New Jersey Transit is revving up its AquaTrack power washing machines to remove fallen
foliage.
The leaves create slippery
rail conditions as oil leaks from trains, which equates to delays. It's a problem on all Northeast
railroads.
"If we have too much slippery rail, the train engineer has to
reduce the speed, in order to climb hills and make station stops, or to
accelerate,” says Pat
Leake, chief road foreman of engines at NJ Transit.
Leake calls the AquaTrack
"a power washer on steroids."
NJ Transit
has been using the machines since Oct. 2003.