Steve Burns
WMAL.com
VIENNA, Va. – (WMAL) Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld is defending the three months of Safe Track work done so far as problems persist in and around work areas. Just Monday, speed restrictions were put in place on portions of the Blue and Yellow Lines due to track tie conditions.
“There are issues with any construction project,” Wiedefeld told reporters Monday. “The vast majority of that work is very good. There are some issues, but that’s why we have two layers of, in effect, inspectors making sure that we get on top of that.”
Wiedefeld made the remarks at a press conference giving details on Safe Track Surge Nine, the longest of the Safe Track program. The Orange Line will be single-tracking between West Falls Church and Vienna for 40 days starting Thursday, with the segment shut down during weekends. Metro plans on using a shuttle train between the two stations on weekdays, forcing all passengers to disembark at West Falls Church to continue their journey in either direction. Metro aims to maintain near normal service levels outside of the two stations. The prolonged period is necessary to rehabilitate both the inbound and outbound tracks, Wiedefeld said.
Wiedefeld acknowledged there is an increase in problems getting reported, but he attributed that to a long-sought culture change within Metro.
“That is exactly what we’re trying to build in the safety culture,” he said. “By ignoring those things in the past, we were not dealing with them. That’s a reflection of our employees saying ‘Okay, this is a new day. When we see something, we’re going to do something about it.’ And we want that.”
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