How much would you pay for a 1981 truck?
Some of you inquired several months ago about an incident where a train “decoupled.” There were a couple of similar incidents caused by deteriorating parts on our 1981 vintage 2600 series railcars, specifically the wearplates and drawbars on the couplers that link railcars together. The average age of CTA’s railcar fleet is 23 years, and – like this 1981 truck – it’s no surprise when old parts give out.
The difference is thatC TA ’s railcar maintenance staff works to re-engineer parts that were never expected to be in service for 25 years. We spend tens of millions of dollars each year overhauling older railcars, but we can't replace every single part before problems develop. Here is a photo of a correct coupling (see the yellow lines aligned), and a photo of a faulty coupling when the wearplate shims rust and bend the wearplate beyond repair.
When this problem was identified, our Skokie shops personnel moved as quickly as possible to replace these rusted shims with new wearplates using stainless steel shims to prevent this problem from recurring.
Capital funding for railcars and buses is critical to operational efficiency – when a bus or railcar breaks down, service suffers, and so do our customers. That’s why it’s so important that our region identify the matching funds necessary to secure increased federal capital funds.
The difference is that
When this problem was identified, our Skokie shops personnel moved as quickly as possible to replace these rusted shims with new wearplates using stainless steel shims to prevent this problem from recurring.
Capital funding for railcars and buses is critical to operational efficiency – when a bus or railcar breaks down, service suffers, and so do our customers. That’s why it’s so important that our region identify the matching funds necessary to secure increased federal capital funds.posted by Carole Brown | 5/09/2006 04:47:00 PM
