Metro pulls 16 rail cars from service after meltdown

Metro is pulling 16 rail cars from regular service Wednesday that may have the same type of brake problems that caused the meltdown on the Orange and Blue lines the day before, the agency said.

The transit agency reviewed Tuesday’s problems and found that the “friction ring” that fell from a rail car’s brake system was possibly part of a broader failure of the hub that holds the brakes in place. The agency has identified 34 other hubs from the same manufacturing batch that are on 16 other cars.