Wednesday, July 29, 2015
But wait... near the end, why was "and on time" added after "safe" in the narrative? This is a video about delays!
GO TRANSIT - HOT DAYS AHEAD WITH A CHANCE OF TRAIN DELAYS! from GO Transit on Vimeo.
We’re in the middle of summer, and that means temperatures can soar well above 30. On hot summer days, we seek shelter from the sun to avoid the effects of extreme heat. Unfortunately, train tracks are fully exposed to the sun and can be affected by hot temperatures. In this video, find out how and why your GO train can be delayed on a hot summer day.
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11 comments:
Becuase it wont be delayed for more than 15 minutes? thier on time window?
Just a thought.
Sun kinks - love it. In England they used to blame delays on 'leaves on the track' and, memorably one winter, 'the wrong kind of snow'
Cj must have forgot about the 15 minute thing... that's what they were aspiring to these days. "Welp, we pulled in 14 minutes late but WE'RE ON TIME!"
High five me bro.
@Anon,
About 5 years ago we had major delays on the LSE. Major. Talking 30+ mins.
The reasoning: Leaves on the tracks.
Ever since, they have trimmed back or taken down any tree in the 50' radius it seems.
As for the delay: it is more "on time-ish". Yesterday was pretty good. Didn't notice any really huge slow downs or delays. But then again, I drove. I find when I do not have to worry about connections, there are no delays.
Maybe I'm ignorant but . . . .
According to the "internet" steel melts at around 1370 degrees C (2500°F). It is able to bend a slightly lower temperatures.
I checked today's forecast and we're not at 1370°C quite yet. We're close though, only about 1,335°C to go.
I appreciate that the ties (the wooden planks) and other items might be more prone to damage by heat which could influence the track . . . but I have a difficult time understanding why a GO Train traveling at 80km/h is any safer than one going at 100km/h.
I wonder if the delay may be a result of track congestion at Union where there are not enough platforms/fast switches/rails to accomodate the planned trains - regardless of heat or other bouts of mismanagement and poor planning which results in nearly identical delays when the outdoor temperature is closer to 10°C.
Look up rail buckling. It's legit. The rails don't melt. They expand.
Leaves on the tracks combined with moisture and under pressure from the weight of a train turn liquid. This produces a very slippery substance that can cause wheel slip on the drive wheels and cause the braking wheels to suddenly stop turning. The brake and drive wheels start turning again when it gets traction.
This can ruin wheels and if that happens they have to be replaced. Usually the damage can't be fixed by turning them on a lathe.
Imagine riding along when a wheel has a flat spot. Not pleasant and it will damage tracks too.
It's an amazing event with a totally innocuous cause but very real
We travel at a slower speed so that in the event a kink forms and the train can't traverse it and we derail, we hope the slower speed results in the coaches staying upright and everyone survives the derailment.
I appreciate you all have places to be but I want to come home to my family in one piece and I want all of you to be safe.
And might I add, if we did not take these precautions and we put speed ahead of safety, people could die.
So what would the melting point of steel have to do with rail kinks caused by expansion?
Anonymous at July 29, 2015 at 3:27 PM said
"Maybe I'm ignorant"
You should of just stopped there, since that's the only thing you've said that is correct. Next time educate yourself before posting such ignorant comments. The melting point of steel has absolutely nothing to do with buckled rail. Unconstrained large sections of steel will expand as the temperature increases. On hot summer days it will experience compressive stress and if that force grows too strong the tracks can indeed buckle. There is nothing that can be done to avoid this. It's one of the draw backs of railway transportation, in the same sense as how potholes are a drawback of a road network.
It's actually a little interesting. rails are laid in place with room left between for expansion during normal climate. The temperature at the time of the work determines the precise length to place the rail in at.
Sometimes during sunrise and shortly after sunset you can hear the rails expanding and contracting within their normal sizes.
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