All Things WMATA 7000 Series

I haven't heard any negative issues from MARC on their multi-level cars from bombardier either. But problems like this will vary wildly based on contract terms and various project stuff. There's lots that can go wrong on one project that has no bearing on another.

Cars 7357, 7360, 7361 has been damaged due to striking a bicycle someone threw on the tracks

I've seen 7438-7439 out and about on OR/SV so I assume they must be around ~7460 at this point

Looks like railcar 7297 is out of commission as it derailed today at the Shady Grove rail yard https://railtransitops.org/2018/01/02/1 ... erailment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yesterday I rode a train that included car 7477, so they must be testing close to car 7500 now. Car 7477 was very, very new - still had a strong odor of new trainset.

Yesterday I finally got to actually *ride* a 7000 series car. It smelled new - the car was too crowded to get the car number. We just don't take Metro that often any more, and between a hockey game that started an hour later than expected (to suit the needs of TV), Metro that shuts down earlier than it used to, we were getting on uncomfortably close to the time when they shut the whole system down. That coupled with the ever present "track work" (that results in single-tracking and unexpected need to get off and change trains), it all becomes an ordeal. We ended up taking a cab the final few miles.

Looks like we're very close to hitting 7500, spotted 7488-7489

GGW has a post discussing Metro's acknowledgment that the 7000-series does use more electricity and that it is setting aside more money for costs. https://ggwash.org/view/66437/metro-set ... s-railcars

YOLO wrote:Looks like we're very close to hitting 7500, spotted 7488-7489

Metro says the get 20 new cars month. Also, they ordered 241 more cars to replace the 5000 series. There are 192 5000 series cars in service.

"davinp"
Metro says the get 20 new cars month. Also, they ordered 241 more cars to replace the 5000 series. There are 192 5000 series cars in service.

WMATA did not add an option for 241 more cars, they changed an option to replace the 100 4k cars that were originally planed to be mid life rehabilitated with 100 7k cars. The 184 5k cars will be replaced from the 220 car fleet growth options. Net gain in total fleet size after scrapping of 1, 4 and 5k cars and delivery of 7k cars is 36 cars.

36 extra cars with the 7000s, higher fleet availability, but no option to run 6-car trains. Has WMATA been running 4-car 7000 sets much (especially off-peak), as a way to save power costs? I don’t ride much anymore.

mtuandrew wrote:36 extra cars with the 7000s, higher fleet availability, but no option to run 6-car trains. Has WMATA been running 4-car 7000 sets much (especially off-peak), as a way to save power costs? I don’t ride much anymore.

When was the last time WMATA even ran a 4 car revenue train? Maybe that would reduce power usage, but it would be problematic in other ways.

D40LF wrote:When was the last time WMATA even ran a 4 car revenue train? Maybe that would reduce power usage, but it would be problematic in other ways.

That’s why I was wondering, thanks. It would be problematic, which is why I wouldn’t put it past WMATA

So, all of that adds up to longer but fewer trains.

"mtuandrew"
36 extra cars with the 7000s, higher fleet availability, but no option to run 6-car trains. Has WMATA been running 4-car 7000 sets much (especially off-peak), as a way to save power costs? I don’t ride much anymore.

Contrary to the propaganda WMATA has been disseminating about the 7k cars only being capable of running in 4 and 8 car consists. They can in fact be run in 2 and 6 as well as 4 and 8 car consists. The cars are married pair, they do not require the presents of even numbered married pairs to operate in revenue service. The only require a cab equipped A car on both ends of a train to allow direction change at terminals. There is nothing technically preventing WMATA from running 7k cars in 6 car consists. My understanding as to why WMATA has chosen to run them only in 8 car consists has to do with the fear of having to uncouple bad order cars while out on the mainline. They don't want to have deadhead a train at no more 15 MPH back to one of the yards from the hostler cab in a B car.

Sand Box John wrote:My understanding as to why WMATA has chosen to run them only in 8 car consists has to do with the fear of having to uncouple bad order cars while out on the mainline. They don't want to have deadhead a train at no more 15 MPH back to one of the yards from the hostler cab in a B car.

They did this once last year when a tree fell on an Orange Line train in approach to Dunn Loring towards Vienna. The trailing 6 were uncoupled and sent back to offload passengers at West Falls Church while the front deuce was cut free. The original 3rd car was a B car which then became the lead which they ran into WFC Yard via the hostler cab. The lead deuce, once cut free outside Dunn Loring, also had to be sent back to the yard via WFC using the hostler panel.

Fair point about a potential AB-AB-BA train. WMATA appears not to want to run six 7000s in service though, but it would be interesting to see if they change their tune.