Posts about Rail Cars

Transit

WMATA delays 7000-series order to make it larger

by Matt Johnson   •   March 29, 2010 11:59 am

On Thursday, the WMATA Board heard a report from staff on the procurement of the new 7000-series railcars. The Board decided to hold off approving the contract until it can decide on options for additional cars.

Image from WMATA.

Of the three companies vying to produce up to 748 railcars for Metro, Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc. scored highest on both technical capability and price, beating out Alstom, which recently built the 6000-series and rehabilitated the 2000- and 3000-series, and Bombardier.

While staff is recommending Kawasaki be chosen, the WMATA Board postponed their decision until mid-April, in order to have more time to consider finances.

The base order is for 64 railcars needed to run service on the first phase of the Silver Line, to Tysons Corner and Wiehle Avenue. The order also carries four options:

1. 64 cars for Silver Line phase II to Dulles/Loudoun
   
2. 130 cars for 75% 8-car train operation
   
3. Rehabilitation of the 4000-series (100 cars)
   
4. 300 cars to replace the aging 1000-series.
   
5. 90 cars for 100% 8-car train operation when added to option 2

WMATA staff is currently proposing that Metro only exercise the Base Order and Option 4. The purchase of these 364 cars would cost about $765 million.

Currently, the Base Order is funded with money that comes from the Silver Line project and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. WMATA is also considering how to fund Option 4 through lines of credit and bond issues.

By exercising Option 4 at the time the Base Order is awarded, WMATA would save $5 million. For that reason, the Board held off making the decision on Thursday until they can decide how to fund Option 4.

Transit

America's Metro (Not)

by Alex Block   •   October 13, 2009 11:55 am

Last week, GGW's daily links thread noted Metro's consideration of moving to automated station announcements within trains, instead of the current announcements made by train operators. The link included a look back to when Metro's 7000 series railcars were first announced, more than a year and a half ago.

7000 Series design.

Automated announcements are one of those things that make it easy for those unfamiliar with the system to navigate it. I can't think of anyone saying this would be a bad thing, but it certainly removes a bit of the local flavor from the system. DCist noted this last January, when the new car designs were initially revealed, writing, "so no more "Judishuwary Square."

This kind of local flavor is a small sacrifice in favor of greatly improved usability for most riders. The more troubling aspect of the new car design, however, isn't the loss of local character, but the bizarre rejection of Metro's local connections.

As borne out by the DCist comments, perhaps the single most objectionable piece of the 7000 series design was the addition of a new "America's Metro" logo. Some see it as an egregious example of poor graphic design (and it is). More troubling, however, is the fact that Metro is a local asset with a federal role.

Frankly, this isn't America's Metro. It's the Washington area's Metro. Perhaps this logo was an olive branch to the Feds as a means to conjure up support in Congress. However, the Metro is one of the federal investments in the DC area that's paid tremendous dividends to the day to day life of the region's residents.

The implications for Metro's identity aren't too promising, either. Metro's always had a strong, modern brand, thanks to the architecture, the unity within the system's design, and the brand itself. Since its creation, WMATA hasn't always been the best steward of that design legacy. However, the new bus liveries are promising and functional. Hopefully this logo will be dropped from the final design for the 7000 series.

Proposed interior of the 7000 series rail car. Image from Metro.

Technically, the 7000 series should be a welcome addition to Metro's fleet. However, let's not sacrifice the system's visual integrity. Thankfully, those seat color schemes have not yet been decided.

These are not minor details. They matter. Metro has bigger problems these days, to be sure. That's no excuse, however, to lower standards.

Crossposted at City Block.

Transit

Metro crash roundup

by David Alpert   •   June 23, 2009 6:19 am

The death toll has now reached nine seven nine again.

Photo by kristinashan.

Unsuck DC Metro has a summary of alternate bus service for riders on the eastern Red Line. Track Twenty-Nine made a Metro map showing the disruption.

The Post created an interactive graphic summarizing past Metro crashes. There was a spate of employees hit and killed in 2005-06; other than that, Metro has had five crashes, three of them fatal. The first, which killed three and injured 25, happened in 1982 at Federal Triangle. A train operator died in 1996 when his train overshot the platform in a blizzard, and a train's brakes failed at Woodley Park in 2004, which injured 20. In 2007, a Green Line train derailed and caused 20 injuries.

Expect a lot of questions about safety of old rail cars. The lead car on the moving train was one of the original 1000-series. After the 1996 crash, Metro reviewed cars' crashworthiness; following the 2004 crash, they determined retrofitting old cars wouldn't work. NTSB recommended Metro accelerate retiring the 1000-series cars, though Catoe has said he sees "no basis to suspend the use of 1000-series cars at this time."

The 7000-series cars, the latest generation of rail cars, are currently in development. Richard Layman has raised concerns about designing the cars with only three doors, unlike many subway systems which have 4 doors per car. Will this crash make Metro hasten the car development, making reexamination of the design even more difficult? Or perhaps they will have to adjust the design anyway for safety, creating an opportunity to fix the door issue?

According to a 1996 article the Post reposted on its RSS feed, NTSB criticized Metro's automatic braking system and operating procedures. However, that crash involved wet tracks, and the weather was fine yesterday.

Metro will be holding a special board meeting at 2 pm to discuss the crash.

It's important to reiterate that despite this crash, riding Metro is much, much safer than driving. We Love DC is going to be riding tomorrow and every day. Metro should investigate the cause and take steps to prevent a repeat of this incident, but also should not overreact. Permanently slowing all trains down significantly, for example, might degrade service more than it's worth in added safety.

Update: Investigations are focusing on the signaling system, which also failed in June 2005, but that time train operators noticed and stopped their trains. The operator of this train did not hit the brakes; according to the Post, some worry that because the trains are operated automatically, operators stop paying close attention.

Update 2: Fenty is giving more details at a press conference. City Desk is liveblogging.