by danielfoster on 5/19/24, 9:21 PM
It’s crazy that one of the largest commuter rail systems in a state with some of the highest taxes cannot just spend $8 million to replace the windows. I’m sure an audit of contracts or overtime payments could quickly find some extra money.
by anarchogeek on 5/19/24, 10:19 PM
I took a commuter train in NJ earlier this year and i was shocked at the windows. Seriously, every other train system in the world can pull off clean windows but not New Jersey? India? Clean windows. China? Clean windows... You can't blame pollution... you can't blame regulation because they've got tons of that in Norway and Japan and they're able to keep their windows clean.
by imglorp on 5/19/24, 10:08 PM
> not being able to see which station the train is at, especially if no announcement is made
Wait, they're admitting they know this is a problem? It's such a pain having inaudible announcements or none at all. Is it really so hard to get on the PA for each stop? Then why not have it automated? Or an overhead sign in the car showing eta and name of next station? Ideally both.
by thinkingemote on 5/18/24, 12:39 PM
They chose polycarbonate plastic over glass but it suffers from the elements more than glass.
by Kon-Peki on 5/20/24, 3:53 AM
I found an article that quoted people at the Chicago commuter rail system (Metra) saying that their rail cars should get a major rehab (which includes new windows) every 14 years.
Looking at Wikipedia, the NJ Transit rail cars with the affected windows would have started hitting 14 years old (they were getting 10 delivered per month for a few years) right as the Covid-19 pandemic started shutting everything down.
This is most likely just bad timing, and because of budget issues, supply chain problems, lack of maintenance capacity, etc. - something that they haven’t fully recovered from.
(Just a guess)
by twic on 5/19/24, 11:47 PM
So what is this proposed Rutgers solution? That seems like the key point of HN interest!
by Animats on 5/19/24, 10:55 PM
> Metro-North Railroad and NJ Transit use a single pane of polycarbonate glazing almost a half inch thick.
That's exactly what you'd expect from half an inch of uncoated polycarbonate. Resists rocks and small arms fire, can be pressure washed to remove graffiti, but will scuff.
There are a few ways around that, but they all add cost.
by gravescale on 5/19/24, 10:05 PM
Would buffing with a fine polishing compound be unacceptable in terms of strength? Presumably this is a surface effect?
by yumraj on 5/20/24, 12:56 AM
Since this is polycarbonate can’t it be just buffed, like the car headlight cleaning products do, using a very fine sandpaper?
It’ll just take a thin layer off and can then be polished.
It should cost less than replacing, I think..
by relyks on 5/19/24, 9:09 PM
As a frequent user of the trains from NJ transit, I can attest to the fact that you can literally not see out of most of the windows
by kylehotchkiss on 5/19/24, 9:11 PM
What about polycarbonate fronted by a thin sheet of glass with some sort of UV blocking? Or are these windows actually getting hit with stuff so often that wouldn’t be viable?
by theoldlove on 5/20/24, 1:44 AM
You can see just fine out of Metro North windows, which are apparently the same half-inch of polycarbonate glazing. So what’s the difference? Does Metro North replace the windows more frequently?
by hedora on 5/20/24, 12:18 AM
by chiph on 5/20/24, 12:18 AM
UV exposure can certainly cause this, but what about their train washing systems? They commonly have large rotating plastic brushes and if grit gets caught up in the brush it's going to sand anything with a lower Mohs hardness.
Los Angeles Metro wash system - note that they use glass and don't have this problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1JxVOzAz6E
by AlgoRitmo on 5/20/24, 1:11 AM
We are all looking at our phones anyway