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Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Cracks Down on Illinois DOT for Mismanagement of CTA System

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Department will now provide Federal oversight of IDOT to address longstanding turmoil, unsafe rider conditions

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy today announced that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is launching a Safety Management Inspection (SMI) and a Special Directive for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) — the state agency responsible for safety oversight of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) rail transit system. FTA determined that under Governor J.B. Pritzker’s failed leadership, IDOT has not properly leveraged its oversight authority and resources to protect Chicago passengers and transit workers. FTA’s actions build on Secretary Duffy’s nationwide campaign to make transit systems safer for American families.

“It shouldn’t take federal intervention for Illinois to take oversight of CTA seriously,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “I’ve made clear since my first day on the job – safety is non-negotiable. Governor Pritzker and state leaders should be embarrassed for the chaos they’ve allowed on Chicago’s subways, buses, and rail lines. While they may not care about your safety — this administration does. The Trump Administration is using use every tool available to hold IDOT accountable and ensure every American using Chicago transit feels safe.”

The Special Directive requires IDOT to take 11 actions to improve its oversight of CTA, including implementing FTA’s recommendations from an April 2025 audit of IDOT’s rail transit safety oversight function.

FTA will determine, based on the results of the inspection, whether additional enforcement actions, such as the issuance of additional Special Directives or other enforcement actions, are warranted.

Secretary Duffy’s Actions to Make Transit Safer:

Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, Secretary Duffy has launched a number of initiatives to hold both states and transit systems accountable for their failure to keep commuters and transit workers safe on their systems.

Under his leadership, FTA has called on agencies across the country to improve safety measures, including:

• Washington D.C.’s WMATA
• New York City’s MTA
• Los Angeles Metro
• Charlotte Area Transit System

• Philadelphia’s SEPTA
  These actions have resulted in:

• WMATA seeing crime reported on its trains down by more than 30% and criminal incidents on buses down by nearly 40% in 2025.

• Charlotte City Council voting to expand the jurisdiction for the private security company that patrols the transit system as well as North Carolina passing Iryna’s Law, which seeks to change pretrial release conditions for people charged with violent offenses, among other measures.

• Metro Los Angeles hiring their first-ever police chief to lead a dedicated transit police force.

• SEPTA launching new security measures including a virtual patrol division to monitor over 30,000 cameras and provide real-time information to officers on the ground and putting more officers on trains.

• San Francisco’s BART system installing Next Generation Fare Gates at all 50 BART stations to combat fare evasion.
  Additional Information on the Safety Management Inspection:

To date, FTA has conducted several safety activities, including: (1) issuing a Special Directive to IDOT in October 2023 to address staffing and other concerns; (2) Evaluating IDOT’s response to FTA’s October 2025 report on a State Safety Oversight audit; and (3) Participating in the investigation of recent safety events at CTA.

FTA has identified repeated and persistent deficiencies in IDOT’s oversight performance, including:

• Limited onsite presence
• Weak accident investigation governance
• Ineffective corrective action plan management, and
• Minimal use of enforcement authority Given these longstanding issues with IDOT’s oversight of CTA, FTA believes a safety investigation is necessary to determine the root causes and a way forward.

The safety investigation will assess how IDOT performs critical safety oversight functions, such as how IDOT:

• Independently identifies, evaluates, and prioritizes safety risk
• Conducts and/or critically reviews safety event investigations, ensuring their sufficiency and thoroughness
• Exercises active and informed oversight of CTA’s Roadway Worker Protection (RWP) program to ensure the safety of those working on or around CTA tracks
• Critically reviews and, where necessary, challenges CTA’s analyses and conclusions to ensure that safety risk is appropriately identified and mitigated
• Verifies the implementation and effectiveness of corrective actions; and
• Takes timely and appropriate action to intervene when CTA’s safety performance is inadequate Additional Information on the Special Directive:

IDOT has not made sufficient progress in addressing long-term issues, including FTA’s findings from a recent audit. These deficiencies have allowed critical safety concerns to continue. FTA believes this new directive is necessary to address unsafe conditions and practices consistent with the prevention of substantial risk of death or personal injury.

In order to accelerate reforms of IDOT’s oversight of CTA, the new Special Directive will:

• Incorporate the eight findings from FTA’s safety audit of IDOT as immediately enforceable findings under this directive;
• Establish specific required actions and expedited completion timeframes for IDOT to correct these deficiencies; and
• Issue three additional findings and corresponding required actions where FTA has determined that further direction and enforcement are necessary to address ongoing safety risk at CTA. ###