WASHINGTON—Washington’s regional Metro system abruptly pulled more than half its fleet of trains from service early Monday morning over a lingering problem with the wheels and axles that caused a dramatic derailing last week. The ruling promises to complicate daily travel and commutes for thousands of riders for an unspecified length of time while the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the issue.
The Metro authority’s safety commission ordered the withdrawal of the entire 7000-series line of trains overnight. The Kawasaki-made 7000—series are the newest set of trains in service and the 748 cars comprise about 60 percent of the fleet.
