Episode 21: Shocks To The System

Metro is taking disciplinary action against half its track inspection department. Late-night trains will not return until July 2019 at the earliest. Will the new year usher in a season of festivity and goodwill to all riders?

WAMU's Martin DiCaro commutes with Metro's GM; we talk with a transportation expert about the impact of the rail system's impending hour cutbacks.

On this week's podcast, we talk Metro's steps toward reducing service hours, a Silver Line throwdown and Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld's first year on the job.

Red Line commuters can be thankful that the 10th SafeTrack surge is winding down. But the month-long rehab project, which shut down service along Fort Totten and NoMa/Gallaudet, highlighted how disruptions in a small corner of the system can have dramatic impacts on daily commutes.

The president-elect's promise to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure improvements is emerging as one of the least divisive aspects of his agenda, at least at this early stage. Will the Republican-controlled Congress go along with it? And would any of the money help WMATA?

Buckle your seatbelts, because where we’re going, there are no roads (or single-tracking). We consider two potential scenarios for Metro in the years ahead.

Want to hear something really scary? Metro’s 10th SafeTrack surge is hitting its most heavily trafficked artery, shutting down two stations on the Red Line between Fort Totten and NoMa/Gallaudet. We take a horrific bus bridge on the first weekday of the surge — and we explore the hidden force behind Metro: electricity.

Permanently ending late-night service. Temporary shutting down stations with low ridership. Many of the ideas for fixing Metro’s ills raise questions of fairness: Are the burdens of the SafeTrack era falling too heavily on lower-income communities? We ride the rails with Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia to discuss those issues and more.

When it comes to Metro politics, the most important thing isn’t party lines — it’s regional lines. We talk to a WMATA board member from Prince George’s County about the view from the east side of the region, and we look at where Virginia, Maryland and D.C. leaders stand on a key question: How can Metro get an infusion of funding?

Why are there so few seats on Metro platforms? How did D.C. home-rule advocates impact the historical trajectory of the rail system? Why are there only two tracks in Metro tunnels? Zachary Schrag, author of The Great Society Subway, joins us for a live recording at Kramerbooks in D.C.