NOTE:  On March 18, 2019, FTA transferred direct safety oversight of WMATA Metrorail to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission.

Members of FTA's WMATA Safety Oversight Team conduct regular inspections of the Metrorail system encompassing numerous safety disciplines. FTA safety inspectors assess both the condition of critical infrastructure and how well WMATA follows its own procedures, rules and safety standards. When a safety defect is identified, FTA safety inspectors require WMATA to perform remedial actions to correct it. FTA monitors WMATA’s progress on, and verifies its completion of, remedial actions. 

View FTA's WMATA Metrorail Safety Oversight Inspection Reports by month. 

Notes:

¹ Figures are cumulative since FTA assumed temporary safety oversight of WMATA Metrorail in October 2015 through March 18, 2019, when direct federal oversight was relinquished.  This table includes SafeTrack inspection data which is separately presented below.

²A Defect is a documented non-conformance or deviation of WMATA’s safety standards, rules or procedures such as: missing track fasteners, defective rail ties, failure of a train operator to wait three seconds before opening train doors at stations, etc.

³A Remedial Action is an action FTA requires WMATA to take to correct a defect such as: replace non-functioning light bulbs in tunnels, clear a blocked water drain, retrain a train operator, etc.

⁴Work on Open Remedial Actions may have been performed by WMATA, but may now be awaiting either submission of documentation by WMATA to FTA or verification of completion by FTA.

Of the more 1,200 inspections that have occurred as of March 18, 2019, there were 15 occasions when WMATA denied access to FTA safety inspectors to either the Rail Operations Control Center or to the operating cab of a train to perform federal inspections.  FTA brought this issue to the attention of the WMATA General Manager and such incidents have been significantly reduced.

Table last updated April 26, 2019 

SafeTrack Inspections

In addition to conducting inspections, performing investigations and verifying completion of corrective and remedial actions, the FTA WMATA Safety Oversight team is also closely monitoring WMATA’s implementation of its SafeTrack maintenance plan. FTA intends to update the SafeTrack inspection summary table until all open remedial actions are closed.

FTA WMATA SafeTrack Inspection Summary

Note:

¹ Work on Open Remedial Actions may have been performed by WMATA, but may now be awaiting either submission of documentation by WMATA to FTA or verification of completion by FTA.

Table last updated April 26, 2019