Washington, D.C., commuters will continue to face reduced rail service as the New Year approaches after the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was ordered to remove certain cars from the tracks.

The WMATA was issued an order on Dec. 29 from the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission to remove all the cars from the 7000-series fleet from service.


The order came after the commission found that the WMATA had not properly followed a plan that had been implemented in order to ensure that the metro cars met safety standards.

The commission initially "notified WMATA it had no technical objections to WMATA's" return to service plan, the order from the commission said. Soon after the commission "observed and notified WMATA that WMATA returned to service certain 7000 Series railcars that do not meet the inspection criteria specified in the [return to service] plan."

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The commission's order comes after a Blue Line train derailed on Oct. 12. As a result of the derailment, hundreds of passengers were forced to evacuate, and one person was transported to a nearby hospital due to anxiety-related issues out of an abundance of caution.

Shortly after the derailment, the WMATA released a statement that it would pull all of the metro cars from the 7000-series fleet for repairs, which consisted of 60% of the entire metro system's fleet.


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Residents of D.C. were informed on Nov. 22 by the WMATA that they would continue to experience reduced commuter service until Dec. 31. The WMATA said the continued reduced service was a result of "global supply challenges" affecting the ability to receive certain parts, and at the time, it did not specify a time frame in which it would return the 7000-series fleet back on the tracks.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the WMATA for a statement but did not receive a response.