Chicago Subway Fire

[WhoozOn1st]

Red Line service restored after fire; cause still unknown

"How much information passengers received seemed to depend on which train they were traveling in. Some said operators attempted to calm passengers by telling them that a small fire had sparked on the track and that the train would begin moving again quickly. Others said they received almost no information, adding to the chaos of the situation."

 

[lthanlon]

Here's a brief video of smoke pouring from the subway air vents at Rush and Cedar.

 

[fredevad]

Yikes! I used to ride the red line daily when I was in college going to the loop and back for work.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

CTA subway fire blamed on track grease

"CTA officials on Monday blamed antiquated train technology and a perennial funding shortfall for a weekend subway fire. But rail experts said relatively inexpensive fixes would greatly enhance safety and pay for themselves by slashing rail-car repair costs."

"The lubricant at the center of the fire investigation is squirted up from hoses under the rails onto the flange of the wheels to reduce noise and wear and tear around curves and improve the quality of the ride. The grease-pumping devices, which are at the entrances of about 100 curves across the rail system, spray lubricant when a train passes over to prevent metal-on-metal grinding, officials said."

 

[lthanlon]

I ride the CTA rail almost every day and tend to agree with a friend of mine who insists that the "L" is comparable to the Stargate: alien technology that we don't fully understand that was left behind by a wiser race of ancient ancestors.

 

[George Harris]

"The lubricant at the center of the fire investigation is squirted up from hoses under the rails onto the flange of the wheels to reduce noise and wear and tear around curves and improve the quality of the ride. The grease-pumping devices, which are at the entrances of about 100 curves across the rail system, spray lubricant when a train passes over to prevent metal-on-metal grinding, officials said."

Let's just say that this statement shows a non-existent understanding of how these lubrication systems work.

There are two types: One is car mounted and the other is track mounted. The car mounted system applies a small amount of lubricant to the wheel flange. The track mounted system applys lubricant to the rail flange. These devices are usually mounted just ahead of the start of the curve. The track mounted system pumps a very small blob of a very thick lubricant up to where it is picked up by the wheel flange to reduce rail wear, wheel wear, and noise in the curve. If poorly adjusted, any of these systems can pump too much. The car mounted system if pumping too much generall makes a mess of the underside of the car near the wheels. The track mounted system if pumping too much leadsto a build up on the track near the lubricator and possibly grease on the truck parts and undrside of the car near the wheels where it is slung off by the wheels.

To say "squirting" makes it sound like the quantity of lubricant pumped out is much greater than it is.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

"The lubricant at the center of the fire investigation is squirted up from hoses under the rails onto the flange of the wheels to reduce noise and wear and tear around curves and improve the quality of the ride. The grease-pumping devices, which are at the entrances of about 100 curves across the rail system, spray lubricant when a train passes over to prevent metal-on-metal grinding, officials said."

Let's just say that this statement shows a non-existent understanding of how these lubrication systems work.

I'm willing to give the reporter the benefit of the doubt on this one. Jon Hilkevitch may well understand the intricacies of track lubrication systems, but his job is to explain the conditions and situation that may have caused the fire to a wide audience that's undoubtedly completely unfamilair with such arcana. He doesn't get paid to write technical papers addressed to railroad industry experts, and it's unfair to fault the guy for trying to inform the uninformed in an understandable way.

Factual errors are one thing, this is quite another. Far as I can tell the story is not egregiously erroneous, just a simplified explanation that I think most can understand in its basics. Which is the whole idea.