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Leaf Season Has Arrived - Leaves can delay commuter trains

Anyone who has ever raked a yard knows that autumn leaves exact a cost for their beauty. That’s also true at PATCO and other railroads, where fallen leaves can delay commuter trains. Fallen leaves crushed under a train’s wheels leave an oily residue on the surface of the track. When a train starts or stops rolling over tracks covered with leaf oil, its wheels can slide. Friction caused by the slide can flatten parts of wheel surfaces and cause train wheels to roll unevenly, resulting in a thumping sound. When that happens, PATCO takes affected trains out of service and repairs or replaces misshapen wheels. The repair process sometimes creates a temporary shortage of available trains, which could cause delays or cancellations. In order to prevent leaf oil accumulation – and protect the safety and comfort of PATCO passengers – we use a high-pressure washer to scour the rails during evening and off-peak hours. Unfortunately, our leaf-clearing work is likely to result in brief train delays from mid-October through early November. During this time, trains will approach and depart from stations at reduced speeds. Special schedules have been developed to reflect longer running times and are posted on this website. For the convenience of our customers, postings of these special schedules have also been customized by station and are posted in station bulletin boards and on station platforms. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience.

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