NY MTA blasts snow from tracks

As swirling snow shrouded eastern Queens, a yellow-and-black diesel train rumbled on the A subway line towards the Rockaways, lights flashing, sirens sounding, the New York Daily News reports. It was the peak of the near-blizzard. Snowdrifts threatened to force suspension of subway service to the peninsula. And NYC Transit had called in the artillery.

"It’s like your
household snow blower but a million times bigger," agency engineer Edward
Macina said late Wednesday as the five-car diesel train chugged past the silent
expanse of Kennedy Airport.

The train is a key
component in the agency’s comprehensive snow-battle plan. A six-foot
cylindrical brush attached to the front sweeps snow into an even wider metal
tube. Snow is then blasted away — far away — from the rails from the mouth of
a chute about eight feet in the air.

The machine can launch the
snow 200 feet, removing 3,000 tons of snow an hour. Macina, project manager in
the car equipment department, joked ‘Snow Eater’ might be an appropriate
nickname.

The approximately five-mile
segment of the A line between Howard Beach and the Rockaways may be the
toughest to maintain service during a major winter storm. It crosses through
wide-open stretches of marsh and over the Jamaica Bay on a narrow band of
elevated tracks. Other drift-prone areas that require special attention are on
the Dyre Ave. line in the Bronx, and the Sea Beach, Brighton and Culver lines
in Brooklyn.

Drifts can trip a subway
train’s emergency brakes or damage an engine. Ice on the third-rail can cut off
power and jam switches. To keep the subways moving Wednesday, NYC Transit at
times had about 60 work trains scraping rails and dispensing de-icer.

Hundreds of track workers
were also deployed around the system to dig out frozen or faulty equipment
along lines and in yards. It may be called the subway, but there’s still nearly
220 miles of outdoor track.

"It’s grueling work,
particularly in the Rockaways, where you are completely exposed to the elements,"
said John Samuelsen, a track worker recently elected president of Transport
Workers Union Local 100.

"There’s very few
places to find any cover. Think about shoveling your driveway. These guys are
doing it for eight to 12 hours straight."

Subway ridership was
lighter than usual Feb. 10, but NYC Transit ran its regular schedule.

"Steel on steel keeps
the snow from building up and the trains running," John McGuinness,
assistant chief transportation officer, said.

The night before the snowstorm
began, NYC Transit parked thousands of its subway cars in tunnels to protect
them from the elements. Extra police patrolled the underground to watch for
vandals seeing an opportunity. The trains normally are parked in yards ringed
with barbed wire and floodlights.

Turning underground express
tracks into subway train garages also meant car cleaners on the overnight shift
were shuttled to a lay-up area. Motorman and conductors assigned to the morning
rush hour had to report early so they could do their pre-shift inspections in
the lay-ups.

"The subway is like
the mailman used to be – through rain, sleet, snow – the trains must run to
safely deliver people, including the mailman, to their destinations," NYC
Transit deputy superintendent Tim Birnstill said.