WASHINGTON — The independent safety agency that oversees the DC Metrorail system says the wheel problems that have sidelined most of Metro’s newest railcars also existed on older cars, and may stem from a track issue the agency was told about in 2015 but never addressed.
The Washington Post reports the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission uncovered the report during its investigation into the wheel problems which led to an October 2021 derailment that has kept most of Metro’s Kawasaki-built 7000-series railcars out of service since that accident. It raises the possibility that Metro’s tracks — specifically restraining rails at turnouts — are contributing to the problem that has led wheels spreading on their axles.
Safety Commission chief executive David Mayer said the commission had been unaware of the report, which predates its formation by three years. The report said that more than 30 instances of wheel movement had occurred by 2015, which had not previously been disclosed, and called for adjustments in the flangeway widths. No changes were made, however.
The Post says Metro declined to comment about the report but said in a Twitter post that its fleet “is regularly inspected” to ensure its safety.
The website DCist reports that at a Thursday Metro board meeting, Assistant Chief Safety Officer Jayme Johnson said the report “was not new information that WMATA was hiding, as it was part of our provision of tens of thousands of pages of documents for investigatory analysis.” He said all parties involved in the investigation into the October 2021 derailment have had the report since November of that year, and that the National Transportation Safety Board has not ordered any changes to wheelsets or track “because the root cause remains unknown.”
Metrorail service has been limited since the sidelining of the 7000-series cars — which make up more than 60% of the agency’s railcar fleet. With Safety Commission approval, Metrorail has gradually returned some of the cars to service under the stipulation that it conducted daily inspections [see “DC Metro seeks to return more 7000-series cars to service,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 12, 2022].
Did not a manager at WMATA order trains to keep running thru a switch
with a cracked frog?
Are “restraining rails” the same things we have been calling guard rails for decades? If so, there have been also standards for them for decades.