Reduced Metro Rail Service Levels Will Continue Through Year End

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said Monday that rail service will continue at reduced levels through December 31.

In a news release, WMATA said there is a delay getting parts for 6000-series rail cars because of global supply chain challenges. The 7000-series rail cars are still offline due to safety issues; WMATA had to sideline 60 percent of its rail fleet in October after a derailment on the Blue Line.

Paul J. Wiedefeld, general manager and CEO of Metro, said the 6000-series rail cars will return to service as parts come in.

“While we know service is not as frequent as customers would prefer, we will add each train as it becomes available to help incrementally improve service reliability and frequency," Wiedefeld said in the news release.

Close to 75 percent of Metrorail stations have trains arriving at least every 10-12 minutes, the news release stated.

“This is a monumental undertaking that is being performed on parallel tracks to ensure that we have as little down time as possible between testing and remobilizing the fleet,” Wiedefeld continued. “We are intentionally not setting deadlines so that safety and good data drive our decisions, but we are mindful that customers want the best service we can provide as soon as we can deliver it, and we are committed to building back up in phases.”

The news release stated Metro expects to update service plans for 2022 by the end of this year.

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