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WMATA shutdown unplanned
Invent a way to prevent bus from crashing into taxi.
Sept. 26, 2008
Certainly one of the greatest mismanagement decisions since the Milwaukee Road dielectricfied the Cascades
I wouldn’t call it a “shutdown”, but rather a “political-criminal meltdown”. Methinks it could have been handled in a better fashion. Should have, at least, shut it down on Thursday (St. Patrick’s Day) when most of the government will be more ineffective anyway.
The witch hunt is underway. Someone finally took charge of the system who understands the need for safety and efficiency. If the cables are at fault, then he can underscore the fact and go looking for a bad purchase contract or supplier or designer. If they are at fault, he can point to lack of understanding of transit safety and efficiency to his predecessors and management which allowed the problem to become a problem. Politicians have to learn that when making appointments to running transit and rail operations the appointee has to be fully qualified and experience in THAT field and not in politics and in need of a political pay off. NJT is one outfit who has suffered from this and it appears that this is a similar predicatment. which finally is being addressed.
How much public funding did DC Transit Co. receive?
It is a misleading first line to say that “the city’s commuter rail systems” (plural) shut down. AFAIK, MARC and VRE, typical commuter trains, ran normally. MetroRail is more like what most folks think of as a subway system, though it does have regional coverage that is similar to typical commuter rail systems.