Bacon's Rebellion

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Surprise Findings About Metro Derailment

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by

Bob Rayner
in ,

by Bill Tracy

In Northern Virginia on Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board released a scathing final report on the Washington area Metro’s derailment problem with its newer. 7000-Series railcars.  The NTSB’s media presentation by Chair Jennifer Homendy can be found on YouTube.   NTSB also faulted Metro’s safety culture.

My prior layman’s understanding, from local news coverage, had been that Metro (aka WMATA) had no idea what was causing the derailment problem.

I was dumbfounded to learn that since 2014, WMATA has been aware of the wheel “migration” problem on its railcars. In hindsight, WMATA had not been designing the Metro railcars with adequate “press force” of the wheels onto the axles. This problem allows some railcar wheels, over time, to spread out — wider than the tracks — causing derailments. About two-thirds of the 748 new 7000-Series railcars were built with an inadequate press force spec, before the spec was updated by WMATA. As expected, it was one of the earlier 7000-series cars that derailed in Arlington in 2021, causing all of the new 7000-series cars to be taken out of service.

The fix is to re-build the wheel sets of the earlier 7000-series cars to bring them up to the new standard, presumably at great expense. WMATA is trying to blame the manufacturer, Kawasaki, for the issue. Kawasaki, however, reports that they built the railcars to final specs requested by Metro-WMATA. The courts will presumably have to settle the “who pays” issue.

NTSB apparently also faults the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for lack of regulations concerning commuter railcar design and safety. Apparently,  the Washington Metro system employs so-called “heavy” railcars weighing over 20,000-lbs, which is rare. Los Angeles is apparently one of the few other cities that also has the heavy railcars.

The good news is that NTSB’s Homendy gives current Metro management (CEO Randy Clarke) a good report card for finally facing up to the derailment issue.  Problem solved? Time will tell.

Bill Tracy, a retired engineer, lives in Northern Virginia.

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44 responses to “Surprise Findings About Metro Derailment”

  1. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    Astonishing that Metro has been aware of the wheel “migration” problem for almost a decade and did nothing about it until the derailments. But then it’s Metro with an equally astonishing record of incompetence spread across it’s entire operation for decades.

  2. Matt Adams Avatar
    Matt Adams

    “In hindsight, WMATA had not been designing the Metro railcars with adequate “press force” of the wheels onto the axles. ”

    WMATA doesn’t design railcars, they are a client of a supplier whom build the railcars.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      It might be more appropriate to say Metro does not design rail cars well.

      The builder has reported that they built the cars to the specifications Metro supplied. The customer (Metro) apparently said if you want the contract, here’s what we want you to build. Kawasaki’s defense is that they did exactly that.

      Comes under the heading of be careful what you ask for, you might get it.

      It seems likely the issue will be sorted out in court. It should be interesting. Metro does not have a stellar history of competence at anything.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        It’s a poor engineer who doesn’t inform his customer of bad requirements. If there is one letter, or one email…

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Indeed, subject matter expertise was part of how we added value for our customers. Explaining to a customer why what they were asking for was illegal, immoral, fattening or just plain dumb was sometimes a delicate dance.

          In the end our rep for knowing our business was a strong part of our success. On the other hand, occasionally a customer would come with a really good idea, and we always tried to recognize and incorporate them.

          Like you, I expect we will find that someone at Kawasaki said something like “If we do it the way you asked us to the wheels will fall off. To do it right will cost an extra two dollars and ninety eight cents per wheel” and someone at Metro replied “No thanks”. There were several of those communications in the 737 Max debacle.

          Engineers really care that things work. We have not actually “solved” a problem until they do. Marketing, management and finance sometimes not so much.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            There was a wonderful video made in the late 90s where the customer, sales reps, and engineer were in a round table. The gist is the end everyone goes off laughing to the bar and the engineer is saying “it violates the laws of physics.”

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Two words.
            Morton
            Thiokol

            Two more
            Ford
            Pinto

          3. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Two words.
            Morton
            Thiokol

            Two more
            Ford
            Pinto

            And a picture…
            https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1280/format:webp/0*NSfO4lkOmFUE0UF_

          4. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            yet two more
            Oxy
            Contin

      2. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        Clients put out RFP’s, they provide bidders with standards and specifications. The internal engineers review and revise those standards and specs on a yearly if not project basis. The 7K cars are the only ones with issues, so the 6 other series prior to that are okay, but they are not?

        Merely because a supplier says they adhered doesn’t mean they did or did not.

        WMATA has the same issues that any other Metro has, difference is they don’t have a dedicated funding source and they are in the capital city.

        Kawasaki isn’t going to take anyone to court, it would open them up to liability. It will die with everything else.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Metro thinks Kawasaki is at fault. Kawasaki does not. The differences of opinion are who screwed up and who pays for the repairs. That is why expensive issues often end up in court. The author and I think it will go to court. You are free to think whatever you want.

          “The fix is to re-build the wheel sets of the earlier 7000-series cars to bring them up to the new standard, presumably at great expense. WMATA is trying to blame the manufacturer, Kawasaki, for the issue. Kawasaki, however, reports that they simply built the railcars to final specs requested by Metro-WMATA. The courts will presumably have to settle the “who pays” issue.“

          1. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            “The author and I think it will go to court. You are free to think whatever you want.”

            https://www.railwayage.com/regulatory/ntsb-releases-wmata-2021-derailment-report/#:~:text=WMATA's%20Response&text=Based%20on%20the%20contract%2C%20Kawasaki,%5Bestimated%20at%20%2455%20million%5D.

            Read entire stories before commenting. Especially on topics to which you have zero knowledge.

          2. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Tsk, tsk, testy aren’t we?

            One thing you said is right, Kawasaki is not likely to sue. Of course not, they delivered a product as specd and were paid for it. Metro feels aggrieved because the wheels are falling off and will be the plaintiff.

            Good article you linked. It documents Metro’s long standing failure to establish and monitor safety standards. It also shows that Metro ignored wheel set issues that preceded the 7000 series cars.

            Quotes from the article you linked that frame the issues are:

            Metro: “Metro has issued a fleet defect notice to Kawasaki related to our
            performance-based contract. Based on the contract, Kawasaki is responsible to pay all costs to fix this wheelset defect [estimated at $55 million]. We are confident that our current Wheelset Replacement program will address this wheelset defect…”

            Kawasaki: “As expected, the NTSB’s conclusions align with our own findings and confirm that Kawasaki met the design and mounting specifications
            established by WMATA for the 7000 series wheelsets,”             Kawasaki said in a statement released to Railway Age. “While we understand the budget crisis that WMATA is facing, any suggestion that Kawasaki should absorb the cost of WMATA’s own failures regarding the wheelsets of the 7000 series trains is not rooted in reality. As a reminder, WMATA supplied the wheelset design for the 7000 series railcars to match their older railcars and then failed to alert Kawasaki when they increased the mounting pressure for those older railcars after they identified 33 instances of back-to-back failures in 2014—before the first 7000 series car was even delivered.”

            Sure looks to me and the author of the BR post like a difference of opinion ($55M worth) that is likely to end up in court.

            Please also note that the NTSB documents an unbroken stream of Metro failures to establish and implement safety standards and procedures that date back a half century to Metro construction.

            Thanks for linking to an informed and informative article that confirms my comments.

          3. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            “According to the NTSB report, “WMATA observed cases of wheels migrating outward on their axles over time in the pre-7000-series fleet (the legacy fleet) in 2014 and responded by increasing the interference specification for the 7000-series, which was then in production. As a result, at the time of the derailments, the 7000-series fleet included wheelsets assembled under two different interference specifications: 0.0035-0.0060 inches (original) and 0.0045-0.0065 inches (after June 16, 2017, when WMATA approved revised design drawings from Kawasaki). These specifications resulted in wheelsets with mounting forces of 55-80 tons (original) and 65-95 tons (after revision).” The NTSB said that “[a]ccording to WMATA’s records, axle #4 on railcar 7200 was assembled under the original specification on April 8, 2016. The interference for both wheels was 0.0044 inches, resulting in a mounting force of 64 tons for the right wheel and 58 tons for the left wheel.””

            Kawasaki can deny they were provided the revised specifications, but on RFP’s document back and forth is tracked. So they can claim things all they’d like, but if there is record of transmittal, they will be paying the $55 million.

          4. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Kawasaki produced wheelsets to Metro’s specs, both before and after Metro revised the specs. That is not in dispute. The 7000 series wheels that migrated and caused the derailment were produced to Metro’s specs in force at the time of manufacture.

            There also is no indication that Metro did anything to address the wheelsets on 7000 series or earlier cars that were produced prior to Metro’s revision of the specs. In addition, Metro knew about the problem before manufacture of the 7000 series cars began and did not upgrade the specs until later. Those are just more in a long history of Metro cluster**s.

            Please read what you are posting.

            There is no point in us debating this, it will be hashed out in court, despite your expectations.

          5. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            “There is no point in us debating this, it will be hashed out in court, despite your expectations.”

            You’re right, because you’ve shown an inability to accept when you’re wrong or you don’t understand something.

            Also, let me know when you understand anything contained in the following document, at that point you’ll be able to have an intelligent conversation, until that point you and can’t and won’t.

            https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/13841/chapter/8#45

            I have read what I’ve posted, difference is I understand what it says, and clearly you don’t.

          6. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/13841/chapter/8#45

            That’s another interesting article, thank you for linking to it. The issues involved in wheel/rail profiles and interaction are undoubtedly of great interest to rail operators.

            However, it has nothing to do with the problem at Metro, wheels moving on the axles and spreading out so far they derailed the railcars. The prior article you
            posted confirmed my comments about Metro and Kawasaki, and again I appreciate your posting it.

            Your personal attacks are
            disappointing as is your displacement of your shortcomings to me. Hope
            you will do better in the future. Best wishes.

          7. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            “However, it has nothing to do with the problem at Metro, wheels moving on the axles and spreading out so far they derailed the railcars. The prior article you
            posted confirmed my comments about Metro and Kawasaki, and again I appreciate your posting it.”

            You might want to read that document, before making such statements. Actually, it didn’t. Again, you need to have an understanding of the processes at play and also the subject (which clearly you don’t).

            “Your personal attacks are
            disappointing as is your displacement of your shortcomings to me. Hope
            you will do better in the future. Best wishes.”

            You aren’t in any position to make statements about personal attacks (considering the manner in which you interact on this article as well as any involving Israel), indicating that you lack the basic knowledge to comment on a topic isn’t a reflection upon me, it’s a reflection upon yourself, who decided to make a response to my correction of the article (WMATA doesn’t design the rolling stock) and then disparage WMATA.

            Even more ironic is that you constantly want to rail against Government, yet are parroting NTSB talking points. Without even so much as understanding the relationship between the NTSB and WMATA.

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    To maintain some perspective between METRO and other players in the transportation world:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d8192035260940c963e621d8ca9284c647a8ee54e283501e75dad1636b7abdb.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a5d45594b8435b8b5ae0b285ffe03630235c1314392b6dc322481abae5606616.png

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Good point.

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      “… was not being used for flights to Hawaii after a warning light that could have indicated a pressurization problem lit up on three different flights, a federal official said Sunday.“

      Oh, so crashing on a mountain is preferable? Jeez, that cuts it. I’ll walk, thanks.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        i saw that and wondered the same thing… geeze…!! no matter… “stuff” happens… no matter whether it’s Boeing or METRO and in between…. neither govt-operated METRO nor private-sector Boeing should cease operations because they have had “failures” IMO.

  4. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Magnets. Lots and lots of magnets.

  5. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Thanks for this report. Metro is experiencing a number of problems, some of them self-inflicted. However, anyone moving around Northern Virginia even to the minor extent that someone like me does can see that the system is important to the region. After all, the existence of a Metro station was a major selling point for Gov. Youngkin’s wooing of the Wizards and Capitals to move to Potomac Yard.

  6. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
    energyNOW_Fan

    Well, to keep it in perspective, as NTSB Chair Homendy mentioned in her comments, public transit is incredibly safe compared to 43,000 deaths and millions of injuries in Motor Vehicles, each year! That is a true crisis, as she states.

    I have a couple of things to say about that though. As a private industry person, I know what excellent safety stewardship looks like. In the past, I do not feel Metro has shown adequate safety culture. We should not let the incredible motor vehicle death rate be the standard by which good mass-transit performance is judged.

    Secondly, note how we humans perceive risk so wrongly. We could not care less about the motor vehicle death rate, because that is something we feel we are in control of…not forced upon us…but don’t tread on my backyard! BillT

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      In other words the “safety culture” of the same folks i.e. US, who fret about METRO’s safety culture – suck?

      😉

      1. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
        energyNOW_Fan

        Safety first…I am not sure where you are going with that

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          talking about the “safety culture” of many folks on the highways.. these days.

          1. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
            energyNOW_Fan

            Yes speed kills… I like the newer cars like my RAV4 has all the auto-stop safety…

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            It’s a wide variety of egregious safety violations…… not just “speed”. Then number of “T” bones at traffic signals is not small. Rear-end hits and changing lanes into other cars… etc…

            The “safety culture” of drivers in the public realm make METRO look way better that just looking at METRO and saying ‘bad culture”.

  7. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
    f/k/a_tmtfairfax

    WMATA has had management problems for decades. It permeates the entire operations. Keep in mind that then Governor Kaine had the Airports Commission and not WMATA build the Silver Line. That alone speaks volumes.

    However, Dick is quite correct. Metrorail has been and remains important to the entire D.C. metropolitan area. I took Metrorail to Downtown D.C. for years even when I had access to free parking at my employers’ offices.

    1. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
      energyNOW_Fan

      I only wish I lived closer to Metro. I actually live on VRE line, but they VRE has very limited schedule.

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        I would reconsider those sentiments. My brother is a surveyor and civil engineer for Metro. He advises me to ride Metro under no circumstances. Take a Uber.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Well, if it meant taking the escalator in Rosslyn every day, I’d Uber. Did it once which is one more time than jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      WMATA operates METRO…they do not build infrastructure. It’s two entirely different expertises.

      It would be not ulike expecting Boeing or Amazon or the US or Va govt to “build” their campuses instead of contracting that job out to companies that do that kind of work.

      The Military actually has a separate command and private contractors that build their “stuff” while the primary command actually operates the military itself.

      If not mistaken, the Airport Authority actually did contract to build Dulles and had experience in contracting to build infrastructure while METRO itself did not
      have that expertise in house.

      And, in terms of transportation infrastructure and equipment “breaking”, it’s not uncommon for rail – like CSX/Amtrak, or airlines, or even VDOT, the airlines, cruise ships, etc… land, sea and air… “stuff” does break.

      The issue with METRO (and other) is that it’s a favorite whipping boy for Conservatives and when they’re not whacking on it, they’ve got other things like wind turbines or solar panels , etc…. all the while, supporting other industries like refineries, offshore oil, etc that also have their “failures”.

      It’s not a useful thing at all IMO. When we screw up, we should focus on fixing it and going forward,not just assigning blame and demonizing the concept itself. Subways are common and vital systems that are much needed around the world, despite the problems they have – no different than highways or airplanes, etc.

      Where I might agree with such criticisms is if on a comparison basis, METRO can be shown to be much worse than other operations….

      ditto with the airlines, VDOT, etc…

      but not the concept itself. Arguing that METRO proves that subways in general are failed concepts is a no go.

      1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
        f/k/a_tmtfairfax

        No, Larry. You are wrong about this one. WMATA was in charge of Metrorail construction until the Silver Line project. Which agency built the Red, Blue, Green, Orange and Yellow Lines? WMATA. See the article from the Architect of the Capital.

        https://architectofthecapital.org/posts/2016/6/22/metro-under-construction

        The Virginia powers that be and the rent-seeking landowners were aware of WMATA’s numerous and substantial problems. They made a conscious decision not to have WMATA build the Silver Line.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          from your link (thanks for it… worth a read!)

          “WMATA subcontracted the work to three consulting firms. De Leuw, Cather & Company worked out the engineering, Bechtel Corporation handled construction, and Harry Weese & Associates got to design the architecture . (Harry Weese was a talented architect who would go on to have an interesting career in Chicago.)”

          Then Wiki which confirms the change:

          ” Unlike all prior segments of the Metrorail system, which were designed and constructed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the Silver line was designed and constructed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and is operated by WMATA. ”

          The Wiki has a detailed history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Line_(Washington_Metro)#:~:text=Unlike%20all%20prior%20segments%20of,and%20is%20operated%20by%20WMATA.

          and the design and construction of the Silver Line was anything but easy and without controversy… even with WMATA out of it!

          1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
            f/k/a_tmtfairfax

            Those are the facts. WMAA took responsibility for the construction of the Silver Line and then turned it over to WMATA. And, indeed, MWAA had problems also, including huge cost overruns that were paid for by Dulles Toll Road users.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Projects of this scale seldom get done without problems, IMO. Just ask how many Navy ships or Air Force planes or Army “stuff” have come in on budget and on time! Private sector also. Some of it is “low balling” so the project can start. For the Silver line, there were all kinds of issues about whether to ” bore” or not, etc… Similar issues with the Hampton Rds tunnels… I just don’t think this sort of thing is unique to METRO.. or WMATA…

            for example: ” Construction of a new Long Bridge is projected to cost nearly $2.3 billion, up nearly $240 million from a year ago, according to new budget projections by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. The funding gap could put the project at risk for delays, although officials say the bridge is still on track for a 2030 opening.”

            conservatives spend a lot of time talking about cost overruns and “failures” IMO. No they are not good and we want to minimize those issues but the reality is that they are not uncommon and they are
            the “warts” in making progress forward.

            Metro has had problems, I admit it. I just am not convinced they are unique in that regard and I’ve seen too many “selective” narratives from conservatives about “failure” for some projects while ignoring problems that also occur in the private sector.

    3. Matt Adams Avatar
      Matt Adams

      WMATA has had issues for year, however Kaine choose MWAA because they were owners of the Dulles Toll road and MWAA board members were pushing for Union Agreements.

      MWAA oversaw construction of the Silver line and was subject to accepting poor management just the same with cost overruns and poor construction.

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Not to worry! Trump will make the trains run on time.

  9. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Sort of a related question. Can a place attain the density required to be a “city” without a subway?

    Which would come first? The subway or the density?

    1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
      f/k/a_tmtfairfax

      It mattered not with the Silver Line. The landowners got their density and the Dulles Toll Road drivers the biggest bill for funding the Silver Line.

      Common sense would put heavy rail in dense locations, realizing that it would be appropriate in many locations to allow further density around the stations.

      And note that the Biden Administration’s FTA has been advising communities that it will fund Bus Rapid Transit instead of heavy rail. The rent seekers in the Triangle were sorely disappointed by this sound policy decision.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        is it chicken-egg?

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