Jan 15, 2009 5:05 pm US/Central
Cold Is Hard On Cars, Buses And Trains, Too
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Trains also can have a hard time operating in extreme cold temperatures.
CBS
While the cold is tough on uncovered human skin, it's also pretty hard on the internal combustion engine. Cars, buses and trains are not immune to the pain of extreme cold. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports.
It was pretty to look at, but being outside in Chicago on Thursday felt downright ugly -- especially for car batteries and engines.
Luis Soria, the principal of Mitchell Elementary, was so concerned about dead batteries that he collected the keys from all of his teachers so he could warm up all of their cars.
"We thought, well, we don't want them to get stuck, and I didn't want to get stuck, either, with a teacher that had to have their car towed," he said.
The teachers were impressed.
Others decided not to take chances and left the driving to others. On Thursday, the waiting was the hardest part.
All of the CTA's busses are heated and are equipped with engine pre-heaters, which are designed for more reliable cold weather starts.
Trains also strain to work properly in extreme cold.
"We had assorted delays on all of our lines, all of them related to weather switching problems," Metra spokesman Michael Gillis.
To minimize switching problems, Metra literally burns up the track. While it's a bit unnerving to see a train riding over flaming rails, Metra officials say it's safe and absolutely necessary when doing business in the cold.
"If they freeze up at this point, at this point especially, it will back up several Metra lines and just create a big headache," Gillis said.
The switching station at Western near Grand controls as many as 300 trains in a day, so it's crucial that the switches not be allowed to freeze up.
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