Finance Committee Calls for Proposals to Start Procurement of 64 New Rail Cars

[Howard Hartman]

Metro's Finance Committee Calls for Proposals
to Start Procurement of 64 New Rail Cars

Metro eyes new rail cars for future growth

Metro’s Finance, Administration and Oversight committee today (Dec. 4) accepted a staff recommendation to call for a request for proposals to procure 64 new 7000 Series rail cars to support the Dulles rail program with options for up to 620 new rail cars, to rehabilitate old rail cars and satisfy future Metrorail ridership.

The Board of Directors is scheduled to take action on the recommendation on December 18.

Funding for the initial 64 new rail cars is available through an agreement with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Funding for the remaining rail cars is subject to approval of the Metro Board of Directors.

The railcar program plan calls for 128 new rail cars for the Dulles project, new rail cars to replace the 1000 Series rail cars, new rail cars to expand eight-car train operations, and to rehabilitate 4000 Series rail cars, which have been in service for 25 years.

By consolidating these contracts into one procurement, Metro will recognize nearly a half billion dollars in capital and operating cost savings through the elimination of a repetitive design, procurement, development and engineering costs, improved design and technology enhancements. The end result will be a new railcar with increased capacity and lower maintenance and operating costs.

“It was necessary for us to develop a long-range program for the renewal and rehabilitation of our railcar fleet due to age, wear and capacity constraints,” said Dave Kubicek, Metro’s Assistant General Manager for Metrorail. “This plan will allow us to consolidate our efforts on current and future rail cars, thereby meeting a variety of needs all at the same time.”

Metro officials envision the 7000 Series rail cars to have a brand new design and look. The rail car would have a stainless steel exterior. Gone would be the wide brown exterior paint stripes. Fiberglass seats would be replaced with stronger, yet thinner stainless steel for more leg room. Carpet would be eliminated from the rail cars. Passengers also could grab onto overhead and spring loaded handles. Other possible features include interactive linear maps, automated announcements stating the station names that the trains are servicing and security cameras.

Metro currently has a fleet of 1,116 rail cars ranging from the 1000 to 6000 Series. The oldest, 1000 Series rail cars are more than 30-years old. Metro began putting the 6000 Series rail cars into service last year. It will be at least five years before the 7000 Series cars will be on the rails.