Four months after fatal incident, FTA demands fixes to DC Metro; President blames GOP's ideology

There was a time when “shovel-ready jobs” were going to put millions of people to work to fix the nation’s “crumbling infrastructure.” Remember?

7 years ago. How did this work out? #wmata https://t.co/J738RGe9Ae pic.twitter.com/gmP1HGdAoP

— Brian Faughnan (@BrianFaughnan) May 6, 2016

Upgrading mass transit? Washington, D.C., has managed for years to ignore a very dangerous situation right beneath its feet, and the Federal Transit Administration has finally demanded that the Metro make fixes that have been neglected for years.

And yet another major shutdown for parts of DC Metro planned to handle repairs that have never been handled #dcmetro https://t.co/q16jKZ05RK

— John Celock (@JohnCelock) May 12, 2016

D.C.’s commuter rail system is so bad that fires have become a running joke and even spawned the mostly automated Twitter feed, @IsMetroOnFire.

This is Metro. On fire. pic.twitter.com/SzDh4M8Vqa

— Is Metro On Fire?? (@IsMetroOnFire) May 5, 2016

No sun in DC for days. City now warmed only by Metro fires.

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) May 12, 2016

Washington DC Metro trains turn into white hot balls of flame and screaming. "It's a living" the Conductor Bird squawks.

— Evan (@EVComedy) May 12, 2016

I'm dressed & ready to take WMATA train this afternoon into DC @FixWMATA @Pat_Lewis360 @DeguelloBBQ #wmata #dcmetro pic.twitter.com/BcfBqszez0

— Darrin Misiera (@TriathlonBadBoy) May 12, 2016

Unfortunately, things turned deadly in January when a woman died and more than 80 others were taken to the hospital after a train was stuck in a dark, smoke-filled tunnel for an estimated 40 minutes before passengers were evacuated. An investigation found that another train blocking the escape route had been abandoned, exhaust fans were not immediately operational, and antennas meant to allow firefighters to communicate via two-way radio with the surface had been out for several days.

In April, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on safety failures on the Metro, one day before 154 passengers found themselves stuck in a tunnel, possibly under the Potomac River.

On Thursday, officials announced that the Metro would close sections of track for 16 days to make repairs demanded by the FTA.

Another massive problem for Metro – federal investigators want safety fixes now https://t.co/9AKnOITntZ #wmata @nbcwashington

— Adam Tuss (@AdamTuss) May 11, 2016

Feds Drop The Hammer On DC Metro, Order Immediate Fixes https://t.co/FYpecNXbXE pic.twitter.com/xGwzbjkq1O

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 12, 2016

Note that these “immediate” fixes come a month after testimony that the Metro had fallen years behind its routine maintenance schedule and needed $25 billion over 10 years to catch up.

Hey #wmata – get real: Lack of accountability, not funding, is behind DC's metro failures. https://t.co/z5rhut1IZp

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) May 6, 2016

Break the union. #WMATA https://t.co/IaDdbbnPZG

— (((The Alex Nowrasteh))) (@AlexNowrasteh) May 11, 2016

https://twitter.com/racalto/status/730503536816103429

How on earth did #WMATA let things get this bad?!

— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) May 6, 2016

It didn’t. The Republicans did. Just ask President Obama.

Obama, like a real DC resident, knows to fault Congress for neglecting Metro. https://t.co/Ql6n871NFS

— Washingtonian (@washingtonian) May 8, 2016

NEW: Obama blames the D.C. metro's failings on the GOP "ideology" https://t.co/IJxuUduoZO #wmata pic.twitter.com/xkcIJV8sxn

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 6, 2016

“The problem we have is that the Republican Congress has been resistant to really taking on this problem in a serious way,” the president told reporters last Friday when asked about the Metro’s safety problems. “And the reason is because of an ideology that says, government spending is necessarily bad.”