WASHINGTON —聽The fact that Metro knew it had problems that led to a derailment but didn鈥檛 act to fix the track problem that led to the August 6聽incident has infuriated members of the Board of Directors, and leaves first responders frustrated as well.
Late Thursday afternoon, Metro鈥檚 Board of Directors issued a statement calling the delay in maintenance that led to the most recent derailment 鈥榯otally unacceptable鈥�, while Prince George鈥檚 County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor said he gets the sense that historically, Metro has聽been a safe system, but that over the course of time 鈥淚t has become less safe鈥�.
Bashoor is the chairman of the Fire Chiefs Committee at the Washington Council of Governments. Regarding the slipping safety record at Metro, he says 鈥淚 think it goes back to the whole issue of critical infrastructure needing to be maintained constantly, and the government鈥檚 needing to make the investments聽 to keep the system safe.”
Last month, Metro announced that a Fairfax County fire captain would be assigned to work in the transit agency鈥檚 rail control center to serve as a public safety liason in emergencies. Bashoor would like to see that position funded so that it would be filled on a 24/7 basis, but recently 鈥淚鈥檒l take the 40 hours a week, and we鈥檒l begin with that.鈥�
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
