With the dreaded Slippery Rail season just about upon us, Metro-North is announcing a major campaign designed to fight those nasty leaves that wreak such tremendous havoc for the railroad and its riders.
In short, falling leaves leave an oily residue on the tracks. Cars slide on the residue, wheels lock up, skid and flatten, trains are taken off the rails, and riders are jammed tighter than the mosh pit at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel from mid-October on into December.
Tomorrow, Metro-North will conduct a demonstration of “Waterworld”, its “aviation jet engine” that blows leaves away, along with a “rail scrubber,” a series of brushes that wash the tops of the rail.
The demonstration takes place at the North White Plains railyard t0morrow at 10:30.
Spokesperson Marjorie Anders seems genuinely optimistic about this season’s Slippery Rail battle. “There are a number of innovations we’ve made, in terms of computer technology and mechanical improvements,” she told Trainjotting. “No railroad can get rid of all the leaves and rain, but we can make progress. We hope to do better than past years.”