Little Oversight Of D.c 'S Metro

Mikulski, Edwards' Bill Would Set Federal Safety Standards For Subways

Critics welcome the initiatives, charging that under the current system members of the Tri-State Oversight Committee in effect oversee themselves.

"What exists is a sham and can't be made to work," said Jack Corbett of MetroRiders.org, a Washington-based nonprofit. "People who are on [the committee] are employees of the entities they would regulate. The head of the committee works for the District Department of Transportation. If their job was to ensure safety, they would be telling their bosses what to do. It's a built-in conflict of interest."

Some state-level regulators have far more authority. The subway system in San Francisco, which is subject to muscular oversight by state regulators, discovered problems with flickering circuits and was directed to install a collision-avoidance backup system decades ago.

Tri-State Oversight Committee members stress that they are serious about safety and say they have made recent improvements. Indeed, there is no guarantee that any regulator, no matter how powerful and well-funded, could have guaranteed discovery of the disruptions in the crash-avoidance circuits now suspected of playing a part in the subway crash.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators have not pinpointed the cause of the June crash, in which one train rammed another between stations. But the NTSB says it appears that Metro's control system failed to detect a stopped train and that an approaching one did not receive a command to stop.