A Metro train sits on an elevated track as crews inspect the track following a derailment Friday near the National Airport station. Metro officials said they have found no connection between the derailment of a 7000-series train Friday and a wheelset defect on the same model that led to a derailmentBut emergency inspections stemming from the most recent incident have uncovered 32 rail cars with parts fastened by bolts that might be a different shape or size than what manufacturers intended.
series of trains. The derailment led to a fourth day of delays for commuters on the Blue and Yellow lines, while 360 rail cars were temporarily removed for emergency inspections.A Blue Line train heading southbound toward the Franconia-Springfield station was carrying 43 passengers about 10:45 a.m. Friday when it hit an object that Metro officials said had fallen off another train. The train’s first axle came off the track south of the airport station’s Metro platform. No one was injured.
The derailed train is in Metro’s 7000 series, the agency’s most advanced model that is the subject of a two-year federal investigation into a wheel defect. The flaw was found after a 7000-series train on the Blue Line derailed outside the Arlington Cemetery station on Oct. 12, 2021, while carrying 187 passengers. No one was seriously hurt, but the derailment prompted Metro’s regulatory agency to pull all 748 cars in the series out of service, creating a year-long train shortage.
the oldest within the rail system — entered service starting in 1982 and were built by the same manufacturer as the 3000 series. The manufacturer, Breda, no longer makes rail cars.Metro said 102 cars had been inspected as of Sunday, with 32 identified as having “non-conforming bolts,” which differ from manufacturer specifications. Metro said they might have been replaced during repairs or periodic rebuilding and replacement of parts. The rail cars have a life span of about 40 years.