Passenger Trains > Washington Metro: Developing Fiasco

Metro: almost 60% of trains “out of service” starting Monday
WTOP
Ivy Lyons | October 17, 2021, 8:11 PM  

Following an investigation into the derailment of a Blue Line train, the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission has ordered Metro to put roughly 60% of its rail fleet “out of service” starting Monday.

This will bring the total amount of Metro cars available to 40 and shift train service to departures every 30 minutes on all lines.

In a statement, Metro encouraged patrons to consider taking a bus as an alternative to daily routes. The DC public school system added that parents should expect impacts to school operations.

“Please leave additional time for your journey to and from school,” DCPS wrote on Sunday. “Late student arrivals will be marked as excused.”

According to the WMSC, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the derailed car near Arlington Cemetery Station “was out of compliance with” other 7000 series railcars — specifically for “wheel and axle assembly.” The investigation also found similar defects in other railcars not involved in the Oct. 12 derailment, and said the amount of time needed to inspect other trains has not been determined. So, the board ordered Metro to remove all 7000 series railcars before 5 a.m. Monday.

The trains that were pulled, according to Metro, were all 7000-series railcars. Metro confirmed both its governing safety commissions will update the public about service for the remainder of the week, but did not say how long it would take for full service to be restored. NTSB plans to provide an update on the Metro train derailment investigation on Oct. 18.

https://wtop.com/tracking-metro-24-7/2021/10/metro-almost-60-of-trains-out-of-service-starting-monday/



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/21 01:19 by GenePoon.

Kawasaki built these cars ? Too bad they scrapped the 5000's. The NYCT is smart enough to mothball the Budd R32's, and have had to redeploy them several times given that the Bombardier R179's turned out to be lemons. 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/21 03:20 by joemvcnj.

                Always amazing that the mis management cannot give any estimates on inspection or repairs. not even a guess.

https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/public-transit/577141-dcs-metro-pulls-half-of-its-rail-cars-over-safety

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> Always amazing that the mis management cannot give any estimates on inspection or repairs. not even a guess.



Although Washington Metro gets a lot of deserved criticism, at this stage of the game, there's no way I would expect ANY company to have enough information to forecast a reasonable timeline.

Experienced folks also remember that once the NTSB is involved, a gag order to Everyone is in effect.

A simple life is so wonderful!

Brian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/21 08:34 by choodude.

Note that the report from WTOP quoted above confuses train cars and trains. They stated that with the 7000 series sidelined, WMATA only has 40 cars in service, although they clearly meant 40 trains. 

This is the problem when you have no requirements to meet any particular standards. As much as some may dislike the FRA type of agency they do provide a baseline for standards that the railroad industry must meet. Of course we must also remember that there are AAR standards that the railroads also use. The transit industry gets to use their own standards particular to each system and there is no FRA type of oversight. Yes there is the FTA but that is not the same.
CR

WMATA has had decades of issues with faulty parts sourcing, poor record keeping, unqualified staff, minimal supervision, etc.

Posted from Android

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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>                 Always amazing that the
> mis management cannot give any estimates on
> inspection or repairs. not even a guess.

My response is the attached video clip (allowable usage for the purpose of satire)

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To put it simply...was this a "loose wheel?".  ie. wheel moved laterally on axle?

Buying new equipment does not always solve reliability problems. Looks like the wheel/axle set slipped too wide for the gauge

https://wtop.com/tracking-metro-24-7/2021/10/this-could-have-been-catastrophic-ntsb-says-metro-wheel-problem-that-caused-blue-line-derailment-dates-back-to-2017/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/21 10:33 by joemvcnj.

           Pardon, but how does the wheel slip too WIDE for the gauge??? I can see how the wheels might slide inward and be too narrow and cause a derailment but not getting wider.

This sounds like Amtrak's maintenance in Chicago.  They suddenly "discover" a bad car or bad locomotive at departure time.............

WashingtonPost/NTSB Homendy:
"....During a briefing Monday the investigation, she said data gathered by investigators indicated that problems with rail cars were getting progressively worse: Metro identified two failures in 2017, two more in 2018, four in 2019 and five in 2020. Before the derailment, the agency had found 18 failures this year, and inspections last week turned up 21 more. Homendy said about 200 still need to be inspected.Those failures didn’t necessarily involve derailments, Homendy said, and were identified by measurements taken during routine inspections.
  
Joe Gordon, the NTSB’s chief investigator, said because wheels on the car involved in last week’s derailment had shifted outward, when it passed over a switch, it was bumped off the rails. Gordon said passing another switch knocked it back on, explaining the two previous derailments. But outside Rosslyn, where the train left the tracks for the final time, Gordon said there was no switch involved...."

I thought this only happened with old, cheap Atlas and Bachmann N scale. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/21 16:02 by joemvcnj.