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Metra suffers car shortage
Notice the nice warm weather pix of the Milwaukee’s old tower at Union’s throat.
How in the world does cold weather cause the deterioration of brakes? Last time I checked, when you apply brake shoes, they get hot. In hot weather, they get even hotter and wear down even faster. In cold weather, the wear is slower. Steel is the same way. The hotter it is, the softer it is. Anybody who has worked in a tool and die shop knows this. There is a reason why toolmakers put coolant on steel cutting tools such as drills and mills. Steel wears much faster when hot. Ever watch a drill weld itself to a block of steel due to heat? Not a pretty sight. The real problem here is probably frozen pipes, which nobody is talking about. Every one of those coaches is required to have an indoor outhouse.
Of course, this could lead to new jokes in places where they get real cold weather, like rural Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. Let’s see, -10F: Metra trains freeze solid. California disintegrates. Minnesota girl scouts not wearing coats sell cookies door to door. Old winter beaters still start.
If METRA still had bar cars, the passengers would arrive early and there would be no scrambling for seats. Those ‘scooting commuters’, drinks in hand, racing thru Union Station are not fun to watch.
Standard operating practices used during sub-zero weather conditions require increased use of train brakes, thereby increasing the rate of wear and the need to replace brake shoes much more frequently. Taking coaches out of service in order to properly maintain them was Metra’s only responsible option.
Metra’s real problem is that they are painfully short of spare rolling stock. They have just barely enough locomotives and cars to provide adequate capacity under normal conditions, and nowhere near enough for the extreme weather conditions that they just experienced this month.
Standard operating practices used during sub-zero weather conditions require increased use of train brakes, thereby increasing the rate of wear and the need to replace brake shoes much more frequently. Taking coaches out of service in order to properly maintain them was Metra’s only responsible option.
Metra’s real problem is that they are painfully short of spare rolling stock. They have just barely enough locomotives and cars to provide adequate capacity under normal conditions, and nowhere near enough for the extreme weather conditions that they just experienced this month.
Question is, who determines the number of cars in service, i.e. size of fleet to provide service on Metra’s lines in Chicago.
Question is, who determines the number of cars in service, i.e. size of fleet to provide service on Metra’s lines in Chicago.
Question is, who determines the number of cars in service, i.e. size of fleet to provide service on Metra’s lines in Chicago.
Interesting , Jeffry is a trucker and yet he does not know about cold weather and brakes on large equipment. First off the brakes are air brakes and any condensation in the lines causes them to freeze up and lockup. Many truckers will pour some antifreeze , that’s made for brakes ,into the brake lines to prevent this but on a train you have lines going back through hoses to all the cars and leaks do happen so you increase the brake wear. Next the extreme cold plus snow causes brake lines to “break” because whats flexable at 60 degrees becomes brittle and inflexable at 10 below. Next the extreme cold can get to toilet systems. It also causes the doors to fail which means the car has to come out of service.
As for the question of how many cars per train is determined by load factors. You see how many tickets are sold per run and if it is above 80% load factor you will try adding a car and see if the tickets sold increases.