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3/19/2019
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday transferred its responsibility for direct safety oversight of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail system to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission following certification of its state safety program.
FTA assumed temporary safety oversight of Metrorail in 2015. Since then, the administration has certified that WMATA has fully implemented 188 systematic safety improvements and made progress on others, according to an FTA press release.
In addition to the transfer of responsibilities, the certification of the State Safety Oversight program also releases approximately $48.5 million of FTA grant funding, which was being withheld due to the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia missing a prior certification deadline.
The funding will now be available to transit agencies across the threes jurisdictions to invest in public transportation.