Back in early December, Metro began testing a trio of new railcar designs that offered different seating and handlebar configurations. Some of Metro's newer car designs, especially the ones that removed vertical bars to create more passenger standing room, have proved very popular with riders. At least one change, however, has already been dumped by Metro: bench seating, as seen in the photo at right, will not be incorporated into future rail cars, WTOP reports.......

WMATA sent around these nifty design images earlier today of what future Metro rail cars might look like. Dave Kubicek, Metro's Assistant General Manager for Metrorail, is leading the development of designs of the 7000 Series rail cars. The new cars would feature the following: Stainless steel exteriors instead of an aluminum car body. Thinner, stronger stainless steel seats that offer more leg room. Each car would have 64 cloth-padded, taller seats with seat-back......