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Metro, union reach contract deal that cuts short privatization push

Metro and its largest union have reached an agreement on a four-year contract that will head off some privatization efforts.

The tentative agreement jointly announced late Tuesday comes well ahead of the expiration of the current deal on June 30.

The agreement still must get formal approval from the union members and Metro Board.

As part of the deal, Metro has agreed not to contract out Silver Line operations to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County, Virginia, and has agreed to “create a path” toward ending contracting at the Cinder Bed Road garage in Lorton, Virginia, where workers have been on strike for seven weeks.

Ending Metro’s efforts to privatize Silver Line operations and the work at Cinder Bed Road were key demands of the strike.

Financial details of the deal were not immediately released in order to provide time for workers and the Metro Board to be briefed.

Metro and IndyCar team up for a busy weekend of Freedom 250 Grand Prix events

No, you weren't hallucinating Thursday morning — that was an IndyCar being pulled along the Metro tracks through a portion of D.C. It was part of a promotion between the Freedom 250 Grand Prix and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to remind people that the best way to navigate the expected huge crowds this weekend is to take Metro. "Even IndyCar knows the fastest way to get around is actually on Metro," said Randy Clarke, the transit agency's general manager and CEO. "We're really excited about this, and this car was a really kind of fun way to show a different way that people can see the Metro system, and we're having a little fun." The IndyCar, described as a work car that will not run in any of the races scheduled over the weekend, was fastened aboard a flat-bed train car and pulled along the yellow line, beginning at the King Street station up to the Mount Vernon station then back south to the L'Enfant Plaza station. Metro riders gawked at the multicolored, low-profile racecar as the train paused at L'Enfant for a photo op.
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