Is the Metro Mess Partly the Fault of Workers, or Just WMATA Leadership?

WASHINGTON, DC — The huge mess that Metro finds itself in regarding the safety of its rail system has touched off a proxy war between Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), who argues that Metro workers deserve much of the blame for the current state of the rail system, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents Metro workers and argues that it is WMATA who is to blame for not providing proper training and resources to personnel. And a recent federal report may have thrown fuel on that fire.

The Federal Transit Administration did not hold back in its Aug. 8 report on WMATA -- which was posted by WTOP here -- and accused the agency of not providing adequate training to track inspectors, nor allowing for enough time to do proper track inspections. It also blamed WMATA for not having clear processes in place for track inspectors and supervisors to impose and remove speed restrictions, and said its manual was not properly focused on inspection safety limits.

Some of these issues were first brought up in a report from the National Transporation Safety Board (NTSB) on July 29 after the derailment of a Silver Line train near the East Falls Church station. Comstock put out a statement Aug. 3 blaming both Metro for reducing the frequency of inspections and workers for "substandard, unacceptable performance." She also argued that there were too many workers and they were overpaid.

Local 689 hit back two days later: "One-term Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA-10) took the opportunity to ignore the safety issues in the report and attack Metro’s track workers with all-out lies and fabricated statements with no supporting data."

Comstock’s Deputy Chief of Staff Jeff Marschner released a statement the same day noting that the Washington Post Editorial Board "took ATU Local 689 to task" for not being "behind the safety surge," and noted that even Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans had demanded "that heads roll over the July 29th derailment."

The new FTA report is sure to add more fuel to the fire as the battle intensifies between the two sides. David Stephen, a spokesman for Local 689, said that the union had no comment on the FTA report at this time, and referred to the unified agenda issued July 30, which the union wrote about here.

Asked by Patch.com whether the FTA report vindicates Metro workers, Marschner said in an email that Comstock "has consistently stated that we need a top-to-bottom cultural change at WMATA and need to make a safety culture" the No. 1 priority.

"There are weekly smoke incidents," he added. "There have been 47 reported red signal violations on Metro since 2012 according to FTA. In the past 6 years, Metrobus drivers accumulated nearly 2300 traffic camera tickets according to The Washington Post. These are but a few of the daily problems that the entire system faces and must be turned around. Both management and rank and file employees need to be committed to a customer oriented system that puts safety first."

The ongoing issue won't be going away anytime soon as scrutiny of Metro continues to increase, and particularly with Comstock making this a major issue as she seeks her first reelection this fall after taking over for Rep. Frank Wolf, who retired in 2014 after more than three decades in Congress. Local 689 has pledged to fight for Comstock's defeat in the elections this fall.

Image via WMATA