9/29/23 Metro service suspended around DCA after derailment

It's now a confirmed derailment. Waiting for details on whether this was on any of the elevated tracks approaching/departing DCA.

News 4 reports that is was a 7000 series train that derail and it had the same wheel problem as the one that derailed in Oct 2021

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loca ... d/3433532/

Metro is saying the 7K train derailed bc of debris that broke off from a 3K train that passed before it

"Metro GM says the object on the track appears to be a breaking component from a 3000 series train that preceded the train that derailed." https://twitter.com/paulcwagner/status/ ... 0532399583

it wasnt the infamous wheel issue

Latest from WJLA: 7K series hit a brake assembly that came off a 3K series. All 2K and 3K series are being inspected. Single tracking between Reagan National and Potomac Yards.

https://wjla.com/news/local/metro-rail- ... ta-transit#

Metro will inspect all 2000/3000 series trains as a precaution.
These old cars are less reliable. The 2000 series are 40 years old and were taken out of storage when the 7000 series had to be taken of service. The 3000 series are 36 years old.
Ideally Metro should operate only the new 7000 cars, but since they were unable to order the new 8000 series sooner, they have to use the 2000/3000 series cars.
They also have 180 6000 series cars put back in service after fixing the decoupling problem and of course these are more reliable since they are newer then the 2000/3000 series

The latest: "emergency inspections stemming from the most recent incident have uncovered 32 rail cars with parts fastened by bolts that might be a different shape or size than what manufacturers intended. That discrepancy is being probed to determine whether it might have resulted in a disc brake falling off a train and leading to Friday’s derailment." https://www.washingtonpost.com/transpor ... a-airport/

Not only shape and size but also grade of bolt.

JDC wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2023 1:11 pm The latest: "emergency inspections stemming from the most recent incident have uncovered 32 rail cars with parts fastened by bolts that might be a different shape or size than what manufacturers intended. That discrepancy is being probed to determine whether it might have resulted in a disc brake falling off a train and leading to Friday’s derailment." https://www.washingtonpost.com/transpor ... a-airport/

Shape, size, grade. Somebody in procurement's getting fired...

Assuming that person is still on the job, or that the person was not told by someone higher up or in engineering that these bolts were okay.

True. If they got paperwork saying "order the wrong bolts" then they're clear.

But at the end of the day, someone's getting fired.

Watch the union force WMATA to reinstate them lol