WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced a major step forward in putting funds in the federal checkbook for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) rail transit system.

The THUD Appropriations Subcommittee has included $150 million in federal funds in its fiscal year 2010 spending bill. The funds, sought by U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), will be used to make urgent safety upgrades.

“Safety is our top priority,” Senator Mikulski said. “First, the funds must be used for any urgent safety needs the National Transportation Safety Board identifies during its investigation of the crash. Safety problems have to be fixed first.”

The bill requires that WMATA place the highest priority on investments that will improve safety, including, but not limited to, fixing the track signal system, replacing the its oldest railcars, installing guarded turnouts, buying equipment for wayside worker protection, and installing rollback protection on cars that are not equipped with this safety feature.

This is the first year of dedicated federal funding for Metro. Last year, Congress adopted legislation authorizing $1.5 billion in federal funds over 10 years to help put WMATA on firm financial footing and provide Metro’s first dedicated, federal funding source. These funds will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.

In another step to improve Metro’s safety, Senator Mikulski was able to include language in the bill directing the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to make recommendations to Congress on strengthening its federal role in regulating metro system safety nationwide. The bill requires the Secretary to provide the House and Senate Appropriations Committees with a report outlining safety recommendations and an implementation plan 45 days after the President signs this bill into law.

The NTSB already has a blueprint to improve safety and oversight of metro systems nationwide. The Board has recommended minimum crashworthiness standards, improved evacuation and rescue features on rail transit cars, requiring data recorders on Metro trains, and hour-of-service limits to ensure metro operators are getting enough sleep between shifts. The THUD appropriations bill requires the Transportation Secretary to examine these recommendations and include them in the report as well.

In an additional move to improve the safety of DC Metro, Senator Mikulski last week introduced the National Metro Safety Act, (S.1506), which would give the Transportation Secretary authority to establish and enforce federal safety standards for all metro systems across the country.

“We have federal safety standards for buses, trains and airplanes,” Senator Mikulski said. “Metro systems need them too.” In addition to improving safety, this federal-state partnership will help save or create approximately 7,140 jobs. Seventy percent of Metro’s more than 10,000 employees are residents of Maryland.

“For all that Metro does to keep government running, get people to work and get cars off the road, this investment in Metro also is about jobs,” Senator Mikulski said.

In the next step of the Appropriations process, the full Appropriations Committee will consider the fiscal year 2010 THUD appropriations bill Thursday afternoon. Once approved, it will go to the Senate for a vote that has not yet been scheduled.