new york subway system It’s pretty terrible.hot air is packed dirt and grimehave rats are running rampant There is a lot of garbage on the tracks and stations. It may not look good, but any kind of dirt, including trash on the tracks, is also a safety hazard. A fire could break out in the New York subway tunnel. To stop this, the MTA has a really nasty trick up its sleeve.
To keep the tracks clear of flammable debris, the MTA uses trains called VakTraks that drive over the rails and suck up debris. CBS New York reports. Every night, VakTrak trains depart along the subway. 665 miles of track network CBS New York reports:
“We basically vacuum up anything that could cause a fire, like railroad dust or combustibles,” Sarmiento said. “Rotation is very important because no matter how much you vacuum, there’s always going to be debris the next day.”
Uncollected trash and debris can cause track fires like the one that broke out on Platforms 4 and 6 at Grand Central’s 42nd Street in mid-October. Later that same day, service on the J Line was also suspended after a train collided with debris near an elevated line in Jamaica, Queens, and more than 100 passengers were evacuated.
“You’ll find pizza boxes, you’ll find Dunkin Donuts, you’ll find basically anything that could start a fire,” Sarmiento said. “This is very important to the system.”
To suck up things like donut wrappers and bagel scoops, VakTrak travels through the subway system at speeds of about 5 to 10 miles per hour.On the way, it High efficiency vacuum It can suck in dust and debris from the tracks below. CBS explains that VakTrak can collect up to six cubic yards of trash using a specially designed suction hood placed along the train.
However, keeping track of all the trash that New Yorkers throw away on the subways is a daunting task, and the MTA can’t do it all. just one train. So, in fact, he deploys three of his VakTrak trains throughout a large network of tracks and stations.
Three trains set out each day to clean different sections of the network, sucking up trash and transporting it to dump sites spread across Brooklyn and the Bronx.
