John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Don’t get too attached to those fancy new Metrorail cars. There may be fewer of them coming our way.
Metro put eight new 7000-series cars into service in April, and has another 520 cars on order. But thanks to some federal red tape, a future order of 220 additional cars may have to be scrapped.
The snag comes in how Metro plans to use those new cars. Its current plan is to replace cars built in the early 2000’s with the newer 7000 series, but the cars in line for the scrap heap still have several years left in their life span, and since federal money was used to purchase the older cars, the Federal Transit Administration gets to decide whether Metro will be able to take the older cars out of service.
The older 5000-series cars are designed to last about 40 years, as long as a planned overhaul takes place midway through their lifecycle. Those overhauls are due soon, and Metro would save about $200 million dollars if it could just dump the cars in favor of new equipment.
If the FTA orders Metro to keep the older cars, WMATA board chairman Mortimer Downey tells the Washington Post Metro will likely cancel its order for the 220 additional 7000-series cars.
With fewer cars on the way, Metro would likely have to abandon its goal of running only eight-car trains during all rush hours.
Most of the new cars coming down the line will be used to replace existing equipment that is destined for the scrap heap, including about 300 1000-series cars that have been in service since Metrorail opened in 1976.
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