17 gllons a minute = 1020 gal hr Each tank car is labeled 10,000 + gal = 20 + hours without getting more water and probably refueling as well ?
Hey, them New Jersey leaves is tough!
They hafta be! Sing it Floyd!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm8ZOQkzyFc
17 gallons a minute sounds like a rather high water use rate.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
New Jersey Transit has begun using two AquaTrack machines to clean and remove leaves from the rails throughout the fall season.
The AquaTrack equipment is a high-pressure power washing system that removes the oily residue left by fallen leaves. Cleaning the tracks helps prevent train delays caused by slippery rail conditions, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.
The AquaTrack system, which the agency has used since October 2003, consists of two 250-horsepower diesel-engine units mounted on a flat car with an operator control cab. Two pressure-pump units dispense water up to 20,000 pounds-per-square-inch directly to the top of the rail. The process uses 17 gallons of water per minute.
The original AquaTrack operated primarily on the M&E and Montclair-Boonton lines, which face challenges including the hilly areas around Glen Ridge and Summit stations, washing the rails twice a day Monday through Friday—once overnight and again during midday hours. On weekends, the Pascack Valley and Main/Bergen County lines are usually covered.
In 2016, NJ Transit unveiled its second AquaTrack unit, which allows the cleaning process to maintain a larger coverage area.
Fallen leaves left on rail track can cause “slippery rail,” a challenge facing all railroads in the Northeast, where deciduous trees are prevalent. The decaying leaves create an oily residue that coats the rails and causes poor traction. The decreased train speeds, in turn, create delays.
To view Aquatrack in action, click here.
BEAUSABRE Read "Romance of the Rails" - transit systems ALWAYS over-estimate ridership in the planning and funding stages (and he's got the data to prove it). The the government says "What do you want us to do? Tear it up? After all the money we spent?" If an operation can't cover operating costs, it's a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy. Shut it down, tear it up and seriously look at alternatives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost
Read "Romance of the Rails" - transit systems ALWAYS over-estimate ridership in the planning and funding stages (and he's got the data to prove it). The the government says "What do you want us to do? Tear it up? After all the money we spent?" If an operation can't cover operating costs, it's a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy. Shut it down, tear it up and seriously look at alternatives
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost
Salt Lake City proves that wrong. From the Wiki article on TRAX:
Both the University Line and its extension to the University Medical Center were completed ahead of schedule. A daily ridership of 15,000 was expected for the initial 15-mile (24 km) line in 1999. By the beginning of 2008, the expanded system of 17.5 miles (28.2 km) served an estimated 40,000 passengers each day.[15] Ridership for the fourth quarter of 2012 was reported to be at 60,600, making it the ninth-busiest light rail system in the country.[A 15]
Further, if transit was loosing money, why would you tear it up before you built an alternative, to confirm that alternative is better?
Overmod Wait... they sidelined the Comet III cars when? And didn't empty the retention tanks all this time?
Wait... they sidelined the Comet III cars when? And didn't empty the retention tanks all this time?
Now I'm really looking forward to Tom's next NJ Transit rant!
Think of it as an organic heating system (septic tanks don't freeze in the winter either).
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Yes. I saw that earlier today on nj.com. (Keepin' up with the home folks, don't ya know?)
I was surprised they've still got stuff on hand that was messed up from Superstorm Sandy. Man, that's almost ten years ago!
I suppose next month's "Railpace" magazine will have another NJ Transit rant by Tom Nemeth. Which are kinda fun, actually.
His post-Superstorm Sandy rant was classic!
Maybe in a day or two there'll be a rant by Paul Mulshine in nj.com concerning the same, those are fun too!
Previous NJT purchases of some equipment have proved to be inadquate and so that equipment has been parked. How in the world was the forecast amount of passengers under predicted ?. It always seems that ridership predictions with this exception are over optomistic. Now the FTA is calling in for refunds of grants to buy the obsolete equipment. Based on straight line depreciation NJT will owe the FTA for unsed calendar year)s) requirements.
NJ Transit junked its equipment sooner than it planned. Now it has to settle up with the feds. - nj.com
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.