Mar 9, 2012
Three months ago, Washington MetroRail’s Blue and Orange lines shut down when parts fell off the braking gear of one of the railcars, damaging another car. Hundreds of riders had to evacuate and train service was delayed for hours.
Metro initially blamed the malfunction on “premature wear,” but another railcar’s brakes fell apart in a similar manner just a month later.
Now it turns out that Metro knew about the potential hazard with the brakes six years ago, but didn’t have the money to fix the 190 railcars that used that type of brake gear. So, it more-or-less just forgot about it. These sorts of problems start to crop up when rail lines are about 30 years old and transit agencies haven’t budgeted for periodic rehabilitation–which they never seem to do.
Where will the next serious rail accident take place? Chicago‘s CTA and all ofBoston‘s rail lines suffer from seriously deferred maintenance. The original San Diego Trolley turned 30 last year. Parts of Atlanta‘s rail system are nearly 33 years old, and Miami‘s is 28-years old. It’s only a matter of time–and probably not much time–before one of these has a major accident.
-more at link-
No comments:
Post a Comment