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The wide-ranging
maintenance and repair program comes after a scathing federal
report on Monday into a deadly 2015 tunnel fire that exposed
widespread safety lapses.
Paul Wiedefeld, general manager of the Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority, is scheduled to make a maintenance announcement at 11
a.m.
The work is likely to cause widespread commuting headaches for
Washington-area residents, including hundreds of thousands of
federal employees. It also could snarl travel plans for the 20
million people who visit the U.S. capital every year.
Metro carries about 700,000 passengers on weekdays in serving
Washington and its Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
Citing transit authority sources, WAMU 88.5 radio reported that
work on the 40-year-old system may begin as early as June. A
Metro spokesman had no immediate comment.
The program calls for sections of track covering two or three
stations at a time to undergo single-tracking or closures during
the work week, WAMU said.
In a memo obtained by WAMU, Wiedefeld told the Metro board on
Wednesday that current maintenance on the two-track system was
insufficient.
The report comes six weeks after the unprecedented one-day
shutdown of Metro for emergency safety inspections.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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