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5/22/2024
The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) has issued an audit of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Metrorail revenue rail-car program.
The WMSC performed the audit through interviews, site visits and document and data reviews conducted in August and September 2023. Additional followup and document reviews were completed in October, November and December 2023.
The audit includes Metrorail’s maintenance and engineering practices related to rail cars, those vehicles designed to carry customers. It also includes associated shop equipment such as rail-car movers.
As the report was being drafted, the NTSB released its final report on the investigation into the October 12, 2021, derailment of a 7000 Series train on the Blue Line. The WMSC adopted the report in January.
During the investigation, the WMSC issued orders to Metrorail to ensure the safe return to service of each 7000 Series rail car, and the WMSC oversaw Metrorail’s development and implementation of associated return to service plans.
The audit listed three recommendations:• Metrorail is not tracking the shelf life of rail-car parts that decay over time and therefore have a limited shelf life;• Metrorail could improve maintenance task effectiveness by providing training records to supervisors of employees newly assigned to their shift or location; and• Metrorail should update its rail-car maintenance staffing assessment to account for current facilities, rail cars, maintenance requirements and other operational changes.
The full report can be read here.