WMATA begins fourth safety 'surge'

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) today kicked off its fourth around-the-clock "surge" of repair work as part of its SafeTrack maintenance plan.

To complete the latest round of repairs, the agency is shutting down the Blue and Yellow lines between Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon City Station in Arlington, Va. That portion of the lines will remain closed through July 18, WMATA officials said in a press release.

Launched May 19, SafeTrack is an accelerated maintenance plan that calls for 15 long-duration track outages or "surges." The plan fits three years worth of maintenance work into one year.

To learn more about WMATA's recent safety struggles, read this article from the June issue of Progressive Railroading.