MetroRail's "stray current" problem

About a month ago, a Chronicle story told us about a potential MetroRail problem:

In a separate problem, Metro engineers say a small amount of "stray current" from the overhead wire that powers the trains is leaking into the ground at each switch location instead of flowing back through a rail a power station.

Metro says there is no danger, but a spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy, which called the problem to Metro's attention, said the current could eventually corrode the company's underground gas and electric conduits.

Current was also detected at "anchors" on each end of the MetroRail bridges over Buffalo Bayou and Brays Bayou. These are crossbars that keep the tracks from moving as the bridges expand and contract with temperature changes.

Then a couple of weeks later we read this paragraph in a story about Metro funding:

Wilson also proposed spending $13 million to fix several flaws, including poor drainage that allowed stormwater to ruin 12 electrically operated track switches, and insulation gaps that allowed "stray current" from the rail power line to enter the ground, endangering buried utilities and other metal objects.

That prompted Tom Bazan to send an open records request to Metro seeking "all photographs, reports, memoranda, and field notes concerning Stray Current relative to the METRORail operation from January 1, 2001 to May 31, 2005."

Well, Metro's general counsel, Paula Alexander, sent Bazan a letter stating that Metro has requested an opinion from Texas AG Greg Abbott regarding Bazan's request. Interesting, huh?

Alexander also sent Bazan a copy of the letter she sent to the attorney general, and what stands out is that Metro appears to be compiling a report on the stray current problem and doesn't want to release it, saying in the letter to Abbott:

[...]there is ongoing internal debate in which alternative actions are under discussion, including discussions with legal counsel, for preparation of final recommendations that will impact contractor compliance and transit expansion. Freedom of discussion will be inhibited by public release of this document during the early stage of METRO's decision making. Furthermore, the report is a "draft" and consists of the drafter's opinions regarding the METRORail "Track-to-Earth Resistance" testing and recommendations to the policymakers at METRO.

The stray current problem could actually become quite an issue for Metro. Perhaps we'll see a local media outlet dig further into this story.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/09/05 03:15 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (4)

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