CAF pair involved in accident

Has anyone heard anything about what WMATA is doing with the CAF pair that was involved in the accident (5066-7)? Based on these photos, the CAF pair was not all that badly damaged...

My guess is that the cab ends would be rebuilt on the damaged cars, similar to the 4k cars involved in the Woodley Park crash a few years ago. The dents left in the body will probably be taken out too. The cars themselves look like they are in good shape considering how severe the accident was. They may actually be the only CAF cars once redone to have black trim instead of silver after the paint flaked off.

Yeah, the 5000-Series pair looked like it came out fairly well.

Also, yes - it would be the only one with black window frames, considering the CAF window frames are all silver now following the paint wearing off. Surprised they went with painted metal on that, but there you go, I suppose.

When the Rohrs are all gone, we could now say the CAF cars and silver frames are actually a throwback to those cars, unintentional as it may be.

In more ways than one - the pattern of the AC motor sound is similar to the Rohrs' as well.

True, though I did find a city that uses the Bombardier MITRAC motors that sound almost exactly like the Rohrs. Even closer than the CAF sets in the system. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F26NMKHd7fQ

Yikes... those do sound like the Rohrs' motors!

Otherwise, I heard back from Metro about the pair, and this is what they had to say:

Dear Mr. Schumin:

Thank you for writing. These railcars will not be repaired nor will they be put back on the lines. They are part of an ongoing investigation.

[blah blah blah stuff about customer service]

Sincerely,

Helen (Becky) Gregory
Case 516531

I don't know if this is a for-now answer because they've not yet released the report, or if it means that the pair is permanently out of service.

It's the usual canned response from Metro. My guess is the return of those CAF cars is at least a year off because the investigation is ongoing.

I was looking through YouTube some more and got a clearer video/sound of the Bombardier MITRAC motors that sound identical to the Rohrs. These are used in Madrid on CAF built cars. Only difference is the slight power down on deceleration.

3000 series train accelaration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKDHUmWJy3Q
8000 series train deceleration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXjIphqwNJI

Apparently CAF uses this traction package on the new Madrid trains and their new Rome line A trains that is traditionally supplied by Breda. Bombardier also uses this version in Shenzhen and Guangzhou on their Movia trains. These sound more like the Rohrs because these systems use overhead canternary and usually around 1500 volts compared to 600-750 on the version used in Washington.

Interestingly, the version of the MITRAC system used on the Washington Metro is used elsewhere too. It's used in Bucharest, and on the new 2009 tube stock for London. I will say it would be interesting if any of the new trains used the AdTranz/Bombardier propulsion used in the BART system lol. Anyways, now that I've gone off topic enough...

tommyboy6181 wrote:Interestingly, the version of the MITRAC system used on the Washington Metro is used elsewhere too. It's used in Bucharest, and on the new 2009 tube stock for London. I will say it would be interesting if any of the new trains used the AdTranz/Bombardier propulsion used in the BART system lol. Anyways, now that I've gone off topic enough...

Apparently the same MITRAC system is also used in Stockholm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jSKoNMm-K8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsEGKdGi8Ys