Political Quotes

“I thank my friend from North Carolina, the distinguished ranking member. Tragically, one rider--Carol Glover of Virginia, my home State--died as a result of smoke inhalation, and dozens of others required medical treatment and/or hospitalization. {time} 2245 This was, and remains, an unacceptable situation, and I and all of the members of the national capital region delegation are committed to working with the NSTB, FTA, Metro, and our regional partners to ensure corrective actions are taken to restore public confidence. I would note for my colleagues, the current Federal law already includes language requiring Metro riders to have underground access to wireless telecommunications services if the service providers work with Metro to install such services. Unfortunately, they have lagged behind again, as my friend from Florida has indicated. Congress approved that requirement as part of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. One year later, as required by the law, the wireless providers did successfully establish service in the 20 busiest underground rail stations. However, Congress has granted an extension on the timeline to install wireless service to the tunnels and the rest of the system because Metro and the wireless providers have run into delays with scheduling work while Metro trains are not running, performing higher priority safety improvements as directed by the NTSB, and other factors.…”