Your Tax Dollars at Work: Washington’s Metro Mess
10th November 2021
The National Transportation Safety Board, the regulatory agency tasked with overseeing Metro, swooped in, and was aghast at what they found. Broken axles were endemic across a new model of Metro trains, which were supposed to be the system’s salvation after years of maintenance headaches. “The potential for fatalities and serious injuries was significant,” said the NTSB’s Jennifer Homendy, Metro’s very own Inspector Javert. “This could have resulted in a catastrophic event.”
Cockburn notes that catastrophic events have become just another part of the Metro experience. He recalls the 2009 train crash near the Fort Totten stop, which killed eight people, as well as a 2015 incident where a yellow-line train filled with smoke, killing a woman and sending dozens to the hospital.
Beyond safety issues, Metro for years has been plagued by delays, and officials have often come off as indifferent. In 2018, they sparked outrage when they spent precious funds on an online store that sold, among other swag, women’s sweatpants with the name of a DC stop, “Foggy Bottom,” on the rear ends. Those pants are still a sore spot for Cockburn, having precipitated a high-volume breakup with one of his lady friends after he gave a pair as a gift.