Metro announced Monday the system’s least-reliable rail cars will go into retirement starting next week.
Metro General Manager and CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld announced in a statement the 4000 series will be retired.
The 4000-series rail cars travel an average of 27,259 miles between delays compared to the top performing cars, the 6000 series, which travel more than 103,000 miles between delays, four times the reliability as the 4000 series.
Metro began retiring its oldest rail cars, the 1000 series, in February 2016. Today, more than half of the 1000 series fleet has been retired to make room for the new 7000 series.
Starting next week, both the 4000 and 1000 will phase out concurrently.
Lengthy delays were reported Monday morning on the Orange, Silver and Blue lines due to a disabled train with a brake problem outside of Foggy Bottom Station. The delayed train included 1000- and 4000-series cars.
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Rail car mechanical issues accounted for almost two-thirds of delays in 2016, according to a statement by Metro. Under the “Back2Good” program, Wiedefeld has committed to have all of the 1000-series and 4000-series cars out of passenger service by the end of this year to decrease the delays experienced by customers.
Retired cars are transported by trailer to Baltimore where they are scrapped. The first retired 4000-series car is scheduled to be moved off Metro property Feb. 15.
