Fires Are Being Started To Keep Trains Working In The Cold

It is so cold in Chicago right now, railroad tracks are being set on fire to ensure the trains keep moving.

It’s currently -16 degrees Fahrenheit in Chicago, which is equivalent to -26 degrees celsius, The Weather Channel reports.

The temperature means snow and ice can clog switch points on railway tracks, which then brings trains to a halt.

Having to come up with a solution, Metra, which operates the commuter railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area, have used fire to fight the issue.

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Metra have a gas-fed system installed which heats up switch points so they don’t get blocked.

While it appears the tracks themselves are on fire in a Back To The Future kind of way, the flames are actually adjacent to the rails.

Metra stated at ‘A-2’, Chicago’s busiest interlocking, blocked switch points can seriously disrupt people’s commutes, so they installed the gas-fed system.

Explaining how it works, Metra said:

Some riders may have seen the open flames licking the rails at the A-2 interlocking. Despite popular belief, the tracks themselves are not on fire.

Instead, the flames come from a gas-fed system that runs adjacent to the rail, generating heat on the critical areas where the switches are supposed to make contact.

Without that contact, the switches default to ‘fail-safe’ mode, which means any trains that need to pass through the interlocking will have to wait until the switches make contact with the rail and complete an electric circuit. Until then, train movement is halted.

The heaters help keep the switches clear (although sometimes the snow and ice falls too fast or falls from the underside of a passing train and the switches need to be cleared manually with brooms, shovels or picks).