(Article changed on November 14, 2012 at 14:50)
(Article changed on November 14, 2012 at 14:47)
(Article changed on November 14, 2012 at 11:13)
New York City Subways: Do you believe in Magic?
By Ritt Goldstein
It took just short days before New York's subways overcame the assorted horrors
of 'Frankenstorm', Superstorm Sandy's turning subway tunnels into horizontal
saltwater silos proving nothing that could stop NY. But just after Sandy struck, Bloomberg News headlined "New York Subway System Faces Weeks to Recover From
Storm ", the story observing that many of the Subway's key
electrical systems "can be ruined by salt", leading to a "short circuit". In the same article section, titled
"Saltwater Damage", the piece observed that "such a failure caused the
deadliest crash in the history of Washington's Metro system in 2009".
Photo Credit: Metropolitan Transportation Authority /
Patrick Cashin. MTAPhotos
MTA employees using a pump train are
working around the clock to pump seawater out of the L train's tunnel under the
East River. The tunnel was flooded during the unprecedented 13-foot storm surge
of Hurricane Sandy.
This photo shows activity on the afternoon of Monday, November 5.
After the tunnel is pumped dry of water, work will begin to inspect
tracks, signals, switches, electrical components, and third rail. If any
repairs are needed, employees will make them as quickly as possible to get
service restored. MTA Caption
While I don't doubt the resourcefulness and genuinely
courageous efforts of New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and its
workers, I do wonder just how many 'shortcuts' might have been taken,
especially when The New York Times reported MTA "officials
at times alternating between a compulsion to cling to protocol and to toss it
aside". I'll add that, according to The Times,
the L train tunnel (pictured above) contained water that "stretched 3,400 feet
and was 15 feet deep."
The Times article, " New York Subway Repairs Border "on the Edge of Magic' ", also observed that MTA repair strategy often seemed
to rotate upon one question - "Well, what works?" And, in a time when Mayor Bloomberg
repeatedly cited the economic benefits of the New York Marathon before finally
cancelling it, there do seem questions about prioritizing business issues over
human ones, with little doubt as to the business losses a shutdown subway
meant. With even the Times article noting subway service
returned "quicker than almost anyone could have imagined", maybe it might be
worthwhile to consider why.
Yes, all of New York is rejoicing in its subways' returning -- I certainly
don't doubt the hardship many ordinary people have without them -- and I certainly
don't mean to 'rain on the parade' here, but maybe there was a reason why most
experts thought repairs would take far longer.
Bloomberg's article had sought the
opinion of a gentleman by the name of Mortimer Downey, someone who indeed seems
knowledgeable upon the issues, reporting:
"Thousands
of connections in signal systems will need to be cleaned and tested before
trains can run again", said Mortimer Downey, a former MTA executive director and
current board member of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
"It's an enormous amount of wiring and an enormous amount of connections that go
to what's called relay rooms," Downey said. "They've got to turn the system on,
and if it seems to be working I think they've got to go to every component and
check it and get rid of all the salt. What you don't want is a short circuit
that causes the system to fail."
Photo Credit: Metropolitan
Transportation Authority / Deirdre Parker. MTAPhotos
Damaged vs. Pristine Condition
An example of subway signaling components that were damaged as a result of
flooding during Hurricane Sandy. Photo taken at the 207th Street Yard in Upper Manhattan. MTA Caption
In contrast, The
Times description of what needed to be done stated:
"And even if tunnels were pumped,
obstacles remained. Workers had to inspect tracks, third rails and signals.
There could be no dangerous debris in the tunnels. Some cables needed to be
reattached."
While it's natural that any two articles on the same subject will focus
somewhat differently, if every electric component hadn't been inspected, all
salt removed, it would have saved a lot of time. Of course, if they did inspect every
component, remove all the salt, then I guess it was just bad luck that led The Times to report "unexpected
third-rail and switch problems" at one station, and that a G line "transformer
blew", delaying that line's restarting.
While the imperatives of getting NY's subways working are apparent to all, the
2009 Washington Metro crash is worth recalling, for many reasons. Aside from the nine dead and about eighty
injured (some of the injured trapped for hours), Wikipedia notes that the National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) found that "a faulty track circuit, part of the automatic train control
system", had caused the crash. It was
further noted that the NTSB found that the circuit in question "had been
malfunctioning since 2007, 18 months prior to the collision".
Photo Credit: NTSB, via
Wikipedia
June 2009 Washington Metro Crash
I personally don't believe in magic, and while I may
be biased, I do hope New York's officials, and its millions of subway riders, might
be just a little hesitant to believe in it as well.
Copyright November 2012
All Rights Reserved
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