Breaking: Metro to temporarily remove all 4000-series

[JDC]

http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/metro_ ... m?AID=4986

"In an abundance of caution for the safety of our customers, Metro has temporarily removed all 4000-series railcars from service for safety inspections. This action is a result of recent incidents where trains were reported to experience door problems while in service. This safety review is expected to continue through the weekend. If no systemic safety issue is identified, Metro is expected to place the cars back in service next week. Riders will notice the lack of 8-car trains on the Red, Blue, Orange and Green lines during rush hour periods for the remainder of the week."

This door issue was covered on one of the local news stations last week.

[Sand Box John]

If I was running WMATA and cost was no matter, here is what I would do.

I would salvage all of the Rockwell trucks from under the 1k cars before scraping.

Do a total rehabilitation of the 4 and 5k cars and fit them with same propulsion controls, mechanical and electronic system in the 7k car. Do the same structural modification to the 4k car that were done to the 2 and 3k cars and mount them on the rehabilitated Rockwell trucks from the 1k cars.

They would be configured as married pair so they could be coupled to a 4 car set of 7k cars to make up a 6 car consist.

The Rockwell trucks are lighter then any of the trucks under any of the other car resulting in totally rebuilt cars that would likely be lighter then what they are now.

[JDC]

The Post has a more indepth follow-up story on the removal of the 4000-series because of the door opening issue, as well as the fact that Metro is doubling down on car maintenance this summer and thus scrapping 8-car trains on all lines but Blue line on certain days. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr- ... ar-trains/

[tommyboy6181]

Weren't the 4k trains just pulled a few summers ago for the same door issues? I thought they had to have their door controls replaced back at that time.

If it were up to me, I would have included the 4k rehab as part of the 2k/3k rehab that was done starting in 2000. However, I would have structured it such that the 4k rehab would have begun once the 2k/3k were completed (around 2006). This way, all of the Breda cars would have had identical systems and it probably would have improved reliability to the point where the cars would not have had to be scrapped and replaced in the near future by 7k cars.

As for the 5k rehab mentioned a few posts prior, Metro is now thinking of scrapping these as well as one of the options with the 7k. The oldest 5k is only about 14 years old at this point. Those are probably worth rebuilding and shouldn't be as far gone as the 4k. On the 5k, all that would probably be needed is to have the trucks/suspension rebuilt, new interior, upgraded electronics, and new door systems. The Bombardier AC propulsion could probably remain since they're not as prone to wearing out compared to the DC motors used prior to the 5k. Plus MITRAC propulsion is still widely used and is currently spec'd in several new projects.

[JDC]

Metro is saying that it found no systemic issue with the doors, but that it uncovered other problems that will require about one month to rectify in all 100 cars. So, instead of them all being back in service within a week, as originally estimated, it will now be another 3-4 weeks. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr- ... f-service/

[JDC]

Metro is saying that it found no systemic issue with the doors, but that it uncovered other problems that will require about one month to rectify in all 100 cars. So, instead of them all being back in service within a week, as originally estimated, it will now be another 3-4 weeks. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr- ... f-service/

Metro's press release on this issue: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/P ... aseID=5930