Metro IT Money Unspent

Washington's Metro system has spent only eight percent of the economic stimulus funds it has budgeted for information technology, according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The Recovery Act enacted last February provided the beleaguered transportation system with $10.65 million for hardware and software to improve maintenance, monitor network traffic and protect Metro systems for disaster recovery.

As of Oct. 31, Metro had used $886,525 of the nearly $5 million it had allocated to better protect sensitive Metro data. The other IT projects pegged for stimulus funding include modernization of Metro's financial management system and expansion of its document management system. No money has been expended for either project.

The financially-strapped system's most recent troubles involve a Nov. 29 collision that damaged beyond repair at least three rail cars, costing $3 million apiece, and injured three Metro employees.

Metro General Manager John Catoe testified in August before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs subcommittee that while ridership is at an all-time high, the Metro system is feeling its age. The transit system will need more than $7 billion over the next ten years to maintain operations, including money to update critical software, he said.

Such long-standing budget woes became more concerning in June, when a train crash killed 9 people and sent 51 people to the hospital. The National Transportation Safety Board in September raised concerns about faulty track circuits, though the cause of the collision could take many months to ascertain.