October 14, 2011 metro The Honorable Darrell Issa The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman Chairman Chairman Committee on Oversight and Committee on Homeland Security Government Reform and Governmental Affairs United States House of Representatives United States Senate 2157 Rayburn House Office Building 340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings The Honorable Susan Collins Ranking Member Ranking Member Committee on Oversight and Committee on Homeland Security Government Reform and Governmental Affairs United States House of Representatives United States Senate 2471 Rayburn House Office Building 344 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Chairman Issa, Chairman Lieberman, Ranking Member Cummings and Ranking Member Collins: This letter will provide The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority third annual update of the progress made to provide wireless service in our system, mandated in subsection le) of Section 601 of Division of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-432). As we reported last year the first milestone of providing wireless service in WMATA's busiest 20 stations platforms was met by the October 16, 2009 deadline. We continue to work with the Carrier Consortium composed of Mm ma Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint/Nextel toward the mandated goal of service mm I throughout the system by October 16, 2012. As an example of that progress, I beyond the initial 20 stations, 82% of our remaining stations are now complete. I In addition, throughout our entire system, underground fiber is 78% complete, .vasha?g?o?.oc above ground fiber is 52% complete and base hotels are 76% complete. We 2?2'?62'm4 have made progress over the past year, but still have significant installations needed to complete the program. While the timely completion of this project is important to WMATA and to our customers, our most urgent priority is maintaining the safety and reliability of our system. We have undertaken a 6 year, $5 billion capital rebuilding campaign to . restore WMATA to a state of good repair. A District of Columbia, I Maryland and Virginia Transit Partnership Chairman lssa, Chairman Lieberman Ranking Member Cummings and Ranking Member Collins Page 2 The first billion of our capital campaign is dedicated to addressing the National Transportation Safety Board recommendations. We have taken an accelerated approach to complete that work, which includes shut downs of larger portions of the system on weekends and during our limited non-revenue hours. During those shut downs we are working along with the Carrier Consortium to coordinate opportunities to advance the wireless installation. Timely completion of the wireless project is dependent on the safe coordination and execution of concurrent Carrier Consortium, NTSB and WMATA work activities. WMATA and the Carrier Consortium share the goal of providing our customers with access to wireless service throughout the system. We will provide an annual update next year as the statute requires. lf you have any questions, please contact Regina Sullivan, WMATA's Director of Government Relations at 202-962-1632 or rsulIivan@wmata.com. Sincerely, Richard Sarles General Manger and Chief Executive Officer cc: The Honorable Benjamin Cardin The Honorable Barbara Mikulski The Honorable Mark Warner The Honorable James Webb The Honorable Steny Hoyer The Honorable Chris Van Hollen, Jr. The Honorable Donna Edwards The Honorable Frank Wolf The Honorable Gerry Connolly The Honorable James Moran The Honorable Eleanor Holmes-Norton