Hurricane Sandy

[Backshophoss]

What ever works to get water out of the tunnels safely,long suction lines as needed.
The BIG problem will be salt residue removal from all the electronics and relays for all systems.

[farecard]

What ever works to get water out of the tunnels safely,long suction lines as needed.

Long horz is less of a problem than height differential.

The BIG problem will be salt residue removal from all the electronics and relays for all systems.

Agreed; if the control rooms were flooded with brackish water, it will be a mess to repair.

I still wonder what rolling stock they have.

[mikey cruz]

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/R-65_Pump_Cars

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/R-71_Reach_Cars

[farecard]

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/R-65_Pump_Cars

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/R-71_Reach_Cars

What do we know re: pump cars? Pump sizes, GPM, etc.

What is a reach car?

[Backshophoss]

Most of the signal system is in cabinets bolted on posts or on the wall in the tunnels,there are very few active towers
across the system, so whatever gets dunked in water will need work.
Switch motors and their relay contacts could be the hardest hit.

A reach car is part of the pump trains,most likey used to carry hoses and suction lines and allow
pump cars to get power safely.

[Kamen Rider]

the reach cars are used to conncet the Pump cars to the diesel that's pushing them. They take the water away from the pump unit.

Farecard, what I think you need to understand why some of us are hesititnat about your idea is that these trains are shoved into the flood waters and thats how they pump it out. they don't exactly lay out hoses there. everything is behind the train and is slowly inched forward as the water is drained. the rail would need to be live just outside the flooded area which is too risky

There is a photo, which I can't find anywhere, of one of these draining the south ferry branch of the IRT after 9/11. the water is just below the floor level of the carbody of the R65.

[Backshophoss]

Kamen Rider, is "Subchat" overloaded with web traffic at the moment? have tried to look at their forums and getting
"Can not display webpage" message.

[Kamen Rider]

Kamen Rider, is "Subchat" overloaded with web traffic at the moment? have tried to look at their forums and getting
"Can not display webpage" message.

this happened with Irene, subchat's server was offline for three days after that one hit. I can only imagine how long it's going to take this time.

[farecard]

Farecard, what I think you need to understand why some of us are hesititnat about your idea is that these trains are shoved into the flood waters and thats how they pump it out. they don't exactly lay out hoses there. everything is behind the train and is slowly inched forward as the water is drained. the rail would need to be live just outside the flooded area which is too risky

Ah, I'd park the pumper on high ground err track. I envision a small tracked cart that would hold the strainer. It could have a high-volume/low pressure pump powered from the pumper through a GFI. With the pump, the interconnecting hose need not be rigid suction line, just canvas/rubberized firehose type.

You may freak over electricity & water, but there exist safe ways of doing this. The movie industry shoots underwater scenes with massive lamps and motor-driven props and cameras....with no one shocked.

I'm not keen on running Diesels in tunnels; besides the tunnel damage, it also is hard on the people trying to breath that air.

[Backshophoss]

The system can handle an amount of water intrusion to a point,When the storm surge hit at 9ft at Battery Park, it rose to 11ft on the east river,
that blew out the Con Ed substation. Any fixed plant pumping stations that were running died then.

There's news that the Army Corps of Engineers is en route to NYC to help Pump out the NYCTA system.

[Kamen Rider]

they have massive lamps and props alright; but from my experince, none of them run at a full 600 volts DC. More to the point, this is salt water which renders the feeder cables useless. So unless you have an extenstion cord the reasches 34th street...

[Backshophoss]

What passes as water in the East River is some of the most NASTY water known to exist.
Would rather toss in a suction line,not wade in that "stuff".

[mikey cruz]

Farecard, Diesels are routinely used in the system now, not all work loco's are dual power. Just watch a NYCT work train video on YouTube and you'll hear the spool of the turbo on some of them, and considering there won't be alot of people in the tunnel till it's mostly clear I don't think the exhaust will be an issue.

[farecard]

The name I was thinking of is Hydroflex; see their web page.

What would be protected is the waterproof 3-ph pump on the trolly I propose. That's what would be wet, perhaps submerged.

Salt water is no issue for waterproof cable. It runs to submerged pumps in wells & has for decades.

[Kamen Rider]

but these cables were not ment to be submerged...