“Marking his first anniversary since taking the helm of Metro, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer (GM/CEO) Paul J. Wiedefeld today laid out next steps for the Authority that move beyond track work to get trains running safely and reliably.  “While we remain focused on track safety and reliability, we must tackle the fact that six of every ten train delays are due to issues with our railcars,” said Wiedefeld. “Getting back to good means running trains safely and on time.” The “Back2Good” plan [Note – ‘good’ not ‘great’ – and this report is hosted on WMATA’s beta website, not on the current site, which is confusing and highlights the organization needs to work on infrastructure and communications too!] announced today includes a train reliability program that cuts rail car delays by first retiring the oldest (1000-series) and least reliable (4000-series) cars in the fleet by the end of 2017. The success of ramping up new railcar deliveries this year also means Metro plans to convert all 8-car trains to new 7000 series railcars next year. In addition, a “Railcar Get Well Program” for the legacy fleet began on November 1 as a massive component repair and replacement campaign. The 2000-, 3000-, 5000-, and 6000-series cars will undergo replacement and repair of HVAC, doors, propulsion systems and brakes that plague train reliability today. For the first time, that program is being overseen by independent quality assurance teams at Metro. Sixty percent of all train delays on Metro are caused by rail car mechanical performance and the new plan targets a 25 percent reduction in those delays by the end of next year. Wiedefeld said that safety would continue to be his top priority and plans to use technology to prevent red signal overruns and strengthen protection for track workers and inspectors. New software installed onboard trains will prevent train operators from passing a red signal by requiring the operator to perform certain actions before they can move their train. In addition, stations that have the highest frequency of red signal overruns are having their signals upgraded to brighter LED bulbs to improve their visibility to operators and prevent overruns, a project that will be completed in early 2017…”

• See also this video about the new improvement program – Before Metro can be great, it must first be good. Back2Good is our plan to deliver safe and reliable service for our riders.