If "stray current" isn't a problem, why did Metro balk at FOIA requests?
Today, Rad Sallee covers Metro's "stray current" problem with the light rail:
Electrical current escaping into the ground from the Metropolitan Transit Authority's light rail tracks remains a puzzle to Metro engineers. But officials of the agency say they have plugged some of the leaks and hope to find the source of the rest soon.
President and CEO Frank Wilson revealed the problem in May after CenterPoint Energy alerted Metro. The company was concerned the leakage could corrode the company's underground gas and electric conduits, Wilson said.
Electricity from power stations along the route is supposed to flow through the overhead traction wire to the train motor, then into one of the rails and back to the power station.
If rails, bridges or switches are not well insulated, power will leak into the ground and can damage metal objects such as pipes and structural steel near the rails, although such damage is generally quite slow.
In the story, a Texas Medical Center spokesman and TxDOT all pooh-pooh any problems due to stray current. And a Metro official says don't worry, be happy! Not really of course, but almost.
Isn't it comforting that Metro, having done such a fine job with 7.5 miles of light rail, gets to build more? "Quality" construction that led to stray current problems, flooding in 3 inches of rain, no mechanism to insure riders pay the fare, etc., etc. -- it really inspires confidence in Metro's capabilities.
Which leaves me to wonder why, if there is absolutely nothing to worry about, Metro stonewalled Tom Bazan for so long on open records requests for stray current documents. If everything is peachy keen and hunky dory, why not just hand over the documents, without seeking rulings from the Texas attorney general?
I'm not buying it.
RELATED: Stray current archive
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/05/05 07:26 AM | Print |
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