By Melissa Martinez

News Editor

Unfortunately for many commuter students on campus, the North County Transit District (NCTD) Sprinter light-rail system is out of service due to maintenance issues and safety concerns with the current braking system.

Effective Monday, March 11, the Sprinter will continue to be out-of-service for an unknown amount of time. NCTD officials have stated that there is no set date for when it is expected to resume running.

For students, this means the reliable train won’t be stopping at its convenient locations for some time.

“It came at a bad time, having been before school finished for the semester for CSUSM students. It is what it is, though. They can’t sacrifice safety and at least they are providing an alternative with bus transportation in the meantime,” second-year-student Brett Goudy said.

Since the Sprinter is a main source for transportation for many students and residents ranging from Oceanside to Escondido, the NCTD has provided alternate bus routes to accommodate the lack of service throughout North County. Two supplemental bus routes are the 618 Sprinter Express to travel from the Oceanside Transit Center to the Vista Transit Center operating from 4:35 a.m. until 12:18 a.m. (Monday-Friday), and the 620 Sprinter Express traveling from the Oceanside Transit Center to the Escondido Transit Center every 30 minutes beginning at 4:10 a.m. until 9:40 p.m. (Monday- Friday).

To offer further accommodation to passengers, NCTD staff, also known as the “Blue Crew” will be stationed to aid passengers with information to alternative routes to make the transition from train to bus easier.

Tom Tulley, the Chief of Safety at NCTD, noted a Recovery Task Force has been assigned to aid information and questions as long as the Sprinter remains out-of-service.

According to the “Back-on-the-Track Blog” written by Tulley, the main issue causing the Sprinter service to be temporarily suspended occurred during testing of the brakes on March 7. Management was alerted when maintenance discovered a potential issue with the brake pads, causing them to create a squeal when they were used. After replacing the brake pads, maintenance discovered the rotors (a metal plate that applies pressure to the brakes) were wearing out quicker than projected.

On his blog, Tulley offers a two-step plan to bring the Sprinter to recovery; safely and efficiently including a testing of the trains and a plan of action, consisting of testing the brakes, temporarily interrupting operation, and working with specialists of brake systems in testing stopping distance, efficiency and predicting projected usage of equipment.

Tulley stated in his two-step plan to bring the Sprinter to recovery, “As soon as any irregularity or issue with a vital system like the brakes is discovered, the safety standards of all of our regulatory agencies and NCTD’s own safety standards are boldly clear–the trains must be taken out of service.”

For more information and updates regarding the interruption of the Sprinter service and alternative routes, please visit gonctd.com/sprinter.