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Trains depend on icicle brigade


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 28 February 2015 - 06:25 PM

WABC-TV, NY, 2/25:
 

EXCLUSIVE: Icicles in tunnels debilitating to commuter trains

 

NEW YORK (WABC) -- An icicle in a tunnel under the river stopped commuter railroads in their tracks.

 

It happened on the commute home last week.

 

Because of icicles that were half the size of a ruler.

 

SNIP

 

And it's not going to change until there's either a new Hudson River Tunnel or the temperature goes above freezing, whichever comes first.

 

 

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#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 02 March 2015 - 09:51 PM

The New York Times via The Columbus (OH) Dispatch, 3/2:
 

Trains depend on icicle brigade

 

The rail tunnels that connect New York City and New Jersey are 105 years old, and the technique that Amtrak employees have been using to keep trains running through them this frigid winter is hardly more modern.

 

In essence, it involves a whole lot of whacking.

 

Three or four times a day, after the electricity that powers the trains has been cut off, a crew armed with telescoping yellow poles topped with hammerlike appendages rolls through the tunnels hunting for icicles. Left unchecked, the ice can weigh on the overhead wires and cause them to snap or fail. When the workers spot an icicle dangling from the arched ceiling, they signal for the rail-car operator to stop and they reach up and take aim.

 

A few quick whacks and the Ice Patrol rolls on,   .   .   .

 

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