DC Metro removes railcars due to safety concerns

Certain railcars on Washington’s subway system are being taken off the tracks due to safety concerns, Metro announced Thursday.

Metro began removing the 4000-series railcars at 3:30 p.m. and said the process is expected to take several hours. The move will affect 41 connected pairs of railcars that are currently in service.

{mosads}Paul Wiedefeld, Metro’s general manager, ordered all 4000-series railcars to be immediately pulled from service after engineers identified a potential safety concern involving the train’s automatic train control system, which could result in collisions.

The automatic system is supposed to keep trains at a safe space from each other by displaying “speed commands” for the train operator to use.

But railcar engineers say there could be an “undetectable failure” in the control board for the 4000-series railcars, which may result in improper speed commands being given to train operators whenever the car is in the lead position.

“Today’s action is being taken in an abundance of caution and, while we believe that the risk is small, it is a risk I am unwilling to take,” Wiedefeld said in a statement. “Everything we do here is going to put safety first, no matter what.”

The transit agency noted that it was already considering retiring the 4000-series railcars, which are the smallest and least reliable of Metro’s six “legacy” fleets, but may consider doing so sooner now in light of the safety concerns.