01-19-2022, 11:49 PM
(01-19-2022, 06:27 PM)Bytor Wrote: In this case it wasn't just 25cm of snow, it was slushy-packed-hard-and-refroze-crunched-up-by-traffic snow that was plowed onto the tracks in addition on and of the fallen fluff. That's some heavy crap to push through.
Without that, based on operations of other systems in snowy countries, one tram, maybe two, operating through night would have been sufficient to keep the tracks cleared as it was all light fluff and the deposition rate wasn't so quick that in two hours it would have been more than a tram could handle. Call in a couple of afternoon-shifters for 1am and they do three loops 1am, 3am 5am. At that point regular service starts and you're good. The afternoon people get 6 hours or more before they need ot get up and come back in.
Although refreezing is a pattern that they should be familiar with, it wasn't what happened in this case: the snow was light and fluffy during the interval in question and longer; I brushed it off my car fairly easily and I didn't see it being frozen when I walked through Waterloo and Kitchener. There were piles of snow next to the tracks though. I also admit that I didn't see what the actual obstacles were here.