agency's safety culture.
  Imagine, it took a Senator holding a public hearing to get a must-do 
list on the safety list for change. This is unacceptable. We have to 
make sure we have Federal legislation. We need to do two things: We 
need to have Federal legislation, and we need to have Federal funding.
  I want to make sure we save lives on the Metro. This is why I 
introduced safety reform legislation. I understand the Banking 
Committee is considering it. Well, the Banking Committee needs to pass 
it, and the Banking Committee needs to pass it before the July 4 work 
break.

[[Page 11279]]

  I know the Banking Committee has a lot on their plate. I know they 
are trying to regulate Wall Street. Good for them. Three cheers for 
them. We want that. But while we are making sure people do not lose 
their money on Wall Street, we have to make sure they do not lose their 
lives on Metro. So I ask our friends on the Banking Committee, could we 
kind of get this done this week, next week, before the July 4 break?
  The bill does three things: It gives the Secretary of Transportation 
the authority to establish and enforce safety standards, including 
those standards for railcars and making sure there is an employee 
safety certification training program; it also requires oversight of 
the agencies monitoring safety to be independent; it funds federally 
approved State oversight agencies to make sure they have the rules of 
the road and the resources to do it because we regulate so much of this 
at the State level.
  I am pretty worked up about this. I hope we move the bill. I hope we 
move it before the break.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LeMIEUX. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LeMIEUX. I ask unanimous consent to speak until the Senate goes 
into recess at 12:30.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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