Metro Sidelines Troubled 7000-Series Railcars To Identify Root Cause Of Their Failures

WASHINGTON, DC — 2022 doesn't seem to be going much better than 2021 for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation (WMATA) when it comes to returning its troubled 7000-series railcars to service.

Metro General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Paul J. Wiedefeld revealed on Thursday that he would be halting the return to service of the 7000-series trains for 90 days. This would allow more time for mechanical experts and engineers to conduct a root cause analysis and obtain technology to measure the wheel sets of the railcars.

While that work is being done, Metro will speed up the process to restore 6000-series railcars to service.

“Dedicated staff members are working with three outside groups to make sure the new railcars are safe to operate, and we concluded that their efforts to maintain and inspect trains – with maximum capacity getting just five trains back in service each day — isn’t where we need to be focused,” Wiedefeld said, in a release. “We are going to redirect our efforts towards identifying and tackling the root cause of the derailment and take steps to better support more continuous wheel measurements by installing trackbed technology.”

Metro tried to return the 7000-series trains to service in mid-December with a gradual 90-day rollout and once-a-week inspection schedule. But, Wiedefeld halted the process on Dec. 23 and introduced a nightly inspection schedule. However, the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, which oversees Metro safety, ordered WMATA on Dec. 29 to remove all 7000-series railcars it had returned to service. WMATA also had to come up with a new return-to-service plan.

Related: All 7000-Series Metro Railcars Ordered Out Of Service Again

Metrorail has been operating under reduced service since Oct. 12, 2021, when a Blue Line train in Virginia derailed between the Rosslyn and Arlington Cemetery stations.

Within days of the October derailment, inspectors from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) identified safety concerns with the wheel axle assembly of the 7000-series railcars. Based on those findings, WMSC ordered all 7000-series railcars removed from service on Oct. 18.

The NTSB also discovered WMATA had failed to release information about 52 similar derailments going back to 2017.

With nearly 60 percent of its fleet sidelined, Metrorail began offering reduced service, which resulted in fewer trains and longer wait times for customers. Service levels will remain the same while the work on the 7000-series railcars continues. Metro reported that average wait times for customers is 10 minutes.

“Our customers are always top of mind and none of the decisions we’ve made are easy, but they are critical to our ability to restore service,” Wiedefeld said, in the release. “We appreciate each and every customer who continues to ride Metro and recognize that many people depend on the service. We also thank our employees who are doing their best to meet rider expectations during a challenging time.”

Metro reported that it was averaging under 200,000 rail trips a day, which is less than a third of pre-pandemic numbers. The recent holidays contributed to the lower-than normal usage, as well more people teleworking due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant.