Metrolinx Locomotive Traction System- I never knew!!

These pictures show parts of the very cool "Sand and OCS System" that AIM Industrial Multi-Trade Contractors has successfully completed at the new Metrolinx East Rail Maintenance Facility in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. General contractor is a Bird Kiewit Joint Venture.

The scope included AIM installing the Dynamic Air system consisting of 2 sand storage silo’s, 4 sand receiving hoppers and 13 sand fill stations each with electrical control panels, piping and steel hangers. The physics behind it is to provide traction via sand on steel for the train's steel wheels.

Sand transporting lines are all abrasion resistant pneumatic conveyance piping. Railroad sand is received and stored in the silos, then conveyed through pressurized conveyance piping to 4 specific hopper units. It is then conveyed to 13 sand fill station locations at the fill points. When the train arrives, the sand is fed "onto the locomotives" through fuel-like hoses. As the train moves, in wet and slippery conditions and on steep grades, sand is then dropped from the train to the steel rails at a position in front of the driving wheels in order to improve traction.