Metro is still running “uncrashworthy” rail cars at the front of its trains although it pledged to put those cars in the center of them after a deadly crash crushed one to a third of its size.
“On the extreme, rare occasion, we would put a 1000 Series rail car in the lead,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
Metro could not provide numbers on how often the Rohr brand 1000 Series rail cars have been placed on the fronts or backs of trains. Taubenkibel said he was aware of one case in which the 1970s-era cars led a train on the Red Line.
But The Examiner has received reports of three such instances since the June 22 crash, which killed nine and injured more than 70 people.
To determine what type of Metro car you are riding, look for the car number:
Cars have four-digit numbers on the inside door at the rear of the car and on the outsides. Numbers beginning with a one are 1000 Series models.
The yards where trains are stored do not always have enough newerrailcars to configure 1000 Series cars in the middle of the trains, Taubenkibel said, so crews must decide whether to run one less train — or run an all-1000 Series train. “If it does happen, it makes only one trip,” he said.
In 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board told Metro to replace or retrofit all of its 1000 Series rail cars, saying they were not “crashworthy.” The board warned the cars could collapse like an accordionon impact.
Still, Metro kept the cars running. Replacing all 290 of its oldest cars — about a quarter of its fleet — would cost nearly $900 million. Retrofitting them would have cost nearly as much, Taubenkibel said. “We didn’t have the money back then, and we don’t have the money today,” he added.
The cars do not appear to have caused the June crash, but better designed cars might have been less deadly. The lead car of the striking train was crushed to a third of its original size.
Three days after the crash, Metro said it would move those rail cars to the “belly” of the trains. “This could make them less vulnerable to a collision,” Taubenkibel said.
The oversight committee charged with monitoring Metro sent a letter to the agency in July saying it could not support the action until the system could “provide a written justification providing factual evidence” of how it makes trains safer. The group said it had not been given any “engineering analyses, written professional opinions, crash-test data or even anecdotal evidence.”
The NTSB also has declined to endorse Metro’s action on the cars.
“Our response is they need to get rid of them,” NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak told The Examiner. “We recommended they get rid of them. We still believe that.”
