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Metro's megapurchase of rail cars offers more room, less grunge,
greater capacity


New Metro cars made by Kawasaki Rail Cars are scheduled to arrive in
2013 -- a total of 428, each with five more seats than the old ones.
(Wmata)
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By Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Washington's new subway cars will have ergonomically designed seats
for back comfort, added legroom and resilient floors for easy cleaning
(no more stained and dirty carpets). Automated voices will make
station announcements instead of hard-to-hear humans.

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Each new car will carry five more riders and come equipped with padded
seats, security cameras and seat-back grab handles. Digital maps will
help riders track where they are in the system, the next stop and
available connections.

When 428 new cars begin arriving in 2013 from Kawasaki Rail Car's
plant in Lincoln, Neb., Metro riders should see a big difference
because the design of the system's cars has changed little in 34 years.

"We're moving ourselves from the technology of the 1960s to the
technology of the 21st century," Metro board Chairman Peter Benjamin
said this week as the board awarded Kawasaki an $886 million contract.
Assuming the transit agency buys as many as 320 more cars in coming
years, the $1.9 billion deal would be one of the largest purchases in
Metro history.


The new cars will not immediately ease rush-hour crowding. Ridership
is rising 2 to 3 percent a year, but the new cars won't allow for
longer trains until well past 2016, when Metro will be able to add
significant capacity.

Three hundred of the 7000 Series cars will replace the oldest models
in the fleet, which date to the system's beginnings in 1976. The 1000
Series cars have become a safety liability: The striking train in the
June 22 Red Line crash that killed nine people belonged to this class
and was compressed to a third of its length. Interim General Manager
Richard Sarles called their replacement his "top safety priority."

The 128 7000 Series cars will be used to expand the system, allowing
riders to travel through Tysons Corner to Dulles International Airport
by 2016. The first 11.7 miles of the 23-mile line, to Wiehle Avenue in
Reston, are scheduled to open in late 2013. The extra service will
require 64 new cars for each leg, although the new cars will be
distributed throughout the Metro system.

"I like that," Gwendolyn Pleasant said when told that carpets will be
gone in the 7000 Series, a feature she called "much more sanitary."
But news of the purchase was mixed. Pleasant and other riders at the
McPherson Square station during the Friday afternoon rush hour viewed
it as a financial overreach a day after Metro approved a steep
increase in bus and rail fares.

"It doesn't make sense," said Pleasant, a 60-year-old flower seller.
The fare increase will allow Metro to cover a deficit in its operating
budget; the capital budget is paying for the rail cars.

Davinia Miles, 39, on her way home from her job as a security guard in
New Carrollton, said she has ridden high-tech subway cars in New York
and likes them. But she said Metro has more pressing problems that
she's become more aware of after her husband's knee injury. "They
should fix all the broken elevators and escalators before buying new
cars," she said.

The new cars will have the latest diagnostic technology, so that in
case of a breakdown, operators and mechanics will be able to make
repairs more quickly than on older cars. The 7000 Series cars are so
technologically advanced that for the first time in Metro's history,
the new cars will not be compatible with the system's existing cars.

That means they cannot be mixed and matched as they are now, and that
riders will be wondering whether a new train or an old one will pull
into the station.

In 2012 or early 2013, four test trains will be shipped to Washington
so Metro engineers and mechanics can run six months of technical tests
and iron out kinks before the rest of the order is delivered in 2013,
about 12 to 16 cars each month. The cars won't technically be in
service during the testing period, but there is a good chance riders
will be able to sit inside and give them a once-over for themselves,
officials said.


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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