Transportation

Metro returns first two 7000-series trains to service

The trains are the first to return since the line was suspended on Oct. 17.

By Justin George
Yesterday at 2:27 p.m. EST

Two of Metro’s 7000-series trains returned to passenger service Friday, the first of 42 that will be phased back into daily operations after the series was pulled from service for two months over a defect compromising passenger safety.

The series is Metro’s latest model of rail car and makes up about 60 percent of the agency’s fleet. All 748 of the cars were pulled out of service Oct. 17 after a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into a derailment earlier that month found several cars with wheels that had dangerously widened outward from their axles, putting trains at risk for derailment.

The two 7000-series trains that returned to service Friday were operating on the Silver and Blue lines, Metro spokeswoman Kristie Benson said.

The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, a regulatory agency that monitors Metrorail safety, suspended the line, forcing Metro to pull older model cars out of storage and heavily reduce service. It created long waits at a time when ridership had been rising after months of historic declines during the pandemic.

{snip}

By Justin George
Justin George is a reporter covering national transit and Metro, the D.C.-area public transportation system, for The Washington Post. He previously covered criminal justice for the Marshall Project and the Baltimore Sun. Twitter https://twitter.com/justingeorge