After seven months of reduced service, Metro’s oversight agency approved a request to bring back a limited number of 7000-series trains after one derailed last year. Metro says it’s on track to start restoring its fleet by no more than eight trains per day imminently.
The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) said it had no “technical objections” to transit officials’ plan, which said railcars would be inspected daily and required new training for Metro staff on safety improvements. Metro will also use new digital measuring tools instead of manual ones.
Part of Metro’s plan also included a new technology that monitors wheels, but that part of the plan has not yet been submitted or approved
Back in October, a Blue Line train derailed outside Arlington Cemetery Station. No one was injured, but investigators said wheels on the train had moved too far apart. WMSC then ordered the 7000-series trains off of tracks after it reported 20 instances of noncompliant wheels.
The railcars make up 60 percent of Metro’s fleet. Since they’ve been on the sidelines, arrival times have suffered with Red Line trains arriving every 10 minutes and only every 20 minutes on all other lines. Even with partial return of the newer trains, service intervals will not improve this summer, Metro has previously said.
The approved 7000-series return to service plan comes a week after the agency announced another shortage: Metro pulled more than 70 operators from service who had not gone through a mandatory retraining process, required every two years. That led to the early retirement of Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld and the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Joe Leader.
Metro initially refused to provide the full plan to WAMU/DCist without an official Public Access to Reports Policy request. WAMU filed that request Thursday night. The next day, Metro said it would post the final return to service plan on its website next week.
Last December, Metro submitted and received approval for a plan to inspect the trains daily. The WMSC rescinded that approval after it found Metro had not been following its own plan and using trains that had not been inspected yet.
