WASHINGTON — Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)'s new chief executive officer and general manager starts his new job Monday.
Randy Clarke is stepping in to help an agency still dealing with staffing concerns, significant delays and questions about the return of the 7000 series Metro cars.
Clarke is coming from Texas where he was the president and CEO of Capital Metro in Austin, Texas.
WMATA's board of directors announced that the organization was getting Clarke as the new general manager and CEO in early May. The search and selection of Clarke came after Paul Wiedefeld announced he was retiring from his position as general manager and CEO of WMATA in January.
It was originally announced that Wiedefeld would retire on June 30 but the former general manager and CEO retired a little over a month early on May 16.
Clarke steps into the role as many questions still remain about the future of Metro.
Recent audits by Washington Metrorail Safety Commission found that employees were inadequately trained as well as infrastructure issues. The most-recent audit dug into Metro's station maintenance, elevator and escalator practices and, in total, issued nine "corrective action plans" regarding what the transit agency needs to fix.
Meanwhile, the agency is still working to get its fleet of trains to full strength following a derailment last year.
The 7000-series Metro cars, representing 60% of Metro's total fleet, have been out of service since the derailment of a Blue Line railcar in October 2021, when 200 people had to evacuate a train. The incident led to the D.C. Metrorail Safety Commission ordering Metro to pull the cars from service.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the incident could have been "catastrophic."
While investigating the derailment, NTSB found that an axle of the railcar that derailed was "out of compliance with the 7000 Series specifications for the wheel and axle assembly," according to an order issued by the WMSC.
In May, WMATA said the 7000-series cars were on track to return to service in the summer. The first batch of 7000-series cars were back on tracks last month.
Before his first day, Clarke took to Twitter to ask for feedback from passengers saying, "listening to customers is a priority for me." He also said he will be an advocate for Metro riders, since he rides Metro himself.
Clarke was expected to meet with passengers Monday to address questions and concerns moving forward.