WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration has issued a Special Directive requiring the Illinois Department of Transportation to take 11 actions to improve its oversight of the Chicago Transit Authority. The FTA also has launched a Safety Management Inspection of IDOT.
The directive issued Tuesday says that the FTA has determined IDOT’s State Safety Oversight (SSO) program “does not provide effective, independent oversight of CTA’s rail transit system” and that the state agency “has not exercised its authority, resources, or responsibilities at a level commensurate with CTA’s size, complexity, or safety risk profile.”
The new action follows an earlier warning that the federal government could withhold up to $50 million from the CTA if the transit agency did not improve its law enforcement. The latest action is aimed at the state rather than the CTA, with the Department of Transportation saying in a press release that IDOT “has not properly leveraged its oversight authority and resources to protect Chicago passengers and transit workers.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in the release that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and state leaders “should be embarrassed for the chaos they’ve allowed” on Chicago-area transit systems. That drew a sharp social media response from Pritzker, who said Duffy had “launched a sham investigation into our local transit. Maybe when you care less about pajamas at the airport and more about real solutions as we do, we’ll take note.”
The new action includes eight findings from an October 2025 audit as “immediately enforceable”; sets actions and deadlines to address those findings, and includes three additional findings where the FTA says “further direction and enforcement are necessary to address ongoing safety risk at CTA.”
The earlier findings, and the actions to address them, include:
- IDOT did not conduct on-site safety reviews and inspections, instead relying on meetings and document reviews. It must provide an expedited timeline for an inspection schedule.
- It failed to fully disburse Federal SSO grants, which IDOT attributed to staffing and sourcing constraints. The agency must submit a plan addressing how it will use the backlog of funds in a timely fashion.
- It did not annually review and revise its SSO Program Standard as required. It must update its process to do so within 60 days.
- It did not ensure that CTA met all requirements for Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans. The FTA will require IDOT to revise its process for reviewing those safety plans to properly identify non-compliance and amend its enforcement procedures.
- The state agency did not ensure that CTA notified the state and FTA of all reportable accidents within two hours; the FTA will require IDOT to “actively enforce compliance.”
- IDOT did not ensure that the CTA addressed safety investigations in compliance with rules, adopting CTA investigation results without independent assessment. The state agency will be required to strengthen its investigation oversight.
- The state agency did not ensure that CTA had a process to track and manage its Corrective Action Plans to address risks and hazards. IDOT must implement an oversight plan with milestones and enforcement consequences.
- IDOT’s annual report to the FTA did not meet all requirements. It must improve procedures beginning with its upcoming 2025 report.
The three new findings expand on the earlier results.
- The FTA found that IDOT has not established a process to determine the quality, analysis, and outcomes of CTA investigations, and enhanced oversight of those investigations is necessary.
- IDOT’s CAP management processes do not ensure timely mitigation of known safety risks, with the FTA saying “additional, prescriptive requirements for CAP governance, prioritization, escalation, and effectiveness verification are necessary.”
- IDOT does not ensure that items in CTA’s monthly hazard log are being managed and mitigated. The FTA is requiring immediate action to strengthen oversight of CTA hazard management.
The Special Directive establishes a series of dates to address each of these issues, with some deadlines as early as April 17, and some extending until September.
The planned inspection was outlined in a letter from FTA official Joe DeLorenzo to IDOT Secretary GIA Biagi. It repeated many of the same concerns about IDOT’s oversight and said the FTA “believes an SMI is necessary to determine the root causes and the best way to address them,” and that the results will determine whether additional enforcement is necessary.
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
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