Metro News Release

For immediate release: August 29, 2005

Metro Begins Daytime Eight-Car Train Testing on the Red Line

Starting today, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) is operating one eight-car train on the Red Line between Shady Grove and Glenmont as part of its testing of new precision stopping software needed to regularly run eight-car trains in the future.

The eight-car train operated in manual mode with passengers between 5 and 9 a.m. Upon conclusion of the morning rush hour, the eight-car train began to operate in automatic mode without passengers stopping at each Red Line station. As part of its testing, the train must operate in automatic mode to allow Metro personnel to collect precision-stopping data under automatic train conditions.

"The purpose of this testing in the daytime is to test new on board software to improve precision stopping from the current tolerance level of plus or minus 6 feet, to plus or minus 3 feet for eight-car train operations, for 99 percent of all train stops," said Jim Hughes, Metro’s Acting Assistant General Manager for Operations. "The improved stopping tolerance is necessary to properly ensure a 600-foot long eight-car train stops just where we want it to along the platform."

The Automatic Train Control (ATC) system software on board Metrorail cars identifies marker coils located at specific distances along the tracks to brake the trains, allowing them to decelerate smoothly to a stop at the desired position along the station platform. The marker coils, located in the trackbed, help trains determine their position to the station platform.

Eight-car trains are 600 feet long  exactly the same length as station platforms. Testing an eight-car train under real time conditions is essential as Metro prepares to initiate regular eight-car train service by the end of next year.

News release issued on August 29, 2005.