USA: Life-size mockups of two metro cars, head and intermediate ones, are exhibited on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., until April 3.
Visitors can tour inside the two connected cars featuring an inter-car gangway, an interior with bench-style seating along the walls, and a dedicated space for people who use wheelchairs. The mockup has been built at a new Hitachi Rail’s production site in Hagerstown, USA. Since summer, 20 8000-series metro cars per month are scheduled to be produced by the plant.
Mockup of the 8000 Hitachi Rail metro car for the Washington Metro. Source: Hitachi Rail
According to the contract signed in 2021, Hitachi Rail is to supply 256 metro cars with an option of up to 800 units. The first cars are expected to be delivered to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in 2025 and put in operation in 2026.
Mockup of the 8000 Hitachi Rail metro car for the Washington Metro. Source: Hitachi Rail
In this contract, WMATA decided to return to aluminium bodies as the Kawasaki Rail 7000-series cars used in the previous fleet renewal were made of stainless steel. As it is estimated by WMATA, the operation of the base order of 256 8000-series cars will allow energy savings of $7.8 mln over the life of the fleet (without escalation). The DCist media quoted WMATA’s General Manager Randy Clarke in 2023 that a new sitting layout will increase the passenger capacity of a two-car train to 222 people, in comparison with 191 passengers for metro cars of the previous series.
