wiredInUSA April 2016

INDEX

WMATA inspected approximately 600 jumper cables throughout the system. According to the Washington Post , repair crews replaced the aged cables with newercoppercableswithbetter insulation. According to WMATA, 22 inspection crews set out to accomplish the work, and the authority had four repair crews on standby to address any issues that the inspection crews discovered. The Metrorail system was 40 years old on 27 th March, but has faced controversy and scrutiny in recent years over budget shortfalls and insufficient funding, leading to a declining ability to maintain the system. Consequently, it has fallen into disrepair, which many officials have cited as the cause of public safety concerns. Putting safety first

Following a tunnel fire on 16 th March, WashingtonDC’sMetrorail was temporarily shut down for an emergency inspection of the entire system’s third-rail power cables. An average 700,000 trips per day are made on the Metro system, and closure displaced hundreds of thousands of commuters with little advance notice. “While the risk to the public is very low, I cannot rule out a potential life safety issue here, and that is why we must take this action immediately,” said Metro general manager Paul J Wiedefeld in a WMATA press release. “When I say safety is our highest priority, I mean it. That sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions, and this is one of those times. I fully recognize the hardship this will cause.”

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