House to hear NTSB's Metro findings

A House panel is scheduled next week to have the first congressional hearing on the National Transportation Safety Board's report on the deadly Red Line crash of June 22, 2009.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) asked for the hearing, according to a news release from her office. The witnesses are to include NTSB Chair Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman; Metro Interim General Manager Richard Sarles; Metro Board First Vice Chair Catherine Hudgins; Tri-state Oversight Committee Chair Matthew Bassett; Riders' Advisory Council Chair Francis DeBernardo; and Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 689, Safety Officer and Recording Secretary Anthony W. Garland, according to the release.

Norton is particularly supportive of the NTSB recommendation that the Federal Transit Administration develop non-punitive safety reporting programs for all transit agencies, the release said. It said Norton thinks the non-punitive reporting programs are necessary to ensure the new safety culture at Metro, recommended by NTSB.

--Ann Scott Tyson