Metro’s proposed new railcar model was met with skepticism from the agency’s board of directors Thursday because the new cars would be incompatible with the agency’s existing models, giving Metro less flexibility when moving trains through the system.
The proposed 7000 Series cars would be higher tech and lighter weight than Metro’s current railcars, but would be linked in groups of four instead of in pairs, forcing the agency to take four cars out of service when one malfunctions.
Currently, only two cars must be removed from service when one malfunctions.
The new cars would be able to operate only with each other and could not be combined with cars from other models, providing the transit agency with less flexibility when building trains, which occurs daily.
“I’m not convinced that this is in fact the right way to go,” said Peter Benjamin, a board member representing Maryland. “It may cost us a lot of money.”
The new cars, which would cost $3 million each, would replace Metro’s oldest cars, expand the system’s capacity and service the planned new rail line to Dulles.
The new cars are part of an $11.3 billion laundry list of Metro items that General Manager John Catoe said need funding in the next 10 years.
Metrorail chief Dave Kubicek argued that the benefits of the new cars would outweigh the costs, and that the new arrangement could end up saving the agency money by reducing the number of cabs on the trains.
The cabs, which lead the trains and are filled with operational equipment, would be located only in the first and fourth cars of the four-car pack, as opposed to in every car in the current paired-car arrangement.
Eliminating those cabs would free up room for 40 more people in each eight-car train.
The 7000 Series cars also would operate using newer, more reliable technology, he said.
Many of Metro’s railcar reliability problems are the result of the agency’s practice of linking newer trains to older ones, Kubicek said.
“There are technology barriers when you have a 1970s piece of equipment and you’re trying to connect it to something that was built in 1996,” he said. “We have glitches.”
Board members also expressed reservations about spending more than $1 billion on a new, untested type of railcar when the agency’s most recent set of cars, the 6000 Series, experienced glitches soon after going into operation.
“Have we learned anything new since the last time?” board member Gordon Linton asked.
Kubicek said the new railcars would have a computer diagnostics system that would immediately pinpoint the source of malfunctions.
Metro’s existing railcars must be taken out of service and tested by engineers to locate the source of a glitch.
The agency’s plans call for ordering new railcars within the next year and receiving 664 cars between 2014 and 2018.
The board of directors will review a final proposal in November.
