B2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 , 2021
Earlier this month, it began
testing two 7000-series trains as
part of that effort.
“We will continue to monitor
and collect data and we’ll see
where that takes us,” Wiedefeld
said. “As you can imagine, we’re
being extremely conservative.”
Safety inspectors, engineers
and investigators are puzzled by
the defect, which they character-
ize as unusual, surfacing only
after an undetermined period of
use. As part of their efforts to
determine what causes the mal-
function, the NTSB has sent
metal from the wheelset of the
derailed train to its lab.
Investigators have said it’s
unlikely the defect originated
during maintenance or repairs
and are focusing on construc-
tion of the rail cars and the
pressing of the wheels to their
axles.
As lower service levels contin-
ue, customers will encounter
more frequent trains at stations
where rail lines overlap or as the
agency slowly adds 6000-series
trains, but Wiedefeld said Mon-
day that Metro wanted to be
realistic with the public about
what to expect. He said the
transit agency is working to
build trust with riders as it tries
to recover from the pandemic
and the basic service levels
prompted by the derailment.
“The pandemic has chal-
lenged transit ridership across
the country, and Metro is no
exception,” Wiedefeld said. “As
we continue to focus on safety
and communicate the work
that’s being done to improve
service delivery, I’m confident
ridership will remain steady.
“Moving ridership toward
pre-pandemic numbers is large-
ly about getting people back to
work in and around offices
throughout the region.”
[email protected]The NTSB’s findings prompted
the Washington Metrorail Safety
Commission, an agency Con-
gress created to monitor safety,
to order the transit agency to
pull all 7000-series trains from
service until they could be in-
spected and Metro could devel-
op a plan for their safe return.
Max Smith, a spokesman for the
commission, said Monday that
the panel continues to monitor
and remain in close communica-
tion with Metro while awaiting
its formal plan.
Some political and business
leaders have expressed concern
that continued reductions in
Metrorail service could hamper
the region’s economic recovery.
The office of D.C. Mayor Muriel
E. Bowser (D) didn’t respond to a
request for comment Monday on
Metro’s latest delay.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly
(D-Va.) said he is optimistic that
Metro will find a workable solu-
tion.
“The public is entitled to a
plan to return those rail cars to
service safely as well as a com-
prehensive accounting of why
this issue was allowed to lan-
guish for years without notice to
relevant safety bodies,” he said
in a statement.
Connolly and other lawmak-
ers say they plan to hold hear-
ings on the matter. Inspectors
general for the U.S. Transporta-
tion Department and Metro are
looking into why the issue was
not reported to the safety com-
mission or high-ranking Metro
officials.
Metro has proposed more fre-
quent inspections of 7000-series
trains — every eight days rather
than the previous 90 — in hopes
that it would be able to spot
early indications of any possible
defect before it poses a danger.
METRO FROM B1
Metro needs more time before new cars go back in service
BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld attends an event in Greenbelt last week t o demonstrate the wheelset inspection process on the
troubled new rail cars. The NTSB found defects in the trains’ wheelsets that could make them more prone to derailment.new flight,’ ” she said. But Simp-
son, a frequent flier who has been
making the journey between the
two cities for two decades, is a
member of the TSA PreCheck and
CLEAR programs and said she
was able to “breeze through.” But
for those in the regular queue, “it
was definitely the worst I’ve ever
seen it for holiday travel,” she
said.
The longer lines at National
and warnings to be prepared for
waits at airports across the coun-
try come as almost 6.5 million
people passed through Transpor-
tation Security Administration
gates nationwide between Friday
and Sunday. Friday set a pandem-
ic-era record for traveler volume,
and the agency is expecting to
screen 20 million people through
next Sunday, a number approach-
ing 2019 levels.
Despite the delays, officials
reported no major problems dur-
ing the first weekend of the
holiday season.
Lisa Farbstein, a TSA spokes-
woman, said there was no partic-
ular issue driving wait times at
National, but people should be
prepared to encounter lines as
more people fly for the holidays.
While some passengers were de-
layed, others said they quickly
passed through security.
“Airports have rush hours like
highways do,” Farbstein said.
There were other signs of high
travel demand to start the holi-
day week. One parking garage at
National was full for much of the
weekend, said Christina Saull, a
spokeswoman for the Metropoli-
tan Washington Airports Author-
ity. The garage had available
spots again on Monday.
Saull said more people are
choosing to drive during the cor-
onavirus pandemic rather than
take Metro or use ride-hailing
services, adding that garages and
the economy lot were close to full
over Veterans Day weekend. The
authority recommended that
people heading to National or
Dulles International Airport re-
serve a spot online if planning to
park.
“Both airports are seeing aAIRPORT FROM B1 near-pre-pandemic level of holi-
day passenger traffic and the
longer queues which come with
an increase in passengers,” Saull
said. “This is why we’re highly
encouraging passengers to arrive
at the airport at least two hours
in advance for their holiday
flight.”
Many travelers are encounter-
ing new checkpoints at National
for the first time. The check-
points opened this month as part
of a $1 billion overhaul — the
biggest at the airport since two
terminals opened in 1997. Offi-
cials say the new system, a rare
example of airport security de-
signed with post-9/11 require-
ments in mind, will increase ca-
pacity and make it easier for
passengers to get to their planes.
But the weekend crowding left
some travelers unsure.
“I would have expected a very
different result given all the reno-
vations,” Simpson said.
On Sunday, it appeared part of
the problem was a bottleneck
caused by a single security dog
that was checking passengers.
Past the dog, the line moved more
quickly.
Saturday morning also had its
share of traveler delays.
Frances Floresca recalled get-
ting through security quickly be-
fore the pandemic — even during
Christmas a few years ago — and
that it took about 10 minutes.
Heading to Atlanta on Saturday,
she said, “I was expecting TSA to
be smooth and quick, as usual.”
Instead, it took about 30 min-
utes.
“I am not a fan of the new TSA
system,” she said.
Farbstein said travelers should
expect to encounter crowds, not-
ing that people are sharing
checkpoints with some who ha-
ven’t flown since the start of the
pandemic.
“A lot of parents are traveling
with children for Thanksgiving
week and they take a little longer
at checkpoints,” she said. “And
because people are new to travel
or are rusty, they often have
prohibited items in their carry-
on bags, which also slows down
the line.”
Jonathan Dean, a spokesmanfor Baltimore-Washington Inter-
national Marshall Airport, said
the weekend was smooth, with no
significant waits at TSA or airline
counters.
Monday was the deadline for
federal employees to be vaccinat-
ed against the coronavirus. The
TSA said 93 percent of its workers
were “in compliance with today’s
deadline for the federal employee
vaccine mandate and exemption
requirements.”
In Atlanta, police continued to
search for a man who fled after a
gun was discovered in his bag-
gage Saturday at Hartsfield-Jack-
son Atlanta International Air-
port. The TSA said the man
reached for the gun, accidentally
firing it and causing a panic that
led to flights being halted tempo-
rarily.
Andrew Gobeil, an airport
spokesman, said operations were
back to normal and officials were
“expecting a very busy and enjoy-
able holiday week.”
During summer and early fall,
some airlines experienced a wave
of cancellations and delays, often
the result of disruptions that
began with bad weather cascad-
ing through their networks. Air-
lines have said they are prepared
for the rush of holiday travelers,
but some union leaders say do-
mestic carriers remain short-
staffed and vulnerable to prob-
lems.
Though there were no indica-
tions of widespread disruptions
over the weekend, data from
aviation tracking service FlightA-
ware showed that about a third of
flights on low-cost carriers Alle-
giant Air, Spirit Airlines and Jet-
Blue Airways were delayed Sun-
day.
Hilarie Grey, a spokeswoman
for Allegiant, said that there was
no single cause for the delays but
that high winds in Las Vegas, one
of the airline’s major bases, posed
problems for air traffic control-
lers, while bad weather in other
cities also created challenges.
Spirit and JetBlue did not re-
spond to requests for comment.
[email protected]Daron Taylor contributed to this
report.Air travelers report security line waits$6 million and at one point had
to lay off one-third of a
1,000-person workforce. The
gyms instituted a vaccine man-
date, but there remains a cus-
tomer base uncomfortable work-
ing out in face coverings, who he
hopes will return after Monday.
“We’re very excited and thank-
ful that the mayor has chosen to
lift the mask policy,” he said. “I
am well aware that there is a
winter surge that is coming. If a
winter surge comes, the safest
place you can be is in a fully
vaccinated environment, and
that is what we are providing and
will continue to provide.”
Yet many of the businesses in
Brookland in Ward 5 in North-
east Washington had mask man-
dates in place as of Monday
afternoon. At Barnes & Noble:
“You must wear a mask when
entering this business.” At near-
by Wardman Wines: “For the
continued safety of all: FACE
MASKS ARE STILL RE-
QUIRED!”
“Nothing has changed,” owner
Hiram Powers-Heaven said. “I
don’t know if the mayor’s office
knows something we don’t, but
on the face of the numbers that I
see, it’s still a problem.”
Powers-Heaven said two of his
three young children are not yet
eligible to be vaccinated, and he
wants to protect them and the
families of his staff. All of his
customers respected his rule
Monday, he said. “It’s D.C. — it’s a
liberal place and most people are
on the side of the science.”
At the Giant in Brentwood,
Toni Smith, 29, said she is fully
vaccinated yet wore a mask while
shopping for Thanksgiving on
Monday. “What, there’s no pan-
demic anymore?” she said sarcas-
tically.
She worries a wholesale depar-
ture from masks could spread the
virus and endanger her
5- and 8-year-olds, whom she is
still hesitant about vaccinating.
“I don’t know why they want to
lift it so fast,” said Smith, a
stay-at-home mom. “They should
wait until January or February,
until the weather breaks again.”
[email protected]
[email protected]turely.”
If the “overwhelming majori-
ty” of the nation’s 28 million
5-to-11-year-olds get vaccinated,
and cases go down, Fauci said,
the country may be able to forgo
masks, “I hope, as we get through
the winter and into spring.”
“But you can’t guarantee it,” he
said. “This virus has fooled us
before. It’s a very wily virus.”
With the exception of large
retail chains, such as Giant, and
some local fitness studios and
salons, which have been clamor-
ing for this change, many restau-
rants, shops and event spaces
will continue to require masks —
and in some cases, proof of
vaccination against the coronavi-
rus.
Masks will still be required on
public transportation and in
schools, libraries and child-care
facilities, in addition to Smithso-
nian museums. Kennedy Center
patrons must wear masks at all
times and show proof of vaccina-
tion to attend indoor perform-
ances.
About 64 percent of residents
are fully vaccinated, D.C. data
shows, but neighborhoods in
Wards 5, 7 and 8 generally have
lower rates of vaccination com-
pared with the rest of the city.
Some in the business commu-
nity, including the gym owners
who clamored for this change,
said it could help a financially
decimated industry begin to re-
cover.
David Von Storch, owner of
five Vida Fitness centers in D.C.,
said his business has lostmasks indoors in areas of sub-
stantial or high community
transmission, which includes all
of D.C. and Maryland and the
vast majority of Virginia, except
for a few rural counties.
Neighboring Montgomery
County reinstated its mask man-
date Saturday after seven consec-
utive days of new cases number-
ing between 50 and 100 cases per
100,000 people.
Elizabeth A. Stuart, a statisti-
cian and professor at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, said that given the
current state of the pandemic,
Bowser’s timing seemed odd.
“I see the appeal of starting to
talk about relaxing the mask man-
date,” she said. “Laying out some
clear metrics that will be used
makes sense, especially as we’re
looking down the road a couple of
months.... Right now it just feels
like in D.C., it’s sort of ad hoc.”
For example, the new policy
doesn’t consider children under
5 years old, who are too young to
get vaccinated and therefore at
greater risk and could put front-
line workers in the awkward
position of enforcing policies
that could harm their families.
“It’s easy to say personal re-
sponsibility, but that doesn’t al-
ways go over well with families
with small children who feel
once again their needs are not
being prioritized,” she said.
Asked about the D.C. mask
mandate, Anthony S. Fauci, the
nation’s leading expert on infec-
tious diseases, warned against
removing face coverings at this
tenuous time in the pandemic.
“Its adds an extra degree of
risk,” he said Monday on NPR’s
“Morning Edition,” pointing to
national data last week that
showed an average of 90,000 new
infections and an increase in
hospitalizations, but not yet
deaths, a lagging indicator.
“The more people that get
vaccinated, the more people that
get boosted, the lower the level of
infection in the community will
be, and then you start thinking
about pulling back on masks, but
you don’t want to do it prema-
MASKS FROM B1
Mixed reviews as D.C. mask rules ease
“It’s easy to saypersonal responsibility,but that doesn’t alwaysgo over well withfamilies with smallchildren.”
Elizabeth A. Stuart, professor at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health“We will continue to monitor and collect data and we’ll see where that takes us.”
Paul J. Wiedefeld, Metro general managerSubscriber ExclusivesFor Your Ears: Post Reports, a Daily Podcast from The Washington Post
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