Photo by Adam Fagen.

Photo by Adam Fagen.

If you had to ride the Red Line to work this morning, chances are you you had one hell of a commute. By most accounts, the Red Line was an absolute mess:

The reason, WMATA spokesman Dan Stessel tells DCist, is because of a brake problem on a train at Dupont Circle. Another train had to tow it out of the station, Stessel says. If you’re keeping tabs on just what causes train malfunctions, you’ll notice that the cause for train delays is often, though not always, because of a brake problem. Just take a look at the Daily Service Reports from the last few days:

June 9:

7:50 a.m. A Shady Grove-bound Red Line train at NoMa-Gallaudet was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 9-minute delay.

8:33 a.m. A New Carrollton-bound Orange Line train at Ballston was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 6-minute delay.

9:22 a.m. A New Carrollton-bound Orange Line train at Ballston was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 6-minute delay.

9:57 a.m. A Largo Town Center-bound Blue Line train at Rosslyn was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 12-minute delay.

4:21 p.m. A Shady Grove-bound Red Line train at Judiciary Square was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 4-minute delay.

4:28 p.m. A Mt. Vernon Square-bound Yellow Line train at Pentagon City was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 13-minute delay.

5:16 p.m. A Largo Town Center-bound Blue Line train at L’Enfant Plaza was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 12-minute delay.

6:46 p.m. A Franconia-Springfield-bound Blue Line train at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 12-minute delay.

June 8:

8:03 p.m. A Glenmont-bound Red Line train at Farragut North was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 3-minute delay.

June 6:

8:10 a.m. A Shady Grove-bound Red Line train at NoMa-Gallaudet was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced an 8-minute delay.

9:00 a.m. A New Carrollton-bound Orange Line train at Farragut West was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 6-minute delay.

4:19 p.m. A Grosvenor-bound Red Line train at Woodley Park was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 6-minute delay.

5:42 p.m. A Vienna-bound Orange Line train at Rosslyn was offloaded due to a brake problem. Passengers experienced a 3-minute delay.

So, does Metro have a brake problem problem? Well, it has a train problem. While it seems like trains are having more frequent brake issues, Stessel say that it isn’t “any more frequent” than usual. “The issue is 40-year-old railcars that need to be retired and soon will be,” he says. Indeed, Metro will soon introduce its 7,000-series cars. Though you may see the shiny new cars rolling through stations, you can’t ride them yet—they’re still being tested. WMATA estimates that, by 2018, half the cars in the system will be from the 7,000 series.

Filed Under: brake problems, metro, metro trains, red line, wmata,