In the wake of a further Federal Transit Administration safety directive—and a shutdown warning from U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx—the Washington, D.C., area's Metrorail system is moving to fix electric-power problems believed to have caused a series of smoke and fire incidents over the past several weeks.
FTA sent a notice on May 11 to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Agency (WMATA)—Metrorail's operator—directing it to make urgent repairs at three sections of the system before the scheduled June 4 start of a newly announced, year-long SafeTrack program. SafeTrack aims to accelerate extensive maintenance work at 15 locations on the 117-mile network.