Metro will start running 4000 series cars only in the middle of trains. Might 4000s be completely phased out soon?

Metro will begin “bellying” its 4000 series rail cars, meaning the cars will only be part of the middle of trains, not the front or back. That’s because of a safety issue that has been present for 24 years but was only discovered on Thursday.

On Thursday, Metro published a press release saying it had recently identified a safety issue with its 100 4000 series rail cars, and that it would be temporarily pulling them from service. When 4000 series cars act as the lead pair of cars in a train, their speed readouts, which tell the operator how fast they’re allowed to go on the tracks, could potentially report false information. That could lead to two trains getting too close together and crashing.

Metro’s release says the agency’s railcar engineering department discovered the issue yesterday and then informed management, who made the decision to pull cars from service. The cars will now only be able to be used when placed in the center of trains. 1000 series cars only run in the middle of trains as well due to a higher risk of collapsing in a crash.

It turns out that the yearly testing that 4000 series manufacturer Breda recommends hasn’t been happening. According to WTOP, Metro has never performed the preventative tests and doesn’t have the equipment to do so. The 4000 series railcars have been in the Metro fleet since 1992.

An opportunity to remove the 4000 series from service may not be a bad thing

The 4000 series railcars are notoriously unreliable, with more door, propulsion, brake, and AC issues than any other series in Metro’s fleet of rail cars (1, 2/3, 5, 6, and 7000 series). With an average breakdown rate of every 26,000 miles in 2016 (the next-lowest is the 5000 series’ 44,500), they proportionally cause around twice the number of issues of the next lowest-performers. By continuing to have to run these cars, passengers are beset by delays that ripple throughout the system and effect hundreds, even thousands.

Beyond getting rid of problematic train cars, removing the 4000 series entirely would give Metro more operational flexibility. Instead of needing to worry about another type of car that can only go in the middle of trains, rail yard operators would have one less variable to juggle without 4000s in the mix.

Such a move would mean taking up to 82 active cars out of service, or approximately seven percent of the total rail fleet. Metro’s press release notes that 82 4000 series cars (or in other words, 41 “married pairs”) are active in the fleet, however some of these had been sitting idle during the summer/fall due to various repeated issues.

The National Transportation Safety Board instructed Metro to remove all 1000 series trains from service after the 2009 crash at Fort Totten since they’re not able to protect passengers in a crash. And due to the reliability issues with the 4000 series cars, Metro’s Chief Operating Officer noted Tuesday evening that the agency would be petitioning the NTSB and FTA to be allowed to remove these cars at the same time as the 1000s. If approved, Metro would be able to remove 12 4000 series and eight 1000-series cars per month, which would keep up with the new railcar deliveries.

Over 140 total trains are scheduled for use each day in the rail system, 48 of which are supposed to be 8-car trains. Removing the 4000 series would mean some of the 8-car trains might be shortened to six cars, and some of Metro’s reserve cars might go into service. A rail car shortage would only be a short-term headache, however, due to the 20 7000 series rail cars being delivered each month.

If Metro cut the total number of available cars (albeit briefly) by removing the 4000s from service, there’s a possibility that a dispatch or two might be missed. When a train does not operate, it means there’s a gap in service. Usually, the following train ends up being more crowded, though Metro can even out the gap by holding the train ahead for schedule adjustments or expressing the following train through a few stops.

On the other hand, when a train breaks down on the line, it causes far worse problems. That train must be offloaded, and sometimes the train behind must be offloaded as well to be used as a rescue train. During the time when Metro staff are trying to clear the broken down train off the line, trains are stacking up behind, and an ever increasing gap is appearing ahead.

When that happens, it’s likely better if the train hadn’t operated in the first place. Since the 4000s are so unreliable, getting rid of them would probably mean fewer delays and less crowded trains.