ATLANTA — The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has shut down its 3-mile-long downtown streetcar line after inspections found wheel degradation that could pose a safety risk, WSB-TV reports.
Reporter Newspapers, citing a paywalled Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, says repairs are expected to cost $7.4 million and are expected to be completed by the end of March. The problems resulted from wheel imbalance developing through years of use, and caused concrete around the rails in the steets to deteriorate. The cars will be returned to a Siemens facility in Colorado for repairs, according to WAGA-TV.
The cars were removed from service on Nov. 29 and have been replaced by paratransit vans, with ridership falling from about 3,500 passengers per week to about 600. The vans will continue to provide alternative service, but will be wrapped with the streetcars’ color scheme and logos to make the service more recognizable. That service will be free.
I smell something very wrong. Here is another agency with wheel problems. Is wheel builder(s) scrimping on something to require this problem happening after being in operation during waranty? Wheel imbalance? Is it uneven wear? or is it some kind of metal flow that causes the centroid of the wheel to change?
EDT. After viewing the TV report uneven wear of the 2 wheeels on one axel makes more sense. It may be the cars always go the same way ( ex always makes left turns ) which causes the uneven wear. Now why cars going back to Siemens? Puzzling. Or is that a wrong reporting? Could it be unexpected vibration is causing some kind of structural fatigue?