All 4000-series cars now back in service (as of 7/21/10)

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/P ... aseID=4550

Problems with the door motors have caused all 4000-series cars from the system until their door motors can be "removed, inspected, repaired, cleaned, reinstalled and retested", which they say will take 2-3 weeks. Sounds like this week is going to be a bit of a pain in the neck.

Beat me to the post. I saw that and just remembered that Alstom is replacing the door motors on the Rohrs lately too.

Considering how much of the Red Line's normal fleet is 4000's, that ought to make for an interesting commute this week...

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow - my last day on the job down in DC, I start a new job in Columbia trading 1h20 of MARC+WMATA for 20 minutes of MD Rt 32. Seems like an appropriate sendoff from WMATA.

And not a moment too soon for that job change -- service just gets worse and worse. I'm on Metro two to four days a week, and I'm batting 0.500 on my last several trips. About half of them had trains with at least one locked-out (dead) car, and another car or two with failed or barely function A/C.

The removal of the 4000 series cars has made things a lot worse. Acting GM Sarles said last Wednesday in a presentation at USDOT that 40% are now back in service. Can't say I've noticed.

I spent three weeks in June limping around with the aid of a cane due to a knee problem, and the frequency of non-functional escalators in the WMATA stations is alarmingly high.

The impression that this rider has received is that the whole WMATA system is spinning out of control.

Stay out of the lead car or the rear car on any WMATA train. Be safe.

Any word on if all of the 4k cars are back in service?

I'm going to say "probably". I've seen a lot of 4000's out and about on the Red Line, and they said 2-3 weeks six weeks ago, though I've not seen any official word that they're all back.

I recall reading something, somewhere that they were all done, but I'm drawing a complete blank as to where and when I read it.

The 4000s were put back in service and have been running normally for a while now. WMATA released a press release about it a few weeks ago.

Mirai Zikasu wrote:The 4000s were put back in service and have been running normally for a while now. WMATA released a press release about it a few weeks ago.

Good to hear!

Davis

Great!! Now I'll be able to enjoy once again the DC traction sounds of the #4 cars which the #3 cars had before they were GOH'd. I also renamed the thread title accordingly to reflect the 4000s status

Yes, let's enjoy them while we still can. I was glad to see a few and ride a 4k when I was down there this past January.