On Jan, 13, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its annual Most Wanted List of transportation safety improvements, including Improve Rail Transit Safety Oversight. Below is a statement from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Acting Administrator Therese McMillan:
"The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) share the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) strong commitment to improving rail transit safety oversight. Recently, Congress explicitly reaffirmed its support for FTA’s approach to rail transit safety oversight – including direct safety oversight of WMATA – in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act).
The 2015 law grants FTA additional safety oversight and enforcement powers beyond those provided by Congress in 2012 which greatly enhanced FTA’s independent safety oversight authority and strengthened State Safety Oversight Agencies that are responsible for day to day rail transit safety. FTA is committed to implementing all of our authorities to create a federal oversight structure that instills a safety culture in public transit systems to protect both riders and workers.
In addition, FTA appreciates the NTSB’s supportive comments to our State Safety Oversight Program proposed rule that will improve, modernize and transform rail transit safety oversight. We anticipate issuing the final rule in early 2016. FTA will continue to work with the NTSB and our industry partners to ensure the safety of transit workers and the millions of riders who take public transit every day."
