WMATA and Kawasaki Rail Car reach resolution over 7000-series railcar contract disputes

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc. (KRC) have reached resolutions on multiple contract disputes regarding, among other things, the 2021 Blue Line derailment of a 7000-series railcar, resulting in the entire 7000-series fleet being pulled from service. Led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a multiparty investigation that also included WMATA and KRC found that wheel migration in the 7000-series railcars contributed to the derailment. 

The NTSB investigation did not find either party responsible for the cause of wheel migration, and WMATA and KRC both deny responsibility or contractual liability for the wheel migration and other technical issues that are now resolved as part of a global contract resolution. WMATA notes that the agreement reflects a mutual wish to resolve these issues without litigation while maintaining a strong and successful partnership for the 7000-series program going forward.

“[KRC’s] technical expertise and ongoing support have been invaluable,” said WMATA General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with them to ensure our customers receive safe, frequent and reliable service. We are happy to put this chapter behind us which will free up valuable resources for [WMATA] to use for other capital and service projects.”

As part of the settlement, the pair agreed to reduce WMATA’s remaining contractual payment obligations by up to $35 million. The new agreement will offset the agency’s costs to implement changes to the 7000-series railcars, mitigate wheel migration and other unrelated efforts and allow the agency to reallocate funding to other projects. 

In recognition of KRC’s contribution to the design, manufacturing and delivery of the 7000-series railcars, WMATA also agreed to pay out KRC for successfully achieving reliability and maintainability testing benchmarks and to reduce the amount of KRC’s required performance bond. 

“We believe our commitment demonstrates our confidence in KRC as a partner to deliver vehicle reliability throughout the lifecycle of our 7000-series fleet,” Clarke said.

“The state-of-the-art 7000-series railcar has been in service with [WMATA] for over a decade, demonstrating a high-level of reliability and safe operation that are essential for [WMATA] to serve the riding public,” said KRC President and COO Yusuke Hirose. “KRC looks forward to continuing to provide [WMATA] with the engineering expertise and technical support it needs to maximize the operational life of each 7000-series railcar.”

This year marks 15 years since WMATA awarded KRC the contract to design, produce and deliver the 7000-series railcars. KRC has delivered all the 748 ordered railcars. WMATA developed a plan to press wheels on the 7000-series fleet in-house at a higher standard on recommendations of engineers involved in the NTSB review. 

WMATA and KRC disputed, among other issues, whether the original standard had been a design specification or was developed in response to a performance specification. Remediation efforts have been underway at WMATA since 2023 and are expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026.