It’s time for the Great Leap Forward—Version 2. Or at least MetroForward 2, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) plan to fix the smoke-filled platforms, electrical fires, broken trains, and service outrages that have become alarmingly frequent commuting occurrences. Following the release Wednesday of a federal safety report, WMATA presented “SafeTrack,” its latest plan to solve problems plaguing the once-celebrated system.
Sounding pragmatic about the system’s maintenance needs, WMATA General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said that without shutdowns, “it will take us years to achieve the safety and reliability needs that our customers deserve.” Under the proposed maintenance plan, the work should be completed in just one year.
“We cannot keep trying to Band-Aid over these issues,” said Wiedefeld, WMATA’s chief executive. “This is tough medicine. But we have to take it. And the sooner we take it, the better we’re all going to be.”
The repairs will be difficult to swallow for many commuters. According to the draft proposal released on Friday (the final version is expected on May 16), WMATA will undertake 15 repair “surges,” each of which will result in “continuous track outage for [a] long duration.” This includes shutting down stations in the downtown area for weeks at a time. In some areas, shuttles and additional busing will be able to pick up some of the displaced passengers, but many commuters—and summer tourists—will finds getting into work and around the city more difficult.
“It’s going to take some sacrifice from all of us,” Wiedefeld said of the closures. “But we have all seen how this has played out over the past few years. And that’s why I think the sacrifice is necessary.”
This sacrifice will cause massive headaches throughout the city. On just one of the proposed sections of track closure, Metro is planning for “major impact to 94,000 weekday trips,” and recommends that all customers taking that particular line to “consider alternatives.”
In addition, the repairs will require shorter hours. Instead of staying open until 3 am on weekends, starting in June, the metro will close at midnight. And while 40-50 buses will be dedicated to helping move passengers affected by station closures, WMATA does not appear to have any plan in mind for those late-night revelers who find themselves without a ride home.
Since WMATA is already on the fifth year of a six-year, $5 billion improvement program called “Metro Forward,” which was supposed to provide for track and train maintenance, many passengers are skeptical that this batch of changes will be any different. Many will likely end up switching to other methods of transportation during the outages and it is unknown how many will return to WMATA when the work is complete. This is especially true given that the changes do little to clean or upgrade the trains themselves. After all the hassle, commuters will see little improvement in their comfort.
WMATA’s woes highlight the failure of government to manage maintenance on the 40-year-old system, including replacing rotting ties and bad wiring. During a press conference on Friday, President Obama spoke about his proposed infrastructure spending plan, highlighting WMATA’s woes as “just one more example of the under-investments that have been made.”
Although he called the Metro system “a great strength” historically, Obama acknowledged that its present condition.
“You can’t build your own metro system, you can’t build your own highway, you can’t build your own airport,” he said, crediting the need to boost federal spending in infrastructure.
Given the state of WMATA, it’s not entirely clear that the Washington D.C. area can build its own metro system either.
