The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is threatening to withhold funding for the Washington, D.C., Metrorail public transit system if local officials in the capital area do not set up a federally-mandated safety oversight panel within a year.
The FTA took over safety oversight of the Metro last year in a high-profile rebuke of the local regulators of the agency, who had been criticized for being too lax on the nation’s second-busiest transit system.
Acting FTA Administrator Therese McMillan said in a letter to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), Virginia Gov. Terry McAulliffe (D) and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) that federal oversight of the beleaguered Metro system is only supposed to be temporary.
“The FTA will continue the safety oversight role only until the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the District of Columbia establish a State Safety Oversight Agency capable of carrying out a State Safety Oversight Program that is compliant with current federal law,” she wrote.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Keith Laing over at The Hill
