WASHINGTON, DC - The interim general manager poised to take over Metro will swiftly be confronted with questions about how the transit agency can be turned around after a deadly eight months.

Last week, a damning federal audit found deep flaws in Metro's safety structure, including a lack of safety reports to top managers.

The week before, the National Transportation Safety Board asked probing questions in three days of hearings that highlighted safety lapses leading up to and since a deadly June 22 train crash.

And in January, an independent safety oversight group issued its own report on safety failures, including how a speeding train nearly hit its own inspectors during an announced track worker safety inspection.

Now the agency is dealing with a threat from a bipartisan group of U.S. senators to change or face an "intervention."

Longtime transit veteran Richard Sarles is slated to take on these problems when he begins as interim general manager March 29. He said safety is his first, second and third priority.