Almost 60 Percent Of Metro's 7000-Series Railcars Won't Be Running Monday

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — As the investigation into the blue line derailment continues, Metro will be pulling out of service all of its 7000-series railcars Monday, which accounts for almost 60 percent of its rail fleet. Without these rail cars, Metro will operate an estimated 40 trains Monday on a basic service pattern on all lines of trains departing approximately every 30 minutes. All trains will operate as six-car trains.

The National Transportation Safety Board has taken charge of the investigation of the derailment of a Metro blue line train outside Arlington National Cemetery recently that left riders stranded in the dark during the evening commute. Blue line service was suspended between the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom stations afterward and free shuttle buses replaced Metrorail service at the Rosslyn, Arlington Cemetery and Pentagon stations.

Passenger Mayra Rivera told WTOP she was riding the train when she saw smoke.

“It wasn’t a lot of smoke. It was just a little bit of smoke. They were trying to get it running, but it just kept stopping,” Rivera told WTOP.

Stranded riders were escorted in groups of 25 to walk a quarter of a mile underground back to Arlington Cemetery station. One person was taken to the hospital in stable condition.