WaPo Opinion: Metrorail needs to fix more than its wheels. It needs to fix its culture.

A train arrives at Federal Triangle Metro station in D.C. on Dec. 1, 2020. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Metrorail, the transit network on which hundreds of thousands of people depended daily before the pandemic, is limping along, a shadow of its once-robust self. October’s train derailment has sidelined roughly two-thirds of the system’s rail cars for inspections, and Metro officials say full service won’t be restored before the end of the year.

Three investigations arising from the derailment have been under way for weeks, and so far, what has been made public is cause for worry, not optimism. The inspectors general of both Metro itself and the federal Transportation Department are looking into the derailment, as is the National Transportation Safety Board. And still there is no official word on what caused the recurring wheel issue that led a train with about 200 passengers aboard to slip off the tracks near Arlington Cemetery on Oct. 12, nor how to ensure it never happens again.

Read the full piece by the Washington Post Editorial Board

WaPo Opinion: Metrorail needs to fix more than its wheels. It needs to fix its culture.

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