Rain and rail don't relate

11:53 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 15, 2004

By Jeremy Desel / 11 News

Click to watch video

HOUSTON -- Here in Houston people know that when it rains, it really rains. Sunday evening it came down hard enough to flood several downtown intersections and stop the train in its tracks.

Will Thomas was on board.

"We were at the end of the line, U of H Downtown." He recalls. "We waited about 20 minutes. Then a guy came and said, 'We can't run the train.'"

That's because for several blocks near Main and Elgin, there was a foot of water over the rails and cars stuck on the tracks trying to avoid water.

Water has been an issue for rail. During the campaign for the rail expansion, opponents of the system suggested flooding would be a problem.

At that time, rail opponent David Hutzelman warned, "The rail does not operate in more than three inches of water. So, anytime we have a flood here the whole system has to come to a halt."

Then Metro Chairman Albert Schecter dismissed the argument. "This three inches of water business, I don't know where that comes from. This light rail will run in a heck of a lot more than three inches of water."

But the entire system was down for about 35 minutes when the water from Sunday's brief deluge hit four inches.

"The train can operate through nearly any kind of water. But the maintenance repurcussions of operating through water once it gets above four inches are significant and costly," said Jeffrey Arndt, Metro's Senior Vice-President of Operations.

Metro officials also point out that buses are also stopped during heavy rains if rising water hits three inches above their rims. That's about six inches above ground. They also say that the area of most concern to critics, The Medical Center had no problems at all.