Rogue slug blamed for Japanese railway chaos

[David Benton]

"A power cut that disrupted rail traffic on a Japanese island last month was caused by a slug, officials say.

More than 12,000 people's journeys were affected when nearly 30 trains on Kyushu shuddered to a halt because of the slimy intruder's actions."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48729110

[Benny]

Ha ha ha ha..

Ciao

[ExCon90]

We had a similar occurrence in Philadelphia quite a few years ago when an inquisitive squirrel was immolated in a wayside electrical cabinet--just before the evening rush hour, naturally ...

[David Benton]

Opossums are the big curse of the electricity companies here. they are long enough to span 2 wires of an overhead powerline. The line circuit breakers reset three times, purely because they hope 3 breaks in the current will make the carcass fall off the line. which means if your unlucky enough to crash into a powerline your going to get 3 doses before the circuit is finally tripped.
In the kind of gear I work on , mason bees are probably the most common problem. Ants secrete an acid that tracks electricity. Most destructive is small rats and mice, they'll squeeze into a small cavity, eat and get bigger , then try and eat their way out. They love electrical tps insulation , and have caused many house fires.