Distribution of new Metro cars delayed

A plan by Metro board members to begin distributing 190 new cars to the most overcrowded subway lines was delayed yesterday when the board did not receive a key report.

“It’s not that we’re out to punish anybody,” Gladys W. Mack, the board’s vice chairwoman, said yesterday at the weekly board meeting. “We just need to share the pain as equitably as possible, as soon as possible.”

Metro has received all but two of the 192 cars purchased from contractor Team AAI/CAF. Metro board members expected to receive a report on how to distribute the cars from Metro officials, who were preparing the presentation for July.

The agency needs an additional 120 cars and nearly $28 million to pay for them. However, crews have already started upgrading the system to accommodate the cars, which will be assembled in eight-car trains.

Officials said they need the money by October or the project will be delayed until at least 2008.

Metro authorities, meanwhile, said they are investigating an incident Wednesday night in which a woman was slightly injured after getting her sleeve caught in the door of a moving train at the Dupont Circle station.

When a train left the crowded station at about 10:50 p.m. a conductor noticed the light indicating an open door, said Lemuel M. Proctor, the agency’s chief operating officer. The conductor said the light went out and the train began moving. At that time, the conductor also saw a woman by the last car move with the train, then lose her balance and fall.

Mr. Proctor said the sensor light is triggered if a train door is open three-eighths of an inch or wider, and that a train will not move if a door is open.

Witnesses said the door closed on the unidentified woman’s sleeve. She had minor bruises and was taken for observation, Mr. Proctor said.

The conductor, who said he did not know the woman was trapped in the door, has been taken off duty while the incident is investigated, Mr. Proctor said.

Metro officials also said yesterday they are distributing free bus maps as part of a program to make the system more rider-friendly. The route maps are available at all Metrorail stations and Metro regional sales offices. The agency made about $50,00 a year by charging $1.50 for each color map. However, the agency is using outside advertising revenue to pay for the maps so they can be distributed for free, a Metro spokesman said.