Safety panel accepts Metro plan for testing railcars

The panel overseeing Metro safety said Friday that it has accepted Metro’s plan to test its 7000-series railcars, a step required to get the cars — which make up about 60% of the fleet — back on the tracks after last month’s derailment. 

The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission said on Twitter that it had “no technical objections” to the revised plan for a simulated road test of two 7000-series cars and that it will closely monitor the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s testing.

Metro removed all of its 7000-series railcars for safety reasons last month after a National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that faulty wheel assemblies on the railcars caused a Blue Line train to derail Oct. 12 near the Arlington Cemetery station. The train’s wheels shifted too far apart on their axles, a recurring problem with the railcars, the NTSB found.

The proposed test plan by Metro outlines inspecting wheelsets of the railcars every eight days and suggests testing on two train sets, according to a letter by Theresa Impastato, Metro’s chief safety officer, submitted to the safety commission. The transit agency estimated that a period of 10 days would represent the “reasonable worst-case wheel movement rate,” and therefore, proposed to test the train sets for no less than 12 days.

Ian Jannetta, Metro spokesperson, said the testing will take a couple of weeks. 

Metro had 43 trains running Friday, with seven of them used for reducing crowding and accounting for unscheduled maintenance, Mr. Jannetta said. Red Line trains are running every 15 minutes, Green Line trains every 20 minutes, and all other trains every 30 minutes. Reduced service is expected to last at least through mid-November. 

The transit agency has been working to add older 2000-, 3000- and 6000-series railcars to its tracks to help fill in the gaps. 

After inspecting all of its 748 7000-series railcars last month, Metro discovered 20 axles to be out of alignment, Mr. Jannetta said. It is not clear when the 7000-series railcars will be returned to the tracks and when full service will resume.