WASHINGTON (AP) – Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Tuesday he seriously considered ordering a shutdown of the entire Washington Metro subway system last week and may still do that if local officials don’t follow a Transportation Department safety directive.
Local officials have yet to identify the root cause of incidents involving electrical arcing, smoke and fire, and so have no plan for how to fix the problem, Foxx told reporters.
It is clear to DOT officials who watched a video of one recent incident that there is too much electrical power flowing through the subway system, he said.
The Federal Transit Administration, which is part of the department, issued a series of emergency safety directives to Metro officials on Saturday that included steps to reduce power throughout the rail system. One recommendation is to cut the number of railcars per train from eight to six. That would inevitably lead to overcrowding.
Metro officials announced a track maintenance and repair scheduled on Friday that calls for shutting down or drastically reducing service to portions of the system for days or weeks at time.
Foxx called the maintenance schedule “ambitious,” but said the plan still doesn’t address the root cause of the incidents.
“We have the ability to withhold (federal) funds from Metro. We have the ability to shut Metro down, and we’re not afraid to use it,” Foxx said.