Metrolink pledges to take the necessary steps to keep riders and employees safe from the spread of COVID-19
Los Angeles, CA, 2020-Sep-11 — /Travel PR News/ — Metrolink, Southern California’s passenger train service, today (September 9, 2020) joined more than 100 transportation agencies from across the nation in a pledge to take the necessary steps to keep riders and employees safe from the spread of COVID-19. A part of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) national Health and Safety Commitments (HSC) Program, the pledge – and its participants – were announced at a virtual event earlier today.
For being part of this program and making this commitment to health and safety, Metrolink will proudly display APTA’s Seal of Commitment on signage, in trains, at stations, and on its website and social media.
The seal means Metrolink has pledged to institute policies and practices in four major areas:
- Following Official Guidance
- Protecting Each Other through smart practices and behaviors
- Making Informed Choices based on timely information
- Putting Health First
The HSC will also help transit agencies nationwide share information and deliver the highest safety standards as more becomes known about the COVID-19.
“The Metrolink Board approved signing on to APTA’s Health and Safety Commitments Program pledge to give riders and employees the utmost confidence that we not only have the highest safety standards, but will continue to support, learn, and improve safety efforts through a national coalition that matches our already considerable commitment,” said Metrolink CEO Stephanie Wiggins. “Transit is critical to support our businesses, our economy and the essential workers that are keeping our communities functioning.”
Metrolink has implemented an aggressive safety program to keep riders and team members safe.
Some of the initiatives implemented include:
- Following official guidance.
- More frequent cleaning with added staff to clean throughout the day in addition to off-hours at night.
- Use of an electrostatic sprayer to disinfect trains every day, including the tough to reach places.
- Supplying team members with masks to wear and to provide to riders who forget their own so that they can comply with the requirement to use face coverings on board all Metrolink trains. Audits show more than 99% compliance with Metrolink’s facemask requirement.
- More than doubled the number of hand sanitizing stations on trains so that each passenger car now has two on board.
- Added signage at stations and on trains to remind people of social distancing and other safety messages.
- In the process of upgrading air filters in our work places and on our equipment.
“Safety is a shared responsibility. We work every day to keep our riders and employees safe from COVID-19, but we can’t do it without our riders’ help,” said Metrolink Chief of Safety Don Filippi. “As Metrolink follows official public health guidelines; we ask riders to follow them, too. We’re protecting each other by cleaning and disinfecting vehicles and facilities; we ask riders to clean their hands and wear face coverings and to minimize talking on-board trains and buses. We’re giving riders the information they need about crowded vehicles and routes; we ask riders to respect other passengers’ space and, if possible, use transit at less busy times. We require our employees to stay home if they’re sick or have been exposed to COVID-19; we ask riders to do the same.”
For more information on Metrolink’s safety enhancements, please visit metrolinktrains.com/cleancommute. For more information about APTA and the HSC, visit www.apta.com.
ABOUT METROLINK (metrolinktrains.com)
Metrolink is Southern California’s commuter rail service enabling people to connect to their jobs and explore all that the region has to offer. Every year, Metrolink has nearly 12 million boardings from people who ditch their cars to avoid gridlock, removing an estimated 8.9 million vehicles from the roads and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 128,700 metric tons. Metrolink is the largest commuter rail agency in California and the third largest in the United States operating seven lines along a 538-mile network that travels across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
Source: Metrolink
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