Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the National Transportation Safety Board Interim Safety Recommendation Act of 2009, clarifying that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) should recommend interim, immediate corrective actions, where appropriate, in addition to its more costly long-range recommendations for permanent solutions. Norton's bill, on which Norton is joined by regional Members, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Jim Moran (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Donna Edwards (D-MD), and Gerald Connolly (D-VA) as original co-sponsors, follows hearings on the June 22nd tragic train crash that killed nine regional residents, including seven from the District of Columbia. The collision has had nation-wide consequences and has already produced recommendations of the kind regional Members believe were appropriate before the crash.
"For many years, it was clear to all that Metro did not have funds for new, more crashworthy cars," Norton said. There was an ongoing and much-covered debate in Congress as the co-sponsors of today's bill tried to get the $1.5 billion for Metro, which was finally authorized in 2007, with the first $150 million due out only this year. Norton said that no one can be certain of how many lives might have been saved if the old cars had been in the middle of the train instead of in the front and rear. "We do know that all of the cars in the striking train were the old 1,000 series cars, where all the fatalities occurred. We also know that those in the 6,000 series struck car, hit from the rear, survived. The bill makes clear that NTSB can and should offer interim suggestions that improve safety even when more extensive and costly measures also are recommended and necessary.
After each recent Metro accident, the NTSB had recommended to WMATA that it replace or retrofit its old, 1970's era, 1000 series cars: for example, in 199 when a train overran the station platform, hitting a standing, unoccupied train, killing the driver of the striking train, and again following the roll-back accident of a train car in the Woodley Park Metro station in 2004. At a July hearing, Norton asked why the NTSB had not suggested that WMATA place the 40-year-old 1,000 series cars between the newer, more crashworthy 6,000 series cars, which may have made the old cars and their passengers less vulnerable.
"There certainly have been no tests, but considering the contrast between the lives saved in the newer cars as opposed to the older ones, we can see little benefit in having such old and obsolete cars in the most vulnerable positions," Norton said. The movement of the old cars out of lead and back positions, in fact, were made after the crash, following a suggestion by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689.
The Norton bill clarifies that NTSB does have such authority to make interim recommendations, while ensuring that steps continue to be taken for the best and preferred remedy.
Because most Metro riders are federal workers, Congress contributed to the first funding to build Metro, and recently began funding a $1.5 billion authorization for urgently needed capital improvements and upgrades.