Congress will exert its oversight authority over the District of Columbia next week when it summons Metro officials to a hearing about the transit agency's safety and infrastructure troubles, and why it closed for a day last month.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced an April 13 hearing on Metro's "most significant challenges," as well as the problems that led officials to shut down the system on March 16.

The subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets has summoned Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld and Jack Evans, a D.C. Council member who is also chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the regional board that oversees the system.

The witness list also includes Federal Transit Administration senior adviser Carolyn Flowers and National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart.

Wiedefeld was both praised and criticized over his decision to close Metro on March 16 in order to conduct a comprehensive safety check following a tunnel fire.

The scrutiny led to the discovery of 27 defects requiring immediate repair as well as hundreds of smaller problems.

Wiedefeld has warned some partial Metro closures will be needed in order to fully complete repairs to the aging system, but walked back an earlier comment by Evans that entire lines would have to be shut down temporarily.

In January 2015, a woman died after smoke filled a Metro tunnel near L'Enfant Plaza and passengers were unable to escape.