WMATA Money Train

Trains Magazine Transit
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That weird-looking Metro car is probably full of money

by Aimee Custis • November 3, 2015

Ride Metro long enough and you’ll see plenty of non-passenger carrying vehicles on the rails, from The Pickle, to maintenance vehicles, to… The Money Train! Reader Sarah writes in with a question about what, exactly, that is.


A WMATA money train. Photo by Elvert Barnes on Flickr.

Sarah writes,

“I was waiting for a Silver, Orange, or Blue train at Federal Center SW around noon yesterday, and a no passenger train went through. The first car was very bizarre looking and I’m almost certain was #8003. What is this mystery car?”

Our Metro-expert-in-chief, Matt Johnson, had the answer.

Cars 8000, 8001, 8002, and 8003 (formerly 1010, 1011, 1044, and 1045) are the “money train” cars.

WMATA collects coins and bills from the ticket vending machines (TVMs) around the system using railcars modified for that purpose. Throughout the day, Metro employees escorted by MTPD officers use special carts to empty fare revenue from the TVMs and store the carts in rooms in the station until time to put them aboard the Money Train. The Money Train makes two sweeps through the system each weekday.

There are two pairs of Money Train cars. It is not clear to me whether they use both each day or whethe

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I used to encounter this train frequently. Seems it’s schedule to National AP station pretty much coincided with my arrival on the platform from the flight in. Sort of scared me the first time, dark cars, guns etc. soon came to expect it and was disappointed if I missed it.

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The NYCTA has them, too. They are classified as Revenue Collection Cars.

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/R-95_Revenue_Collector_Cars

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Wasn’t there a movie called “Money Train” a while back? Might be useful for some ideas.

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Now what would be interesting is for a complete listing of all systems that run money trains. There are probably some systems that pick bus routes as well.