运输官员星期五说：“检查发现CTA（芝加哥捷运局）新有轨列车钢制轮子的部件有多处外观不规则”。随后，为安全起见这批车全部停运。
到目前为止，庞巴迪运输公司（Bombardier Transportation）一共交付了52辆车，其中有40辆在品客快线（Pink Line）运行到星期四晚上。捷运局发言人莫利.沙利文（Molly Sullivan）说，这些车将会继续停在轨道上，但在问题解决之前，不会使用新车。
当局官员说，是捷运局验货人员在庞巴迪运输公司位于纽约普拉茨堡工厂里发现这些缺陷的。
新有轨车是耗资100万美元组建一只706辆车的车队订单的一部分。但它的出线标志着捷运局自2010年收到新一代列车第一部样车以来首次重大受挫。
沙利文说，现在还不知道这些在铸造车轮轴承壳体时产生的缺陷会不会造成除外观瑕疵以外的严重问题。
官员说，在测试结束之前，代替这些新的5000系列车运行的将是已有42年高龄的旧车。新车的出列并不会造成服务的中断，除非这些旧车寿终正寝出现故障只能被堆在打捞场。
这些新列车只在品客快线上营运过，原计划在二月份分阶段引入绿色快线。官员说捷运局的计划是首先在最不繁忙的路线上使用新车，以便在万一出现问题的时候把对服务的影响减到最小。
捷运局官员说，最初验货员于上个月在庞巴迪运输公司装配厂发现了铸造部件的质量不符。于是这些铸件被更换。后来没有发现新问题，直到星期二验货人员又在制造厂发现了另外的铸件质量问题。
捷运局在声明中说：“捷运局和庞巴迪运输公司立即展开了更多检查并在其它铸件上也发现了问题。”
声明指出：“正在对部件进行严格测试，但为安全起见捷运局决定，在收集到更多资料以前，先停运5000系列车。”
除了停运投入运行的40辆车，另外12辆已经交付的车也将接受检查，官员说，作为保修合同的一部分，所有的费用都将由庞巴迪运输公司支付。
庞巴迪运输公司发言人玛丽安罗伯茨（Maryanne Roberts）说，公司将会向捷运局提交测试和检查的结果，“而且我们能够决定是否需要增加新的测试。”
捷运局在星期三召开董事会之后，捷运局的总裁福雷斯特.克雷普尔（Forrest Claypool）被问及新车的工艺质量。
“引入的新一代有轨列车的质量是稳定的”他说，“庞巴迪运输公司一直都积极处理遇到的任何缺陷和瑕疵。”
但是捷运局铁路工人协会主席罗伯特.凯利（Robert Kelly）星期五说，新设备有很多漏洞和培训问题需要解决。
合并运输联盟（Amalgamated Transit Union）本地308号主席凯利说：“这一直件令人头痛的事。平均每天都有多辆车停运。”
2006年捷运局花了114万美元从庞巴迪运输公司订了706辆有轨列车。计划在2014年前交付完毕。
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Flaws detected in new CTA rail cars
52 cars — including 40 on Pink Line — will be sidelined until testing is complete
All of the CTA's new rail cars have been pulled from service as a safety precaution after inspections turned up multiple irregularities in the appearance of steel wheel components, transit officials said Friday.
The 52 cars delivered so far by Bombardier Transportation, including 40 that were in service on the Pink Line until Thursday night, will remain in rail yards and no new cars will be accepted until the issue is resolved, said CTA spokeswoman Molly Sullivan.
The flaws were detected by CTA inspectors at the Bombardier plant in Plattsburgh, N.Y., agency officials said.
The sidelining of the new rail cars, which were part of a more than $1 billion order for a 706-car fleet, marks the first major setback since the CTA received prototypes of the next-generation cars in 2010.
Sullivan said it isn't yet known whether the flaws, which were found in the castings used to make wheel bearing housings, would cause anything more serious than superficial blemishes.
Until testing is completed, the new 5000 Series cars will be replaced by rail cars up to 42 years old, officials said. The switch-out of cars will not cause service disruptions unless the old cars, which had been destined for the salvage heap, malfunction.
The new trains were operating solely on the Pink Line and were to be phased in on the Green Line in February. The CTA's strategy is to introduce the cars on the least-busy lines first in order to minimize service disruptions if problems arise, officials said.
Irregularities in the quality of the castings were first observed by CTA inspectors last month at Bombardier's assembly plant, CTA officials said. The castings were replaced and no additional problems were detected until Tuesday when CTA inspectors found a second quality issue with a casting at the manufacturing plant.
"CTA and Bombardier immediately began more inspections and discovered issues with other castings," the CTA said in a statement.
"The parts are undergoing rigorous testing and while the testing is not complete, CTA decided as a precaution to take the 5000 Series cars out of service until more information is gathered," the statement said.
In addition to the 40 cars pulled from service, 12 cars that had been delivered will also undergo inspections, officials said, adding that all costs will be paid by Bombardier as part of the contract warranty.
Bombardier spokeswoman Maryanne Roberts said the company will present findings from its testing and inspections to the CTA "and together we will be able to determine if additional testing is required."
After a CTA board meeting Wednesday, CTA President Forrest Claypool was asked about the workmanship of the new Bombardier cars.
"It is consistent with the introduction of a new generation of rail cars," he said. "Bombardier has been very responsive in correcting any defects and flaws that we've encountered."
But Robert Kelly, president of the CTA rail workers union, said Friday that there have been many bugs and training issues to work out with the new equipment.
"They are a constant headache. On average many are out of service on a daily basis," said Kelly, president of Local 308 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
The CTA ordered the 706 rail cars from Bombardier in 2006 at a cost of $1.14 billion. Delivery is scheduled through 2014.
