METRO: REPORT CARD FOR AMERICA’S SUBWAY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 22, 2019 Serial No. 116–66 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Reform ( Available on: http://www.govinfo.gov http://www.oversight.house.gov or http://www.docs.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 38–303 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York, Acting Chairwoman ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Minority Member Columbia PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky JIM COOPER, Tennessee MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JODY B. HICE, Georgia RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI, Illinois GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland JAMES COMER, Kentucky HARLEY ROUDA, California MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas KATIE HILL, California BOB GIBBS, Ohio DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana PETER WELCH, Vermont CHIP ROY, Texas JACKIE SPEIER, California CAROL D. MILLER, West Virginia ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois MARK E. GREEN, Tennessee MARK DESAULNIER, California KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota BRENDA L. LAWRENCE, Michigan W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands FRANK KELLER, Pennsylvania RO KHANNA, California JIMMY GOMEZ, California ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan DAVID RAPALLO, Staff Director WENDY GINSBERG, Subcommittee Staff Director JOSHUA ZUCKER, Assistant Clerk CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director CONTACT NUMBER: 202-225-5051 SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia, Chairman ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina, Ranking Columbia, Minority Member JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky JACKIE SPEIER, California JODY B. HICE, Georgia BRENDA L. LAWRENCE, Michigan GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands JAMES COMER, Kentucky RO KHANNA, California RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachsetts W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland (II) CONTENTS Page Hearing held on October 22, 2019 .......................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Mr. Paul Wiedefeld, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Wash- ington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Oral Statement ........................................................................................................ 7 Mr. Paul Smedberg, Chair, Board of Directors, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Oral Statement ........................................................................................................ 8 Mr. Geoffrey Cherrington, Inspector General, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Oral Statement ........................................................................................................ 10 Dr. David L Mayer, Chief Executive Officer, Washington Metrorail Safety Commission Oral Statement ........................................................................................................ 11 Written opening statement and statements for the witnesses are available on the U.S. House of Representatives Document Repository at: https:// docs.house.gov. INDEX OF DOCUMENTS Documents entered into the record during this hearing and Questions for the Record (QFR’s) are listed below/available at: https://docs.house.gov. * Unanimous Consent: Prepared Opening Statement of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. * Unanimous Consent: Prepared Opening Statement of Rep. Glenn Grothman. * Unanimous Consent: Prepared Opening Statement of Mr. Cherrington. * ‘‘Metro’s Pensions are not the problem’’, Washington Post, September 22, 2018; submitted by Chairman Connolly. (III) METRO: REPORT CARD FOR AMERICA’S SUBWAY Tuesday, October 22, 2019 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:09 p.m., in room 2154, Rayburn Office Building, Hon. Gerald E. Connolly (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Connolly, Norton, Sarbanes, Raskin, Massie, Grothman, Comer, and Steube. Also present: Representatives Hoyer, Wexton, and Trone. Mr. CONNOLLY. The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. The subcommittee is assessing the operations and management of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail system. And before I recognize myself and the ranking for an open- ing statement, we are graced to have the majority leader of the House of Representatives with us, and I want to defer to him for his opening remarks should he choose. Mr. HOYER. You are very kind, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. As you know, I have been working on the Metropolitan Transit system, and when I first ran for office in 1966, which is about when we started, Carlton Sickles was a candidate for Gov- ernor. I ran on his ticket. He was one of the fathers, one of the par- ents of the Metropolitan Transit System. Then when I came to Congress, I worked very closely with Frank Wolf to ensure that the system was completed. And I am pleased to be here. Thank you very much for your courtesy, Mr. Chairman. All of us continue to be deeply saddened, of course, by the loss of our colleague and friend, and a great American, and a great member of this body, Elijah Cummings. We worked closely together on so many things. I know that this committee mourns his loss deeply. I appreciate the opportunity to join the members of this sub- committee today to ensure that Congress is conducting its proper oversight of the Metro system, which serves our Nation’s capital and the greater Washington region, part of which I obviously rep- resent. I am proud to represent many of its suburban communities in Maryland, the district home to 62,000 Federal employees, many of whom rely on Metro to commute to their place of employment every day. Approximately one-third of Metro’s riders, of course, (1) 2 during peak hours are Federal workers, and the majority of Metro- rail stations serve Federal facilities, making the system a critical lifeline for our Nation’s government workers. So many of our predecessors with whom I have worked, in par- ticular, Mr. Lehman from Florida who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, viewed our subway system as America’s subway because not only because a lot of Federal work- ers us it, but extraordinarily millions of tourists use our system as well. The efficient and responsive operations of our government de- pends on ensuring that the Federal employees of the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area have a safe, reliable, and effective transit system. In the past few years, we have seen major improvements in safe- ty and reliability, though, of course, there is much still to be done. I find it very reassuring that Mr. Wiedefeld, our leader, has been working closely with Raymond Jackson, the new president of the ATU Local, that they have been able to improve the relationship between WMATA and its workers. After all, both the administra- tion and those who implement the policies on a daily basis are critically important in improving and maintaining safety in our system. I appreciate that very much, and I know riders will appre- ciate it as well. Mr. Chairman, I was proud to work closely with Mr. Wiedefeld, and with the union, and with commuter advocates to introduce leg- islation in 2017 with your partnership and others, Ms. Norton and others from our region, to provide congressional authorization for the Metro Safety Commission and to support its work. Safety for riders and employees must remain Metro’s No. 1 priority. That is why I am committed, Mr. Chairman, as I know you are, as I know Ms. Norton is, and I know the members of this committee on both sides of the aisle are committed to pursuing continued improve- ments in safety and reliability. I thank the witnesses. Mr. Chairman, before you came in, I had the opportunity to say hello to them individually, and I thank them for coming here today to share an update with the subcommittee and with the Congress. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues, with Metro, with the workers union, and with rid- ers’ advocates to ensure that Metro continues improving and can achieve the highest standards of safety and reliability. As you prob- ably know, Mr. Chairman, the head of our transit system, Mr. Wiedefeld, was in Maryland for a long period of time and did an outstanding, extraordinary job there. I know Mr. Sarbanes knows that as well. But I thank you for this opportunity to be here at this important hearing. Mr. CONNOLLY. We thank the distinguished majority leader, and also just thank him for his consistent ongoing leadership and sup- port for Metro. It has not been uncritical, but it has been essential, and he has helped educate our colleagues in Congress as to the fact that it isn’t just any transit system. It is the national capital tran- sit system serving the capital of the free world. We have certain obligations to make sure that there is a partnership between this body and Metro, and Steny Hoyer has just been a pivotal figure in making sure that happens over the years. Thank you. Mr. HOYER. Thank you,