The Washington area’s struggling subway system won’t get a federal bailout, House Republicans said Thursday as they blamed the Metro system’s recent series of crises on poor management rather than a lack of funding.
The deteriorating state of the nation’s second-busiest transit system was the subject of a hearing held Wednesday afternoon by two House oversight subcommittees. Last month, Metro’s general manager made the unprecedented decision to shut down the system for an entire day for emergency inspections of third-rail power cables. The shutdown followed two fires that were sparked by faulty power cables, including one in January 2015 that killed one passenger and sickened more than 80 others.
Metro’s board chairman said the problems can be traced to decades of deferred maintenance that stems, in part, from Metro’s lack of a dedicated funding source. The system’s operations are funded by the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, while Congress provides $150 million a year for capital improvements. Metro receives other federal grants, although those come with strings attached.
Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican and the chairman of one of the subcommittees, said Metro doesn’t know how to spend the money it has. He said the system is currently sitting on $783 million in unspent federal grants.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Adam Tuss over at the NBC Washington