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Metro to cut hours every day of the week

By Max Smith

WASHINGTON — Metro trains will run fewer hours each day under a new service schedule that the transit agency’s board approved on Thursday.

The board agreed to the service cuts under a compromise designed to prevent D.C. board members from vetoing the reductions. There was little debate over the changes before the final vote.

Under the new schedule, Metrorail will close at 11:30 p.m. on weeknights and at 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Trains will run from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays. The new schedule begins in July.

As part of the compromise with D.C. members, the service hour reductions will expire in two years. And a report will be due to the board in 2018 providing an update on Metro’s maintenance progress.

General Manager Paul Wiedefeld has said that more maintenance and track inspections could be completed if trains ran fewer hours each week.

Trains will continue to run until midnight through June.

WTOP’s Amanda Iacone contributed to this report.

Audit: Metro put millions of federal dollars at risk in failed Buy America program

By Max Smith
WASHINGTON — Oversight and contracting failures at Metro risked an immediate loss of millions in federal funding, a new audit report from Metro’s Office of Inspector General found. The audit of Metro’s Buy America contract award and oversight process found $68 million in bus, paratransit or rail car vehicle and parts purchases did not meet federal contracting requirements, and $517 million of the $1.4 billion in contracts reviewed did not follow the Federal Transit Administration’s nonbinding suggested best practices.
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