D.C.: District, Maryland and Virginia push bill backing federal oversight of Metro

[marmar]

(WaPo) The District’s congressional delegate and two members of Congress from Maryland and Virginia are pushing a measure that would give legislative backing to the federal government’s oversight of Metro.

Reps. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) and Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), along with the D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), plan to submit a measure that would implement a decision by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to take charge of safety oversight for Metro. The measure would authorize Foxx to continue to oversee Metro’s rail operations until the District, Maryland and Virginia develop a state safety oversight agency that would be certified by the DOT.

Foxx stepped in earlier this month at the urging of the National Transportation Safety Board following a series of critical safety lapses, including January incident that engulfed a train in smoke and sickened dozens of passengers, one of whom died.

The proposed measure — entitled the Protect Riders of Metrorail Public Transportation Act of 2015, or the PROMPT Act — tracks the Moving Ahead for Progress (MAP-21) Act allowing the federal agency to take on safety oversight of rail operations. The bill also permits Foxx to use existing funds set aside for rail safety. ................(more)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/10/20/district-maryland-and-virginia-push-bill-backing-federal-oversight-of-metro/