Nearly three months after a Metro train derailment triggered a federal safety investigation, the transit agency is back at the drawing board in determining how to bring more than half of its fleet back into service.
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Metro is trying to resolve new issues raised by a regulatory agency while searching for more efficient and accurate methods to single out a defect that can lead to derailments. It’s the latest setback in the agency’s prolonged attempts to restore its 7000-series cars, which first were suspended in mid-October after the National Transportation Safety Board discovered the model suffered from a defect in wheels and axles.
After a second suspension in late December, transit officials acknowledged Friday they don’t know when the cars will return to service. The latest hang-up: Technicians didn’t know whether to pass or fail a rail car if its wheels moved precisely 1/32 of an inch — a scenario not spelled out in Metro’s restoration plan. In such cases, Metro acted on its own accord and against the wishes of an oversight commission.
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Before the derailment, Metro spent much of 2021 plotting a strategy to lure back riders, many of whom were working from home or shunning public transportation during the pandemic. As the highly transmissible omicron variant continues to circulate — ushering in uncertainty about Washington’s return to normalcy — Metro is again facing questions about the rail system’s path forward.
The omicron-driven delays in offices restoring in-person work are likely to benefit Metro as it tries to restore its fleet. Metro spokeswoman Kristie Swink Benson said the holidays, inclement weather and a surge in coronavirus infections has decreased passenger demand for Metrorail, allowing the agency to continue operating “at current service levels while we consider next steps.”
Metro safety commission orders cars out of service, saying agency didn’t follow terms of plan
Metro’s train shortage began Oct. 12, when a Blue Line train derailed outside the Arlington Cemetery station, forcing the evacuation of 187 passengers. An NTSB investigation found that the wheels of one car had moved two inches apart on an axle.
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Investigators learned that Metro car inspections had been revealing similar problems during routine checkups of other 7000-series cars since 2017.
On Oct. 17, the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, an agency that monitors Metrorail safety, ordered the transit agency to pull all 748 cars from service until Metro could develop a safe way to operate the cars. After weeks of tests, Metro received permission Dec. 14 to begin restoring the cars under a plan that calls for each car entering service to have its wheels inspected weekly for signs of malfunction.
Three days later, Metro began slowly phasing cars back in, with the goal of getting nearly half back into service before reevaluating its screening process, then reincorporating the rest.
Metro suspends more than half of its rail cars after investigation uncovers safety problems
The day after Christmas, however, Metro announced it had paused the reintroduction. A safety consultant hired by the transit agency had recommended that Metro screen its cars daily to gather more data. The safety commission signed off on the recommendation.
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But on Dec. 29, the commission suspended the entire 7000-series again, saying it found Metro acted outside the terms of its plan to safely reintroduce the rail cars. Five cars were found to have been put into service that didn’t conform to Metro’s plan, the commission said, adding that it found small wheel movements in two of those cases.
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Metro said the minuscule movements did not compromise safety, and that none of the cars that were reintroduced had shown signs of the defect that had caused the October derailment.
“We believe the 7000-series rail cars are safe to operate when frequently inspected to ensure wheels are in tolerance, but we have stepped back to review our inspection protocols, and we continue to work to identify the root cause,” Swink Benson said.
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The latest violation the safety commission cited stems from a small tweak Metro made while measuring the width between wheels, transit officials said. In its plan to the commission, Metro said its technicians would flag any car with wheels that deviated more than 1/32 of an inch on their axles from the standard width of 53 5/16 inches.
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Several cars, however, landed right at that limit, and technicians were unclear on whether to fail those cars or to allow them back into service. The confusion among technicians was compounded because the distance was so small that widths on a car could fluctuate from the heat they generated if a car was coming directly out of service.
Without consulting the safety commission, Metro supervisors told technicians to “pass” the cars that were exactly 1/32 of an inch over the limit, a decision that placed them back into service.
Swink Benson said, “the modification of the process was not submitted to the [safety commission] for their approval prior to implementation.”
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Metro pulled the 7000-series cars out of service after high-level transit agency officials realized the screening process had been altered without clearance from the commission, she said.
Wheelset inspections of Metro railcars require precision and time, Metro says
With Metro’s screening protocols under review, transit officials said they want to use the data and experience gained over the past month to work with the safety commission on an inspection program that’s more precise. It could involve using digital instruments for wheelset measurements — something transit officials said they are testing.
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Metro officials say they want the new process to put less of a burden on technicians. The previous screening process took a team of two Metro technicians and a quality control inspector six hours to measure 16 cars.
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The safety commission’s suspension order requires Metro to turn in a revised “return-to-service” plan, but commission spokesman Max Smith said Friday the agency hasn’t received an updated blueprint spelling out the proposed path forward.
Metro officials said they didn’t know Friday when the plan would be ready or when the 7000-series cars would begin to return to service for a second time.
Ridership on the rail system remains at less than 20 percent of pre-pandemic levels, a number that has changed little in recent months. The transit agency continues to run scaled-back service with lengthy waits, relying on older-model rail cars.