Friday morning coronavirus-related rail news:
— NJ Transit employees will have the opportunity to be tested for COVID-19 beginning next week, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has announced. NJ.com reports that unions and a transit advocacy group had asked for testing for front-line transit workers who have the highest risk of exposure to the virus. Murphy said testing would be available at multiple sites by appointment, with online registration for appointments beginning Sunday. Five NJ Transit employees have died of the coronavirus so far.
— The Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Ill., facing uncertainty about possible operation this season, has elected to take its Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 401, built by Baldwin in 1907, out of service a year early to begin the process of obtaining a new 1,472-day service inspection. On its Facebook page, the museum explains that the locomotive was due for its inspection in May 2021, but by beginning the process this year — when the museum may not have an operating season — the goal is to have the locomotive back in service for the 2021 season. A link to donate for the locomotive work is available on the Facebook page; more information on the 2020 season is available at the museum website.
— Transit advocates are expressing concern that the overnight closure of New York’s subways, set to begin May 6, will become permanent to address the Metropolitan Transportation Authority financial woes. The New York Post reports the individuals and groups are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the MTA to set specific targets that would trigger the return of 24-hour service as the COVID-19 pandemic eases. Cuomo announced Thursday the MTA would begin shutting down between 1 a.m. and 5 p.m. nightly to allow disinfecting of all equipment [see “New York subways to end 24-hour service to allow for daily disinfecting,” Trains News Wire, April 30, 2020].
And I’m sure they’re not closing the subways 1am till 5 _PM_. 🙂
The information fed to us is that the infection spreads person to person. Cleaning a facility after the people have left doesn’t stop the person to person contact which occurred hours earlier. Anyway, we don’t live in a sterile world. One can no more turn New York subways into a sterile bubble than New York City could be turned into a sterile bubble.
And how much damage can you do with steam cleaning with a pressure washer?
Just spray each car with a blast of 210 degree steam and fire hose them out, of course after the homeless make a right choice to depart. Then give the interiors of the car a blast of hot dry air to dry them out. 135 degree will kill the virus.