WASHINGTON METRO'S RAPID TRANSIT CARS

Every new transit property faces a multitude of difficult decisions in establishing the design criteria for its transit cars. These decisions deal with the cars' construction, dimensions, the various sub-systems, their interface with each other and with the train control equipment to provide optimum performance economically without sacrificing the equipment reliability and maintainability. This paper gives a description of the Washington Metro's present rapid transit cars and will give a brief evaluation of these cars' demonstrated performance.