Rail adhesion car

A Rail Adhesion Car or Rail Adhesion Train is a modified vehicle used on rail adhesion system where the normal equipment does not have the rail sanding ability of locomotives. In particular, it may involve tanks and dispensing equipment installed in an electric subway or rail car that is run over the rails alone or in a train to dispense sand when needed. Because of limits of space under the cars the tanks of sand or gel/san mix are installed inside the passenger space.

In the New York City Subway, for example, Rail Adhesion Cars may be created from older equipment. Three such cars exist in the subway system:


 * 8429 - a former R30 subway car based at Coney Island Yard in southern Brooklyn, New York. This car is normally used on the BMT Brighton Line and the BMT Sea Beach Line, where tracks run in open-cut sections and where leaves, snow, and ice deposit onto the tracks.


 * 8558 - also a former R30 subway car based at Pitkin Yard in East New York, Brooklyn. This car is normally used on the IND Rockaway Line, which runs on what was Long Island Railroad trackage to The Rockaways in Queens.


 * 8885 - a former R33 subway car based at Unionport Yard in Bronx, New York. This car is normally used on the IRT Dyre Avenue Line, which runs on part of the right of way of the former New York, Westchester and Boston Railway.