Rail upgrades running late
US capital city struggling with limping metro service
WASHINGTON: Letitia stands on a metro station platform in downtown Washington, waiting for a train that she now realises is not going to come.
“I will be walking home tonight and all the nights to come,” said the 28-year-old woman, who works as a cashier at a 24-hour supermarket.
In the US capital city, an urgently needed upgrade of the metro system means service on Friday and Saturday nights now stops at midnight instead of 3am, to allow for repair work overnight.
But it also means people like Letitia, who would not give her last name, are losing a crucial mode of transportation.
“I have 30 minutes walking at 1am in a neighbourhood where you do not want to do that,” she said. “They don’t give us other options.” Much of the transportation infrastructure in the United States is decades old and in such poor condition that it has become an issue in the presidential election.
“Our infrastructure is that of a third-world country,” Republican candidate Donald Trump has said repeatedly.
The Washington metropolitan area, with a population of more than six million, is no exception.
Its Metrorail system was a source of pride when it opened 40 years ago, but today it’s better known for shoddy carriages, delays and fires.
Problems in recent weeks included a derailment and a near-collision.
Complaining about Metro is a favourite pastime of DC residents and there’s even a popular Twitter account, Unsuck DC Metro (@ unsuckdcmetro), that features criticism in real time.
The most serious incident was in January 2015, when an electrical problem caused a tunnel to fill with smoke, choking passengers in a disabled train. One person died.
“The metro has to be safe,” said Paul Wiedefeld, general manager and chief executive of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which also provides bus services.
Wiedefeld is presiding over a yearlong programme called SafeTrack that started in June to repair and upgrade the subway system, causing major service interruptions.
Wiedefeld said the accelerated, intensive work was necessary because trying to fix problems with “small bandages” was no longer adequate.
The system is the second-busiest subway system in the United States, with 750,000 riders on an average weekday.
“The DC Metro historically has been a great strength of this region, but over time we under-invested in maintenance and repair,” Wiedefeld said.
Last week, he proposed making the midnight weekend Metro closure permanent, and rolling back Sunday night service from midnight to 10pm.
“SafeTrack is the right approach but we are going to need more time to continue the job,” he said.
But businesses like restaurants, bars and clubs say a change like that would be a huge blow.
“We have heard from member restaurants that sales are down as much as 20% due to early Metro closures and the current SafeTrack schedule,” warned the head of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, Kathy Hollinger.
Near the U Street Metro station, in an area packed with nightlife, the manager of Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant, Mahaylu Daasyn, said he was having to let employees leave earlier.
“We don’t really feel an impact on clients. The problem is the employees.
“At this rhythm, we won’t have anyone in the kitchen anymore, then we’ll have no choice but to close earlier,” Daasyn said.
People who can afford to are turning to ride-sharing services.
“At the end of the day, Uber is the big winner in this,” said one driver, who identified herself only as Claudette.
“The number of bookings have skyrocketed with SafeTrack.”