Washington, D.C., commuters will continue to suffer from reduced rail service through the end of the year, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority confirmed Monday.
Residents can be expected to deal with the “current (reduced) rail service levels” through Dec. 31, according to the statement from WMATA. The metro service explained that as a result of “global supply challenges,” it is still awaiting parts and has no set time frame on when it will return the 7000-series fleet to the tracks.
“As we get more parts, we will return more of the 6000-series railcars to service for our customers during December,” Paul Wiedefeld, the general manager and CEO of the D.C. Metro, said in the statement.
INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS FOR MASS TRANSIT WON’T SOLVE THE REAL PROBLEM
“While we know service is not as frequent as customers would prefer, we will add each train as it becomes available to help incrementally improve service reliability and frequency,” the statement said.
The announcement comes after a train on the Blue Line derailed on Oct. 12. As a result of the derailment, hundreds of passengers were evacuated and one person was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution due to anxiety-related issues.
Days after the derailment, WMATA announced on Oct. 17 that it would be pulling all of its 7000-series rail cars from service, or about 60% of the metro system’s fleet.
Metro customers can expect to see current (reduced) rail service levels through December 31 https://t.co/bVTvd4RfqA #wmata pic.twitter.com/Hcs6pUXjbz
— Metro (@wmata) November 22, 2021
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Metro officials acknowledged on Nov. 18 that another safety incident had occurred after a train blew past workers at a dangerous speed.
