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Brushing aside tradition, the Obama administration is pushing for federal authority to regulate the nation's subway and light commuter rail systems following last summer's subway crash in Washington, D.C., that left nine people dead. Next week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will formally ask Congress to give his department authority to regulate and oversee those rail systems, a move that some Republicans on Capitol Hill worry is another alarming example of an ever-expanding federal government. "In this case, it sounds good, safety and enforcement over transit systems, but it may not be that effective," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told Fox News....

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Officials say a Washington Metro subway train crashed into the back of another at a rail yard, injuring three workers. The Metro transit agency says injuries were minor and not life-threatening. No passengers were on board when the crash occurred at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Metro says a six-car train was returning to the West Falls Church Rail Yard in northern Virginia when it rear-ended a parked six-car train. Two workers were cleaning the parked train to get it ready for service.

Obama Proposes Federal Takeover Of Mass Transit White House Hopes For Federal Oversight Of Safety Regulations On All Local Subways, Light Rails In US Reporting Hazel Sanchez Who should run mass transportation? If the White House has its way, New York and other subway systems nationwide could be in for a federal safety takeover. It comes as a surprise to many straphangers. Unlike airplanes and highways, the nation's subways systems operate with no federal oversight. "That makes me uncomfortable to hear that," subway rider Rhonda Jordan said. "I do take the subway quite often." One City College transportation expert says...

By his own estimation, the Rev. Mark Batterson has preached about 1,000 sermons in his makeshift sanctuary at Union Station's Phoenix Theatres, where his congregation has met for the past 13 years. Last week's was one of the most difficult: In his remarks he told his congregation it would be the final service at their unconventional church. The train station's movie theater closed abruptly last week. Mr. Batterson said that for the past two years he had been hearing rumors the theater would close, but he had been assured they were not true. So it came as a shock when...

Is it just me, or are Muslims causing more and more problems in our country? Didn't we recently see numerous other Islamic terror plots stopped here in America? Because according to the Islamic apologist crowd, this would never happen here. Oh yea....lets cue the Muslim victim card. DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case Documents: Man threatened to blow up NW DC Metro

"Muslim in Washington, DC: "I'm not scared to die! I will kill you! I will blow people up and the Metro!"" SNIPPET: ""Three blocks of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest were cleared of cars and pedestrians. Adjacent buildings and restaurants were evacuated..." "DC Security Scare Becomes Federal Case," by Bob Barnard for MyFoxDC, October 8 (thanks to Heidi): WASHINGTON, D.C. - A man who was arrested in a security scare in Northwest D.C. on Tuesday night threatened to blow up the Friendship Heights Metro station, according to a criminal complaint in the case. It was a chaotic scene Tuesday night in Friendship...

Metro Delivers Hundreds of Thousands to 9/12 Rally Posted September 15th, 2009 at 4.58pm in Ongoing Priorities. Much has been made over the attendance at the march and rally in DC on September 12. Reports varied, with many on the left clinging to an unofficial DC Fire Department estimate of 60,000 to 70,000. Some reports from overseas went as far as to say two million. However, one completely objective source of information is the number of people who rode Metro, Washington, DC’s mass transit subway system. Washington Metro measures and releases its ridership numbers and these numbers have been used...

Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to endorse a light rail line over bus rapid transit with his announcement Tuesday that Maryland will pursue federal transit money to build a Purple Line linking Prince George's and Montgomery counties. His administration will apply for funding for the 16-mile line as well as a 14-mile Red Line through Baltimore, two long-awaited projects that have been in the planning stages for years. O'Malley has scheduled a whistle-stop train tour befitting both announcements: He'll hold an 8:30 a.m. press conference with state and local officials at the New Carrollton Metro Station,the proposed eastern terminus for...

A chaplain from Walter Reed. A doctor from Walter Reed. The owner of a new hair salon. An architect. On a Metro train, in one terrifying instant and its aftermath, their lives became forever intertwined. This is their story. He heard the familiar whine of a Metro train approaching the platform, and Tom Baker decided to run for it. The next train was scheduled to arrive at Takoma Station in two minutes, another in six minutes and yet another in 10. But it was the first Monday of summer, and Baker had left work early with a weightlifting routine to...

6/30/2009 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- A former commanding general of the Washington, D.C., National Guard who was killed June 22 in a subway accident along with his wife was remembered in a June 29 ceremony celebrating his life and accomplishments. Retired Maj. Gen. David Wherley and his wife, Ann, a mortgage banker, both 62, were returning from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where they were learning how to counsel servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Their Metro train car collided with another train, killing nine people. It was a sudden event that shocked Guard members and civilians alike, and drawing...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 26, 2009) -- Several Walter Reed Army Medical Center staffers survived the deadliest accident in Washington Metrorail's 33-year history Monday. Maj. David Bottoms, a Walter Reed chaplain and Col. Thomas Baker, chief of pathology, said they were both riding in the first car of the train that slammed into another stopped train during Monday's rush-hour commute home. "I was reading and listening to my iPod, and I noticed the front end of the car was buckling and it was coming toward us. It looked like a wave ... it stopped three seats in front of...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – A former commander of the District of Columbia National Guard and his wife were among the nine people killed in the June 22 collision of two Metro subway trains here, officials announced yesterday. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. and his wife, Ann, were among nine people killed in a train collision on Washington D.C.'s Metro subway system June 22, 2009. The general commanded the District of Columbia National Guard for five years. Photo courtesy of the District of Columbia National Guard   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Retired Air Force...

A key circuit on the train track near Monday's derailment in Washington, D.C., was apparently not operating as it should have been, raising the possibility that the Metro train that crashed into another one may not have known to slow down, accident investigators said today. Investigators tested six circuits between the two stations where the crash occurred. Five of those performed as expected, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Deborah Hersman. Such circuits let trains know how fast to go and provide them with information about whether there's another train up ahead. But one circuit showed what Hersman described...

Retired National Guard general among train victims Interactives/Galleries Washington Commuter Train Crash WASHINGTON (AP) -- The victims of the Metro train collision in Washington included the recently retired commanding general of the D.C. National Guard and his wife; two working moms; a retired teacher who was working as a substitute, and a woman who worked with nurses around the world. Here is what family members, co-workers and others had to say about them:

WASHINGTON – Investigators looking into the deadly crash of two Metro transit trains focused Tuesday on why a computerized system failed to halt an oncoming train, and why the train failed to stop even though the emergency brake was pressed. At the time of the crash, the train was also operating in automatic mode, meaning it was controlled primarily by computer. In that mode, the operator's main job is to open and close the doors and respond in case of an emergency. Debbie Hersman, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said it was unclear if the emergency brake...

WASHINGTON - At least two people have died and several people are trapped and injured after a Metro Red Line train derailed and collided with another Metro train, officials say. The six-car train derailed and then collided with another train between the Takoma Park and Fort Totten stations around 5 p.m. Monday. The trains are "lodged on top of one another," D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter says.

WASHINGTON - Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr., retired commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, and his wife, Ann, were among those killed in the collision of two Metro trains. *snip* especially during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. That time saw the changing of the D.C. National Guard from weekend warriors to Army troops performing the duties of enlisted soldiers in battle. Wherley worked on deployment and returning ceremonies for Guard troops, funding for tuition for Guard members, and after school activities conducted by the D.C. National Guard. *snip*

Last week I wrote that about the suppression of an EPA report identifying the locations of “high hazard” coal sludge sites. I questioned whether the federal government was giving another government entity favored treatment, in this case the TVA -- which was the source of the original massive spill. It appears this may have been so the case of the fatal subway crash in Washington DC. In a report in the Washington Post today, a NTSB Board member says Metro failed to heed the advice of federal regulators to either strengthen the cars or take them out of service. They...

As I reported earlier, back in March I noted that DC Metro train money was frozen by some banks caught up in the AIG crisis. This frozen money likely caused slowdowns in some maintenance...

CNN producer Vito Maggiolo saying "one train on top of each other."

WASHINGTON - Metro confirms two trains have collided on the Red Line between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations. It happened close to the Fort Totten station, a Metro spokesperson said. D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter said one train was on top of the other train. The number of injuries and the extent of the injuries could not be immediately confirmed. Mass casualty units were called to the scene.

This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was there. This part doesn't: Within moments, three black sport-utility vehicles drove up, a half-dozen men in suits jumped out and one said, "You just hit our line." Whose line, you may ask? The guys in suits didn't say, recalled Aaron Georgelas, whose company, the Georgelas Group, was developing the Greensboro Corporate Center on Spring Hill Road. But Georgelas assumed that he was dealing with the federal government...

WASHINGTON - D.C. police say McGruff the crime dog, who urges children to "take a bite out of crime," became a victim Saturday when a bus driver punched him in the face as he handed fliers to children. The popular crime-fighting dog has been around since 1980 as a cartoon character and as a furry mascot known by children and parents alike. Police say the Metro bus driver, 38-year-old Shawn Brim, climbed off the bus at the corner of 14th Street and Spring Street, adjusted both sideview mirrors and then swung at Officer Tyrone Hardy, who was dressed as McGruff....

McGruff never saw this one coming. McGruff the Crime Dog, the stern but beloved police mascot who teaches kids how to stop crime before it happens, became a victim himself this weekend when a Metro bus driver punched him in the face as a stunned group of children watched, authorities said. McGruff, a.k.a. D.C. police officer Tyrone Hardy, was passing out flyers to children at the corner of 14th Street and Spring Road in Northwest Washington around 2:30 p.m. Saturday when a Metro bus pulled up to the curb. The bus driver, 38-year-old Shawn Brim, climbed out of the bus,...

<p>Metro officials say someone fell onto the subway tracks at a downtown station and was struck by a train, prompting officials to close two stations and turn around some trains.</p> <p>Metro spokesman Doug Karas said Tuesday the Gallery Place station on the Red Line was closed after the accident and trains were turning around at Judiciary Square and Farragut North.</p>

Metro will have two hours to do maintenance on Inauguration Day before it offers unprecedented service to accommodate record crowds on Jan. 20. Yet the problems the system has faced in the past week with normal crowds on its regular service may not bode well. Even Metro officials acknowledge that Inauguration Day will tax the aging system. “Something will happen on the 20th,” Metro General Manager John Catoe told the Metro Riders Advisory Committee last week. “We cannot operate that many trains and not have something happen.” ---snip--- Just last week Catoe had warned board members that it couldn’t push...

Near-impossible car access to the District on Inauguration Day could limit crowd size and leave many stranded on the region’s roadways, but within the city packed conditions likely will remain. ---snip--- “I don’t know where you’ll put a million people,” said McPhail, who has analyzed dozens of D.C. crowds.

Metro is scaling back its plans to offer parking to more than a thousand buses for the inauguration, citing an apparent lack of interest. Although as many as 10,000 buses are predicted to bring more than 500,000 people to the region for the historic Jan. 20 swearing in of Barack Obama as president, Metro officials said Tuesday they had received just 35 requests from charter buses. Now the transit system will open nearly all of its 60,000 parking spots to cars instead. “We’re just a small part of the parking to be available for charter buses,” said Metro spokeswoman Angela...

Metro is scaling back its plans to offer parking to more than a thousand buses for the inauguration, citing an apparent lack of interest. Although as many as 10,000 buses are predicted to bring more than 500,000 people to the region for the historic Jan. 20 swearing in of Barack Obama as president, Metro officials said Tuesday they had received just 35 requests from charter buses. Now the transit system will open nearly all of its 60,000 parking spots to cars instead.

WASHINGTON -- Plan on taking Metrorail to the inaugural ceremonies on Jan. 20? Be ready to hit the stairs. The transit agency says it expects to shut down and lock numerous escalators at high volume stations on the day of the inauguration. ..................... Metrorail is preparing to carry upwards of 1 million riders on inauguration day, a mark that will easily shatter the all time record high of 854,638 riders set this past summer.

Following a secular humanist ad campaign in Washington D.C. which questioned religious belief, an initiative called “I Believe Too” has been launched to “counteract” the secular campaign with “a positive, upbeat ad that identifies God as mankind’s “true and loving creator...”

WASHINGTON - D.C. Police have made an arrest in a double murder that occurred over the weekend in the Friendship Heights area of the District. 28-year-old Peiro Emanuel Fuentes Hernandez of Capitol Heights, Md. was arrested in connection with the beating deaths of Michael Spevak,68, and his wife, Virginia, 67. The two were found dead in their home late Saturday night. "It appears at this time the motive is strictly robbery," said D.C. Police chief Cathy Lanier. "At this time it appears, and we're pretty comfortable in saying that, this was not a random crime," Lanier added, "but we're not...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — You better watch out. There is a new combatant in the Christmas wars. Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday. In lifting lyrics from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.

Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday. In lifting lyrics from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas. "We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you," said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group...

Metro to Randomly Search Riders' Bags By Lena H. Sun Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 28, 2008; Page A01 Metro officials yesterday announced plans to immediately begin random searches of backpacks, purses and other bags in a move they say will protect riders and also guard their privacy and minimize delays. The program is modeled after one begun three years ago in New York that has withstood legal challenges. However, experts said it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of such searches, beyond assuring the public that police are being vigilant. New York officials declined to say what they...

The U.S. Senate voted moments ago to authorize long-sought federal funding for Washington's cash-strapped and aging Metro system, clearing a major hurdle toward providing $1.5 billion over 10 years to help maintain the nation's second-largest transit agency. The Senate passage is the furthest the measure has advanced since Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) began the effort two years ago to secure a reliable source of financial support for Metro. The bill, part of a major rail safety reform package, was passed by the House last week and now goes to the president for signing. Supporters say a veto is unlikely, partly...

A group of family members, survivors and first responders shared their thoughts about 9/11 while visiting the nearly completed Pentagon Memorial here on Aug. 28. Pentagon Memorial Fund manager Jim Laychak visits the Pentagon Memorial, Aug. 28, 2008. Laychak lost his younger brother, David, an Army civilian employee, during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The $22 million memorial, Laychak said, is a culmination of years of effort and hard work. “It is a great feeling of pride and accomplishment. Everybody has worked together on this over the past five and a half years,” he said. Tom Heidenberger, 62, lost...

Midnight Train to DelawareIt is the image the Obama campaign has been pushing since the moment the selection was made: that of Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Amtrak. Lunchpail Joe, they say, is just “one of the people.” Such a Regular Joe Sixpack, in fact, we’ll end up calling him Vice President Joey. Joe Biden, you see, takes the morning train. He works from nine to five a day. He takes another home again, to find….well, you get the idea. Or, if you don’t, there’s been no shortage of voices clamoring to paint the picture for you: "He's not a creature of...

On its Web site, the Alliance for Smart Transportation bills itself as a "coalition of concerned citizens advocating for smart transportation solutions for Montgomery and Prince George's Counties." But read on. The new group criticizes Maryland's plan to build a 16-mile Purple Line transit link between Bethesda and New Carrollton but offers no ideas for how to relieve traffic...Nor does the site identify the "concerned citizens." The site's...founder is a board member at Columbia Country Club in Montgomery, whose 100-year-old golf course would be bisected by the transit line. Purple Line supporters say the Chevy Chase club is merely disguising...

WASHINGTON -- Thousands homes and businesses are without power and Dupont Circle and Metro Center Metrorail stations are closed after a major outage in northwest D.C. on Friday. Officials said the outage was due to a failure at a substation on 10th Street. About 12,000 customers were without power at 10:30 a.m. Pepco said the outages stretches from as far north as U Street N.W. to F Street N.W., the Dupont Circle area to the west and Third Street N.W. to the east. Many downtown workers have been waiting outside on city streets because their offices are dark. Power is...

Commuters should expect major delays on Metro's Red Line this morning after a fire on the tracks near the Dupont Circle station, officials said. At the same time, a power outage in downtown Washington is affecting thousands of homes and offices, as well as traffic signals and Metro elevators and lighting.

A pro-family activist and former presidential candidate says it is outrageous that military personnel in uniform, who use public transportation while traveling to the Pentagon, are being publically harassed by anti-war leftists. The Air Force recently issued a security advisory, relating several incidents where military personnel have been approached by individuals expressing themselves as anti-government and shouting anti-war sentiments. Gary Bauer, Chairman of American Values, says in one case a woman in uniform was followed as she exited a Washington, D.C., subway train and a left wing thug continued to berate her as she exited the metro station. Bauer believes...

Maryland transit officials have determined that riders on a light rail Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton would make up to 68,000 trips daily, a number that supporters said yesterday would only grow as gas prices soar. This compares with about 260,000 daily trips for Metro's Red Line and 175,000 daily trips for the Orange Line. Dulles Metrorail is projected to have about 85,700 daily boardings in the first phase. The state's more detailed estimates also show that a 16-mile east-west Purple Line would reduce travel times, particularly for people stuck on slow and unreliable buses to get to...

Federal transportation officials today told Congress and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) that they have approved the proposed 23-mile extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, reversing their announcement in January that the project was unfit for federal funding. In a letter to Kaine and in a 10 a.m. conference call with the governor and Virginia congressional leaders, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the $5 billion project had finally met the Federal Transit Administration's standards for cost efficiency, construction and expected ridership. The project will now move into the final design phase, a major step toward receiving $900...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man carrying a rifle outside the Capitol building Friday, authorities said. The man was in custody and no one was injured, police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. An officer first spotted the man near Union Station, about two blocks from the Capitol. A car belonging to the suspect was being searched.

For the last seven years, a renegade group of anti-pants New Yorkers have held an annual No Pants Subway Ride event, which last year attracted over 200 participants. In 2006, it even garnered several arrests. And now a Facebook group has popped up promoting a copycat event here on D.C.'s Metro this Saturday, Jan. 12. The proposed event, scheduled from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, currently has 82 confirmed guests on Facebook and another 140 people who are listed as maybes. The organizers, Elizabeth Ody and Richard Julian, are asking anyone who'd like to ride Metro without pants...

A reporter for WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. said on the air that police will be "detonating" a suspicious package found on a Red Line car of the Metro subway system at the Dupont Circle station.Dupont Circle, Woodley Park and Cleveland Park stations on the Red Line have been closed. Shuttle buses are being used to ferry passengers.The suspicious package was found on the last car of a train bound for the Glenmont station in Montgomery County, Md.The Dupont Circle station has been evacuated.Record breaking temperatures of 102 degrees in D.C. promise to make this a rush hour to remember, even...

Prince George's and Montgomery County are investigating a possible chemical exposer and a strange substance at several above ground Green line Metro stations, Sunday afternoon. Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato says the Greenbelt and Takoma Park stations on the green line are closed while authorities investigate an early report of a man seen spraying some sort of chemical. Asato says the Greenbelt station had as many as 20 dead birds outside, and the others had one to three each. The first report came from Naylor Road just after noon Sunday.The Anacostia Stations, College Park, and Branch Avenue stations have also been...

Pro-Israel group fights back with ads StandWithUs counters anti-Israel poster campaign on Washington DC subway with its own posters Yaakov Lappin Published:  05.15.07, 15:42 / Israel News P{margin:0;} UL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 16; padding-right:0;} OL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 32; padding-right:0;} P.pHeader {margin-bottom:3px;COLOR: #192862;font-size: 16px;font-weight: bold;}The subway system in America's capital city is set to be the scene of a poster campaign war between a pro-Palestinian organization seeking to harm Israel's image and a pro-Israel group which has decided to fight back.  Last month, the 'US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation' (ETO) placed 20 poster ads showing "an imposing tank pointing its main firing turret at...

Greenbelt Station Closed Until Further Notice POSTED: 4:45 pm EDT September 4, 2006 UPDATED: 4:52 pm EDT September 4, 2006 Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts GREENBELT, Md. -- Metro Transit Police have closed the Greenbelt Metro Station after a person on a Green Line train said he had explosives in a bag. Metro officials said a customer on a train asked another rider if a suitcase that was on the train was his, and the man responded by saying the bag was his and that it had explosives in it. The passenger...