A seven-month train shortage that has brought lengthy waits for commuters is closer to ending after Metrorail’s oversight agency approved a request to reinstate some rail cars that were pulled from service because of a rare wheel defect.
Transit officials submitted a plan to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission to restore a limited number of 7000-series cars, saying it would inspect them daily before they began carrying passengers. The screening would use digital tools to measure the distance between wheels on an axle to ensure the wheels aren’t showing sign of migrating outward, according to the safety commission.
The announcement is a welcome milestone during a turbulent week for Metro, which has struggled to overcome its worst crisis in years. The agency has eyed the return of the rail cars — and a subsequent increase in service — as a necessary step in luring passengers back to a rail system hit with significant revenue losses amid the pandemic.
In its plan submitted Thursday, transit officials pledged to have procedures to ensure rail cars would not enter service without a thorough screening, explaining how train technicians would operate daily inspections. Metro also said it would collect data on the cars’ performance.
The number of cars Metro initially plans to return to service has not been determined, said Metro spokesman Ian Jannetta.
“Customers should see them in the next month or so,” he said.
The agency’s 7000 series makes up 60 percent of its fleet, and the cars’ removal under an order of the safety commission has flummoxed business and elected leaders who expected Metro to play a key role in helping the region recover from the pandemic. Metro also hoped to capitalize on a return to in-person work this spring, as a rise in telework has reduced rail ridership to 35 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Metro’s request Thursday to its oversight panel came after a week of turmoil for the transit agency.
On Sunday, Metro officials revealed they discovered a training lapse involving about 250 train operators — nearly half the workers in that position — who had not gone through a recertification process that Metro requires every two years. Metro said it lost track after allowing waivers during the pandemic, then failed to put time limits on those waivers. The discovery forced Metro to pull 72 operators who were most delinquent, creating a staffing shortage that has further increased wait times.
The announcement led to criticism from elected officials, including D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who said Metro’s lapses were part of a “management problem.” Hours later, the Metro board announced the immediate resignations of General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld, who had planned to retire June 30, and Chief Operating Officer Joseph Leader.
Without the 7000 series, Metro’s most advanced and previously most reliable rail car, the agency has been forced to rely on older model cars — some 40 years old and nearing retirement — to cobble together enough trains to keep the Metrorail system operable.
In December, Metro received permission to put almost half of the 7000-series cars back into service under a manual inspection plan similar to its most recent proposal. But the suspension was reinstated two weeks later, when the commission found that Metro’s inspectors deviated from the transit agency’s inspection process. Metro pulled the plug on the cars’ reinstatement because the process took hours and the tools the agency used were not precise enough.
In January, transit leaders said they would take at least three months to test digital tools to make manual inspections easier, as well as new technology and ways to automate the wheel inspection process. They soon announced that Metro planned to buy three automated wayside inspection stations, or detection systems, used by large railroads to take wheel measurements.
It’s Metro’s hope that once the wayside systems are installed, the screening process could become automated and all 748 sidelined cars could return to passenger service. In the meantime, Metro plans to rely on the digital tools it has acquired to help workers perform manual screenings.
Metro said Thursday it has installed the first wayside inspection station, which engineers are configuring and testing. If the systems work, Metro will need to amend the plan it filed with the safety commission because its proposal doesn’t include the use of such equipment.
The absence of the 7000-series cars ushered in a roughly 15 percent drop in ridership in November and December, as well as more delays and breakdowns, according to a transit performance report. On-time rail performance fell from 91 percent to 71 percent because of the shortage, the report said.
Metro’s rail troubles began Oct. 12, when a Blue Line train derailed outside the Arlington Cemetery station. No passengers were injured, but the incident triggered a National Transportation Safety Board investigation. Federal investigators found that wheels on one car had moved two inches apart, making the train unstable. Emergency inspections, interviews and a review of records uncovered the defect in several 7000-series cars — with nearly 50 cases since 2017.
The defect was known among some Metro officials, who sought replacements or refunds from manufacturer Kawasaki Rail under the cars’ warranty, but a Metro inspector general’s investigation found the issue did not rise to the attention of the agency’s top officials. Such mechanical problems are also required to be reported to the safety commission, an independent agency that Congress created after a January 2015 fire filled a stalled Metro train with smoke, killing one passenger and sickening others.
On Oct. 17, the commission ordered the entire 7000-series out of service.
Metro’s safety experts have said the wheel defect progresses slowly, allowing for rail cars to be used as long as the wheels are checked for movement regularly.
Metro investigators are continuing to conduct tests that look at vibration and wheel performance at various speeds and conditions to determine what’s causing the defect.
“To date, the investigation has found no evidence of failures related to maintenance or manufacturing of the equipment,” Metro said in a statement Thursday.
The transit agency said Thursday it expects to return all 7000-series cars through the end of summer.
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