WASHINGTON - Metro General Manager John Catoe has rejected an idea floated by the chairman of Metro's board of directors to mothball the transit agency's oldest train cars because of concerns about their safety during collision, ABC 7 News has learned. Instead, Metro will move forward with plans to sandwich the oldest cars in the middle of trains.

Metro Board Chairman Jim Graham said Friday the board would consider getting rid of the 1000-series train cars, but warned it could lead to a shortage of cars on the Red Line, Metro's busiest, where most of the cars are used.

"We're looking at it right now," Graham told ABC 7 News on Friday.

The National Transportation Safety Board has criticized Metro for failing to revamp or replace its 1000-series rail cars after it warned of "a fundamental flaw in the crashworthiness structural design of the 1000-series carbody" in 2006.

Last Monday's striking train was made up of those cars dating to the 1970s and suffered the most damage in the crash, losing "two-thirds" of its "survivable space", according to the NTSB.

Catoe has compared the 1970s-era 1000-series cars to 1970s automobiles, saying that of course modern train cars are safer than older train cars, just as modern passenger vehicles are safer than vehicles built in the 1970s. But Catoe has rejected the idea the 1000-series cars are unsafe, calling it only a passenger "perception".

Metro told the NTSB in 2006 that it couldn't afford to replace the old cars because of an elaborate financing arrangement in which it sold the rail cars to banks and then leased them back at a discount. Metro is making lease payments until 2014.

Metro instead hopes to place the 1000-series cars in the belly of trains, making it less likely they will bear the brunt of a crash.

While Catoe announced the plan reconfiguration last week, ABC 7's Brad Bell found Red Line trains still running with the older cars in the first and last positions on Monday. But the plan is in motion, according to Metro spokesman Taubenkibel.

"It may take a week or two," he said.

Taubenkibel says Metro simply can't afford to give up one-fourth of its fleet of cars and keep a record number of commuters on track.

"What that would mean is that during rush hour we would no longer have eight-car trains," Taubenkibel added. "And it would mean longer waits for people either getting on a train or exiting a train."

Metro decision-makers think the vast majority of riders are more interested in a smooth commute than worried about the remote possibility of another crash, sources tell ABC 7 News.

Some Red Line riders thought differently, however.

"If it was my safety -- and it is -- yes, take 'em off," said Helen Winslow.

Metro says it will be quite a feat to switch the cars around, which is why it will take a week or more.

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