WASHINGTON - Full Red Line service has been restored Monday morning, a week after a devestating crash that killed nine people. Metro warns, however, that riders should still expect delays.

Both tracks opened for the Monday morning rush hour, although red line trains are operating at 35 mph.

Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates says trains will be running even slower between the Fort Totten and Takoma stations, where the train crash occurred.

Officials recommend that riders add at least 30 minutes to their travel Monday morning.

Delays system-wide were also compounded later in the morning when Metro announced that it would service each station from the end of the platform.

But system delays are only the start of Metro's problems this week. The transit organization is also scrambling to answer rider concerns about the safety of many of its trains. Of particular concern are the 1,000-series trains that may have been partly to blame for the high number of casualties in Monday's crash.

It was one of those 1,000-series cars, among Metro's oldest, that was almost completely crushed in last week's crash when it smashed into the rear of another train. The National Transportation Safety Board says the cars are not "crashworthy."

Since last week's accident, Metro General Manager John Catoe has seemingly come to agree with the NTSB. He said last week he wanted to move those older cars to the middle of the train so they can avoid the full force of impact in the event of another accident.

That would mean newer, more structurally sound cars would lead and tail trains so they could absorb most of the impact in the event of an accident. But that reconfiguration has not happened yet

Metro board chairman Jim Graham, in response to the news that 1,000-series cars still lead many trains, said, "Any kind of hazard that's presented to our traveling public is not acceptable to us and all of that is being figured out right now."

Graham promises that this week a "significant number" of 1,000 series trains will be removed from service altogether.

Commuter Rosa Cooper argued, "I think they need to rebuild them or get rid of them."

But that is easier said than done: Metro needs about 850 cars each day, and it has about 1,100 cars total. About 300 of them are 1000 series cars.

Sources say Metro staffers are working on a detailed plan today for reconfiguring all the trains, but that means Metro commuters will have to be patient.

For now, observers at Metro stations will still see 1,000-series rail cars leading trains all over the system. Metro rider Valerie Ogonor was surprised to hear that the old cars are still leading trains. "That is shocking to me," she said.

Riders have definitely started taking notice of the older cars and thinking about the safest places to ride on the train. Rosa Cooper observed, "Everybody goes to the middle of the train now."

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