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Rail Car Woes Leave Metro Lacking Trains At Rush Hours
The shortage of railcars has stalled many of Metro's long-planned measures to ease crowding on trains, such as these at L'Enfant Plaza.
(By Michael Williamson -- The Washington Post)
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Although 74 cars have passed tests and are technically available for service, about 30 are out on any given day as modifications and adjustments become necessary, officials said. Metro officials expect to have all of the new cars on tracks by the end of next year, as scheduled, but they are unsure at what pace they will arrive.
Catoe said Metro wants to make sure the bugs are worked out before cars are put into service. "We've had problems with some components not meeting our standards," he said. "We're finding the issues when [the cars] are getting to Metro."
Problems with new cars are compounded by the age of Metro's other cars. Forty of 252 rail cars manufactured by Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie, for example, are being overhauled and are not available. Seventy other cars are routinely being repaired. Three rail yards, including the one to which new cars are delivered, have been undergoing renovations, disrupting maintenance schedules.
Getting parts for the custom-built cars can take six months to a year, causing further delays. Instead of waiting, mechanics sometimes grab parts from other out-of-commission cars.
Riders said the problems have been showing up on all routes, not just the Green and Yellow lines, where most new cars are destined.
Melissa Schober, 28, who transfers from the Red Line at Metro Center for her commute to Smithsonian Station, said platforms have been much more crowded in the past few weeks.
Even with trains running every two or three minutes, she said, cars are full or nearly so when they pull into Metro Center. At first, she thought it was tourists and interns, "but from the lanyards and badges, these are all [government] employees," she said.
As tourists troop into the Smithsonian station at the end of the day, jostling with commuters running to catch their trains, Schober said, "it makes me concerned that people are pushing past each other and there's so little room on the platform that someone will hurt themselves."
