Metro Prepares for Slippery Rail Season

[Howard Hartman]

Metro Prepares for Slippery Rail Season

With autumn upon us, Metro personnel have an eye to the sky as the arrival of millions and millions of fallen leaves on Metrorail tracks are anything but pretty.

Leaves on the tracks can be a major cause of service delays and a troublesome occurrence at transit systems throughout the U.S. during what is known as “slippery rail season.”

Slippery rail season occurs in the autumn when falling leaves, crushed against the rail by passing trains, deposit a residue on the tracks. The coating of residue decreases the friction of a train’s wheels, creating slippery rails. When this happens, travel speeds are reduced to maintain safe operations, especially on inclines and declines when trains approach a rail station platform.

Slippery rails also impact Metro’s railcars. The continued slipping, sliding and braking can result in flat spots on train wheels. When that does occur, the car needs to be taken out of service to make repairs.

To fight the slippery rail conditions, Metro personnel have trimmed leaves and vegetation in key locations. Metro has also deployed its vacuum truck to remove excess leaves from the rails.

“Under certain conditions, we will not hesitate to reduce speeds for safety through problem areas,” said Dave Kubicek, Metro’s Assistant General Manager for Metrorail. “While speed restrictions may add a few extra minutes of travel time for our riders, it will reduce the chances of slip-slide conditions, station overruns and wheel damage. By reducing train speeds, we can operate in a more controlled environment, which ensures we are in a better position to get our customers to and from their destinations safely and with as minimal impact as possible.”

Trains, which operate up to 55 mph in some areas of the Metrorail system, may be restricted to 25 mph in select segments of the rail system.

Slower speeds means riders should prepare to build extra time into their morning commutes.

Last fall, Metro implemented widespread speed restrictions for the above-ground portion of the rail system, the first time in recent memory that such widespread restrictions were put in place. In previous years, it was common for trains to have speed restrictions in short stretches between three and four Metrorail stations.

If speed restrictions due to slippery rails go into effect, the following areas will be affected: Orange Line from New Carrollton to Stadium-Armory (New Carrollton, Landover, Cheverly, Deanwood, Minnesota Avenue and Stadium-Armory) and from Vienna/Fairfax-GMU to East Falls Church (Vienna/Fairfax-GMU, Dunn Loring-Merrifield, West Falls Church-VT/UVA and East Falls Church); Red Line from Union Station to Silver Spring (Union Station, New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U, Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood, Brookland, Fort Totten, Takoma and Silver Spring) and from Shady Grove to Grosvenor-Strathmore (Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook, White Flint, Grosvenor-Strathmore); the Green Line from Branch Ave to Congress Heights (Branch Ave, Suitland, Naylor Road, Southern Ave, and Congress Heights).