D.C.’s Metro moved swiftly Thursday to remove all 4000-series railcars from the tracks after detecting a safety concern in the automatic control system of these trains.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced that dozens of the trains have a glitch in the control system that could cause a failure to notify the conductor when nearing another train.
“Today’s action is being taken in an abundance of caution and, while we believe that the risk is small, it is a risk I am unwilling to take,” Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said in a statement. “Everything we do here is going to put safety first, no matter what.”
By 3:30 p.m., Metro was well in the process of decommissioning the trains, replacing them with other trains before rush hour started. The process is expected to last into the night. Riders may notice fewer eight-car trains.
The 4000-series is comprised of 41 married pairs of cars, making it the smallest of Metro’s six “legacy” fleets. The fleet had originally been up for retirement in late 2017. The cars could be used for “bellying,” in which they are attached to the middle of a different series train.
