Nationwide Safety Alert Issued Over Wheel Defect Found On DC Metro Trains

WASHINGTON, DC — Federal regulators issued a nationwide rail transit system safety alert Wednesday as part of their investigation into a D.C. Metro train derailment in October that forced the transit system to remove a majority of its fleet of train cars from service.

In the safety alert, the National Transportation Safety Board called on rail transit agencies and commuter railroads across the nation to assess their fleets for wheels that do not meet specifications and to take immediate action to correct the problem.

The NTSB wants to ensure that other transit agencies address a condition it found on the D.C. Metro system where wheels on certain trains moved outward from their mounted position on the axle.

The safety concerns come as public transit agencies work to win back passengers and build out expanded transportation routes under the new federal infrastructure law after COVID-19 drastically reduced ridership.

The safety alert was released as part of a preliminary report of the NTSB’s ongoing investigation into the Oct. 12 derailment on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Blue Line between the Rosslyn and Arlington Cemetery Metro stations.

The entire Metro system is currently operating at reduced levels due to the safety issues. In a Nov. 22 announcement, Metro blamed the continued service delays on the ongoing efforts to finalize "new inspection protocols" for its 7000-series rail cars and problems in obtaining parts for its 6000-series railcars due to strains in the global supply chain.

WMATA had to sideline 60 percent of its rail fleet in October after the derailment on the Blue Line. The system-wide delays are expected to continue at least through the end of 2021.

The NTSB safety alert issued Wednesday identified the issue of wheelset movement on transit railcars and commuter railroads “as a serious problem that has the potential to create a catastrophic event,” Robert Hall, director of the NTSB’s Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations, said in a statement Wednesday.

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“As we continue to conduct the investigation of this derailment, it is imperative that the safety issues identified are addressed immediately to protect the American public traveling daily on our transit system,” Hall said.

In a statement Wednesday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam noted that the state negotiated a bipartisan agreement that is providing Metro with a dedicated source of revenue for the first time in the system’s history.

Virginia secured $500 million in annual funding dedicated to rebuild the aging Metro system. As part of the agreement, Metro must provide annual reports on performance and safety to continue receiving these funds, Northam said.

In the Oct. 12 incident on the Blue Line, some passengers on the train were trapped in a tunnel in a dark train car and had to be evacuated on foot. Of the 187 passengers onboard when the train derailed at about 4:5o p.m., one passenger was transported to the hospital for treatment.

The evacuation, coordinated by WMATA and the Arlington County Fire Department, began about 6:20 p.m. on Oct. 12 and concluded about 7:15 p.m.

NTSB investigators said the train had left the Rosslyn station when one wheelset on the fourth car of the train, car 7200, derailed. After it derailed, the train traveled about 1,800 feet before stopping in the tunnel. All railcars remained upright and inline.

A preliminary review of data from an onboard event recorder revealed the train speed was about 33 mph at the time of the derailment. The NTSB said it does not believe speed was a factor in the derailment.

Based on physical evidence and station video review, between the Arlington Cemetery and Rosslyn stations, one of car 7200’s wheelsets derailed and rerailed while moving through a pair of switches.

NTSB found that when the train departed the Largo Town Center station, the same wheelset on car 7200 derailed and rerailed again while moving through a pair of switches, and the train continued inbound through D.C. toward Arlington where the accident occurred.

The 7000-series cars were manufactured by Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. For its contract with WMATA, Kawasaki subcontracted with Sumitomo Metals to supply the wheels and axles and with ORX to assemble the wheelset by pressing the wheels onto the axles.

The wheelset problem is not easily identifiable with a routine visual inspection. “Consequently, the condition could exist on wheel and axle assemblies of other transit or commuter railcars,” the NTSB noted in its alert.

The NTSB said it is continuing to investigate the derailment issue on the D.C. Metro system. The regulators plan to focus on failure analysis of the wheelsets, evaluation of the response from rail traffic controllers, internal and external oversight of the WMATA system, and identification of similar wheelset issues on passenger rail cars.

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