Washington Metro Cars

WVNorthern · **Posted:** Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:06 pm

Last weekend, I had to drive to Fairmont, WV on an errand. On the way back, I noticed two DC Metro cars on flatbed trailers heading south on I79. I didn't think anything more about it until today when I noticed an article on TRAINS Newswire that stated that WMATA is retiring their original series cars. Does anyone know where they are headed and what will be done with them when they arrive at their destination? Rebuilt, repurposed, scrapped?

bbunge · **Posted:** Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:58 am

Ended up riding a 1000 series car a month ago and realized it was likely my last ride on one, so I took some video and photos and some notes on the date, trip, etc..

I had heard they were being scrapped on site, but perhaps not. The 1000 series are being retired because they are old and don't meet crash worthiness standards and were implicated for many of the deaths on the Red line wreck a few years ago. They have been in the middle of trains ever since. So I doubt they would be rebuilt.

More recent news is the 4000 series are next to as they are the most trouble prone, apparently mostly electrical, in the fleet. Perhaps there is a desire to rebuild some of these.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:16 pm

WMATA release:

Quote:

Every 1000- and 4000-series railcar - Metro's oldest and least-reliable cars, respectively - will be decommissioned and permanently removed from passenger service by July 1, months ahead of original projections, Metro announced today. Under Metro's Back2Good program, announced earlier this year, Metro had accelerated the retirement of the 1000- and 4000-series railcars as new, more reliable 7000-series railcars arrive, resulting in improved service, fewer offloads and delays. New 7000-series cars are up to six times more reliable than the cars they are replacing, traveling more than 176,000 miles between delays in April. By contrast, Metro's least-reliable 4000-series cars traveled an average of only 27,259 miles between delays in 2016. "By retiring the last of our oldest and least reliable railcars, we will be in a much better position to deliver more reliable service for our customers," said Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld. "We have already seen the positive results of this effort in the form of fewer railcar-related delays and fewer offloads." Replacing the 1000-series with safer 7000-series cars also responds to an open recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board. Since Metro began retiring problematic cars more than a year ago, the number of offloads has dropped by half, from an average of 120 per month during 2016 compared to only 62 offloads in April. In addition, customers are encountering fewer delays, nearly two thirds of which are caused by railcar mechanical issues. In May, more than 91 percent of the 13.6 million weekday trips taken on Metrorail arrived within 5 minutes of schedule. Metro currently has 43 new trains in passenger service (344 7000-series cars) and is receiving new cars at a rate of up to 20 per month. The transit system has purchased 748 new railcars in total. Metro is making available a number of decommissioned 4000-series railcars to emergency response agencies in the region for training purposes. In addition, a pair of Metro's original railcars, numbered 1000 and 1001, will be refurbished and preserved for historical purposes.

wesp · **Posted:** Wed Jun 14, 2017 4:52 pm

A few comments.

The 1000-series cars were designed by old hands in the transit industry who worked on the theory of operating a lightweight car that would reduce power consumption, etc. (see also: PCC cars)

When the 1000s were refurbished mid-life WMATA changed the seating colors to red and blue. The board insisted however that the seats at the ends of the car remain in the vintage orange and yellow scheme for sentimental reasons.

Wesley