FEB 28, 4:17 PMUPDATED 5:10 PM

Metro Will Spend $55 Million, Take Three Years To Fix 7000-Series Trains

Jordan Pascale



Metro crews demonstrate how they measure the distance between wheels on a train.
WAMU/DCist / Tyrone Turner

Metro says it is planning to re-press all 5,984 wheels on its 7000-series trains, a process that will take an estimated three years and cost about $55 million. ... Internal and external engineering experts told Metro that increasing the amount of pressure applied to the wheels is required for the trains to be fixed. Metro will need to develop a plan and get agreement from the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission before doing the work at its maintenance shops across the region. Metro has budgeted money to pay for the fix.

It’s one mitigation that could help address the issue, but both Metro and the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission have said there are multiple factors that contributed to the crash and additional analysis is ongoing.

In October 2021, a 7000-series train derailed near Arlington Cemetery. The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission told Metro to remove all 93 of those types of trains from service until it could figure out what happened. An investigation found that the wheels on one of the cars had moved just a fraction of an inch farther apart than they should have. One person was injured in that incident near Arlington Cemetery on the Blue Line.

The trains were sidelined for months before slowly returning. Metro is now running about a third of the 7000-series trains on any given day. In late January, the transit agency was allowed to reduce the intervals of measuring the wheels to every seven days. They previously had to measure each axle every four days to catch any movement in the wheels.

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