Photo by Adam Fagen.

Photo by Adam Fagen.

Update: Here’s a statement from Metro spokesperson Sherri Ly:

The 1000-series railcars, which are now 40 years old and at the end of their life, contain an extremely small amount of a non-friable asbestos-containing material within a specific mechanical area of the railcar. Non-friable material cannot be crumbled and does not release fibers unless it is abraded (e.g., sawed through or drilled through). Moreover, the material is outside of the passenger cabin and is not accessible to riders, thus poses no hazard or concern. Because we will soon begin the process of retiring these railcars, we have arranged for appropriate removal and disposal of this material as the cars are decommissioned.

Original post:

Great, another thing Metro riders have to worry about: asbestos.

NBC4 reports that hundreds of 1000-series Metro railcars contain a small amount of asbestos, according to a WMATA contract proposal. The proposal says that there’s “a small amount of asbestos in the heater box behind the evaporator in each railcar.” Currently, Metro has 280 1000-series railcars—the oldest railcars in the system.

WMATA declined to immediately comment on the issue to DCist. But in an email to NBC4, a Metro spokesperson writes that “these 40 year-old vehicles have a small amount of asbestos that is sealed outside the passenger cabin and not accessible to riders.”

Though the asbestos is hidden in most of the 1000-series Metro cars, the proposal, which seeks to find a contractor to get rid of the asbestos and retire all of the 1000 and 4000-series railcars, three railcars were discovered to have exposed asbestos. Those three railcars, however, have been out of service since 2009, however.

In light of the January 12th fatal Metro smoke incident, the National Transportation Safety Board has recommending a number of safety upgrades that Metro should address and update as soon as possible. Among them, ditch the 1000-series cars and start implementing more 7000-series cars. The latter seems to be going well.

Filed Under: asbestos, metro, metro problems, wmata,