Dates Each Series of Cars Entered Service

It's obvious that the Rohr cars first entered service on Metro opening day, 3/27/1976. I think the Breda 2000 Series cars entered service in early 1984. I saw somewhere on the internet that the first of the of Breda 4000 cars entered services on 12/23/1991. The first of the CAF cars entered service on 8/23/2001. The first of the Alstom cars entered service on 10/6/2006. Does anyone know the exact date the first of the Breda 3000 Series cars entered service and the exact date the last of the 3Ks entered service? What's the exact date (if anyone knows) the last of the 4Ks entered service? What's the exact date (if anyone knows) the CAF cars entered service on the Red Line? I think the 2Ks made their debut on the Yellow Line, the 3Ks made their debut on the Red Line and the 4Ks made their debut on the Yellow or Green Lines. Everyone knows the CAFs and Alstoms made their debut on the Green Line.

I don't know the exact date, but the CAF's make their debut on the Red Line in April 2004.

Your dates for the 5000 and 6000 Series cars seem to be correct, as well as your date for the 1000 Series cars. The 2.5 minute headway on the Red Line during rush hour started April 26, 2004: http://wmata.com/about/met_news/PressRe ... easeID=382. My earliest CAF on the Red Line photo is from April 19, 2004, but I rode one a few days before that and they were sighted even a few days before that.

A 8 car train of 2000 Series Cars ran for VIPs to Huntington for the opening of that station in 1983, so the cars were running by then. Some testing for those cars was done between Grosvenor and Shady Grove before that segment opened, and the delays in their manufacture caused that section to not open when the Van Ness to Grosvenor section opened.

Nothing to add on the 3000s.

"WMATAGMOAGH"
A 8 car train of 2000 Series Cars ran for VIPs to Huntington for the opening of that station in 1983, so the cars were running by then.

My recollections of the opening to Huntington, as I was there, was there were no 2k Breda's in service that day (12 17 1983). The first time the public got the chance to see the 2k Breda cars was at the Huntington station on opening day. A 4 car train of the Breda cars was parked all day on outbound track C2 at the platform. I was excited to get my first chance to see them. I was disappointed that I was unable to ride aboard any of them. As to the exact date they were put into revenue service, That I don't know. I believe hardyboyz1999 is correct in saying they made their first revenue runs in early 1984.

Some testing for those cars was done between Grosvenor and Shady Grove before that segment opened, and the delays in their manufacture caused that section to not open when the Van Ness to Grosvenor section opened.

Both of those segments were delayed along with the extension of the C route to Huntington because of delay in delivery Breda cars. WMATA never planed to open both segments of the A Route Red line north of Van Ness at the same time. I will note WMATA moved up the Huntington opening and put in service as the Yellow line because of the lack rolling stock. It was also opened as the Yellow line for political reasons. WMATA had this totally completed segment of railroad with no trains running on it, the Board wanted it opened.

Why didn't the Red Line get any CAF cars until April 2004 (2 1/2 years after the Green Line got them)? I think the Orange Line first got CAFs in September 2002, but when did the Blue and Yellow Lines first get CAFs?

hardyboyz1999 wrote:Why didn't the Red Line get any CAF cars until April 2004 (2 1/2 years after the Green Line got them)? I think the Orange Line first got CAFs in September 2002, but when did the Blue and Yellow Lines first get CAFs?

Because they wanted to eliminate all non-6 car trains on the other lines before increasing Red Line Service.

The order was Green, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Red, IIRC. The CAF cars are crap in my opinion, and I'm just as happy with the Rohrs dominating the Red Line for as long as possible.

hardyboyz1999 wrote:Why didn't the Red Line get any CAF cars until April 2004 (2 1/2 years after the Green Line got them)? I think the Orange Line first got CAFs in September 2002, but when did the Blue and Yellow Lines first get CAFs?

Recently the Red Line has always on the bottom rung when it comes to receiving new cars. It was the last line to receive the CAFs (to some people this was a good thing) and the 6K Alstoms, and probably will be the last line to see the 7Ks when they are put in service. Even now its hard to find a train entirely made up of 6K cars, while on the Green Line about 2/3 of the trains are made up of 6Ks.

I think it was rare to see a 2000 Series car on the Red Line when the 2Ks first entered service as it still is today, but I think the 3000 Series cars made their debut on the Red Line. I think the 4000 Series cars made their debut on the Yellow or Green Lines, then went to the Blue and Orange Lines (though I don't think the Blue and Orange Lines had very many Breda cars until this decade, as the Blue and Orange Lines had mostly Rohr cars), and then finally went to the Red Line.

hardyboyz1999 wrote:I think it was rare to see a 2000 Series car on the Red Line when the 2Ks first entered service as it still is today, but I think the 3000 Series cars made their debut on the Red Line. I think the 4000 Series cars made their debut on the Yellow or Green Lines, then went to the Blue and Orange Lines (though I don't think the Blue and Orange Lines had very many Breda cars until this decade, as the Blue and Orange Lines had mostly Rohr cars), and then finally went to the Red Line.

According to The Story of Metro, the 2000s initially appeared on all lines so crews and maintenance could become familiar with them, but then were relegated to the Red Line.

realtype wrote:

hardyboyz1999 wrote:Why didn't the Red Line get any CAF cars until April 2004 (2 1/2 years after the Green Line got them)? I think the Orange Line first got CAFs in September 2002, but when did the Blue and Yellow Lines first get CAFs?

Recently the Red Line has always on the bottom rung when it comes to receiving new cars. It was the last line to receive the CAFs (to some people this was a good thing) and the 6K Alstoms, and probably will be the last line to see the 7Ks when they are put in service. Even now its hard to find a train entirely made up of 6K cars, while on the Green Line about 2/3 of the trains are made up of 6Ks.

The last time I saw an all 6k train on the Red Line was back in December 2007. I almost always see a 2 to 4 cars out of 6 on the Red Line.