WASHINGTON — The region has been waiting a long time for a new model of Metro
car to take to the rails, but the wait may be a little longer.

The first eight new 7000-series cars, out of the 748 Metro hopes to eventually
buy, are set to begin running in January, but they may be delayed once again
after a committee says Metro has been rushing safety evaluations, the
Washington Post reports.

Klara Baryshev, chair of the Tri-
State Oversight Committee, which monitors Metro, says that the agency has
been rushing through the safety-verification process.

“They take one item, they verify it in car number one, for example,” Baryshev
told the Post. “They take another item, verify it in car number two. The
problem is, they do not verify every item in every car. It’s random
verification.”

TOC doesn’t have the formal power to stop the cars, but Metro General Manager
Richard Sarles says that their concerns make him “less certain” that the cars
will roll out on schedule.

He hasn’t received a letter from the committee yet, he tells the Post.

“We’re really looking forward to hearing the details from them, and when we
do, we’ll address them,” he said to the Post.

He adds that, “We’ve been testing this set of cars for eight or nine months
now, and we’ve been very thorough in what we’re doing.”

The Metro committee that heard from Baryshev says they asked for a detailed
letter on the TOC’s concerns within a week.

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