As we suspected, the dreaded Slippery Rail phenomenon has indeed been snuffed out by quick thinking Metro-North brass. Here we are in December, and except for an occasional skid past a station platform (why is it always Valhalla?), we’ve experienced no car shortages, no massive delays, nothing of the usual late-fall misery brought on by fallen leaves.
What gives?
“We reconfigured the software on the M7 so the cars don’t overreact to skidding,” says Dan Brucker of Metro-North. “That stops the wheels from locking up.”
Metro-North has also invested heavily in its “Waterworld” project, which involves affixing Kevin Coster to the front of trains to blast offensive debris from the rails.
Brucker says there’s no been a substantial number of cars taken out of commission to fix flat wheels. “Not that I’m aware of,” he says. “We’re actually doing alright.”
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