Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is proposing that the federal government oversee safety regulations for subway and light-rail systems in the wake of several accidents that killed or injured passengers.

“Safety is our No. 1 priority when it comes to planes, trains and automobiles,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in an e-mailed statement. “It only makes sense that we should be looking out for passengers who ride subways, too.”

LaHood would set minimum safety standards and enforce them for transit systems lacking effective oversight agencies, under the plan. He is scheduled to release the full initiative on Dec. 8 as he testifies before a House subcommittee overseeing transit.

Recent transit accidents in Washington, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago have resulted in more than 200 injuries. Following a Washington Metro crash on June 22 that killed nine, LaHood formed a group to examine safety.

The safety review took on added importance as President Barack Obama stressed expanding subway use to reduce traffic congestion and the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the administration’s proposal doesn’t go far enough and gives too much responsibility to states.

“I have been an advocate for federal oversight for some time,” Hall, who served as the NTSB head between 1993 and 2001, said in an interview. The Obama plan “appears to be a half-step in the right direction.”

Resistance Softened

Past resistance to federal authority has been softened by the Washington Metro accident, said Mark Rosenker, who headed the NTSB from 2005 through July of this year and favors more federal oversight.

“Highly visible accidents like this strike a chord,” he said in an interview.

While the administration hasn’t said how it would pay to set up the new federal authority, Rosenker said that shouldn’t be a sticking point.

“How cheap do you get in safety?” he said.

It doesn’t make sense that transit and commuter rail that run on parallel tracks have different safety standards, NTSB Chairman Debbie Hersman said.

“It’s something that needs to be addressed,” she said today at the National Press Club in Washington. “Transit is a very safe mode. But it’s the only mode that doesn’t have federal regulation.”

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the Metro, has been “advocating for stronger safety oversight” since the June crash that was the deadliest in Metro’s history, spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in an e-mail.

“The bottom line is that we welcome additional safety oversight with open arms,” she said.

Assessing Plan

Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the agency would work with the Obama administration on improving safety.

“Part of the process would include determining how any proposal fits with the existing strong and independent safety oversight already in place in New York,” he said in an e-mail.

The American Public Transportation Association, which represents transit authorities including New York’s and Washington’s, has yet to see the proposal, William Millar, the group’s president, said today in an interview.

“What we would be concerned about is that there not be new federal mandates and no money to implement those mandates,” he said. “We would hope that any new safety regime, if it does add any new costs, would come with a source of revenue to pay those costs.”

Federal Safety Oversight

The federal government already oversees safety for the airlines. For decades, the Federal Railroad Administration has regulated freight and commuter railroads, an arrangement that won’t change under the proposal.

Under current law, the federal government is prohibited from establishing safety rules for subways and light rail, according to a six-page Transportation Department document about the plan.

The Washington Post reported on the administration’s proposal yesterday.

In the absence of federal oversight, states created 27 agencies that lack the adequate staff, expertise and money to do their jobs, the transportation official said.

The new proposal would let the federal government provide money for employee salaries and benefits, training, certification and travel costs to state agencies able to conduct safety oversight, according to the document.

The Federal Transit Administration would regulate those systems in states that decide not to accept the federal funding or are determined to be inadequate, according to the document.

States would be allowed to set higher safety standards than the federal government’s regulation under the proposal.

The plan also would let the FTA set rules for bus systems.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington at jbliss@bloomberg.net; Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 16, 2009 16:17 EST