Cringing at the screech
The squeaky handle needs the grease on the TTC’S Rocket trains.
It takes some looking to find much wrong with the new Rockets, which first arrived in 2011 and will be the main trains in the subway system by the end of next year, at a cost to taxpayers of $1 billion.
Riders standing in the middle can steady themselves by hanging on to one of the many grab bars attached to an overhead rail, a big improvement over the vertical poles in the old subway cars.
But some of the spring-loaded handles screech when pulled down by a passenger, a sound dreaded by experienced Rocket riders, Rob Hong said in an email.
The grab bars “are notoriously squeaky,” said Hong. “When someone — typically a greenhorn to riding the subway — reaches up to grip one, the regulars collectively cringe.
“It’s upsetting that something so new should have such an obvious flaw. Can these be replaced with simpler rubber handles that can’t possibly squeak? They ruin what is otherwise a decent ride, relative to the older trains.”
We went for a ride on one of the Rockets to test the grab bars for offensive noises and found some that were indeed loud and squeaky, while others made only a small squeak, or none at all.
Arider took an interest in our survey and asked what we were doing. We explained that we were check- ing for squeaks.
“Oh yeah, some of them are just awful,” she said. “When I grab for one, I always wonder if it’s going to be squeaky.” STATUS: Danny Nicholson, who deals with media for the TTC, said he’d heard of other complaints about the handles when we told him about it. He called back to say that the TTC is working with Bombardier, the manufacturer, to find a solution. We think a small shot of aerosol white grease might do the trick.
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