BikingToronto: Learning from Toronto: Bicyclists Get Derailed by Streetcar Tracks<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blogger.com/static/v1/common/js/1499043574-csitaillib.js"></script> <script>if (typeof(window.attachCsiOnload) != 'undefined' && window.attachCsiOnload != null) { window.attachCsiOnload('ext

Learning from Toronto: Bicyclists Get Derailed by Streetcar Tracks

posted by Joe on Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Originally posted in the Forum:

Nice article in Streetsblog:SF about how cyclists deal with streetcar tracks... Toronto is mentioned as we have some railway tracks with firm rubber flanges (that contract under the weight of a train, but not under a bicycle) and Yvonne Bambrick of the Bike Union is quoted too:
In Toronto, where bicyclists also have to contend with a maze of tracks, several at-grade railroad crossings are equipped with a rubber flange filler that is jammed down into the cracks of trolley tracks. The rubber is firm enough that it doesn't compress when a bike passes over it, but when a streetcar comes it squishes down and doesn't cause the train to derail.