U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) want the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to provide them with information about the October derailment that led to the removal of all 700 series metro railcars from service.
In a letter sent Monday to WMATA CEO Paul Wiedefeld, Brown, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Toomey, the committee’s ranking member, asked for a detailed timeline on WMATA’s actions and all reports and records relating to the 7000 series cars’ wheel safety.
“It appears WMATA and Kawasaki have been aware of wheel alignment issues with the 7000 series since 2017 and WMATA has been working with Kawasaki to address the issues since that time,” the senators wrote. “In furtherance of our oversight responsibilities and in an effort to better understand WMATA’s reaction to the wheel alignment issue, and in particular, decisions by WMATA, Kawasaki or other parties about risk factors associated with the 7000 series railcars wheel assemblies, we request WMATA provide information to the Committee.”
In October, Metro pulled more than half of its railcars out of service just before a Monday morning rush hour, after an investigation found that multiple axles on the cars were out of compliance with manufacturers specifications.
A week earlier, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation had found the same issue while investigating a WMATA derailment near Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The NTSB found that the fourth axle of the railcar was out of compliance with manufacturer specifications.
“According to a briefing by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the October 12, 2021 derailment in Northern Virginia was caused by the train’s wheels shifting outward on the axle, causing the distance between the wheels to increase,” the senators wrote. “NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said, ‘the potential for fatalities and serious injuries was significant,’ and that ‘this could have resulted in a catastrophic event.’ The WMSC (Washington Metrorail Safety Commission) pulled the 7000 series metro railcars from service after inspections of the railcars following the derailment revealed that a number of 7000 series railcars experienced similar shifting of wheel spacing.”
The senators asked for information regarding interactions between the agency and its contractors over the railcars, what kinds of analysis the agency did on the railcars and how much had been spent by the agency on wheel alignment issues with the 7000 series railcars.