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Metro GM: Terror threat ‘keeps me up at night’

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WASHINGTON — A terrorist could strike anywhere at any time, and Metro’s top leaders are among those focused on heading off potential threats.

“One of the biggest things that keeps me up at night is concerning the vulnerability of public transit, [and] it’s not only us, [it’s] around the world,” Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said Wednesday.

Wiedefeld made the remarks while responding to a question from Metro Board Chair Jack Evans, who was chairing a D.C. Council Finance Committee hearing on Metro.

“There are a lot of things that we do that you won’t see,” Wiedefeld said.

Metro has an extensive video surveillance system, and Metro Transit Police Chief Ron Pavlik said his department is in regular contact with federal and other local law enforcement agencies.

“We are definitely engaged, whether it’s daily briefings [or] weekly briefings,” Pavlik said. “But anytime there’s an event overseas or elsewhere, those tactics and strategies are brought back to us, so if there are any lessons learned … we can take away from it.”

Wiedefeld called the communication and video-monitoring programs “excellent.” And he said that while they are doing a lot, “I am also making sure that we don’t sit back, that we’re constantly thinking,” he said.

“Because unfortunately, the people that we’re up against are constantly thinking, trying to get two steps ahead of us.”

Metro hopes for temporary Dupont, Farragut North cooling fix this summer

WASHINGTON — Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld stood Monday next to the Metro chiller pumps sitting idle for a third straight year about 40 feet below Connecticut Avenue Northwest and said he hopes — but cannot promise — that a temporary fix for the cooling system for Dupont Circle and Farragut North will be in place at some point this summer. Pipes connecting the chiller vault to a cooling tower about 500 feet south on Connecticut Avenue and 13 stories up have been leaking since at least 2015. Metro believes those 500 feet of pipes are the only issue that has kept the stations from being cooled by the shared chiller plant since then.
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