Train Delay Blamed on 'Leaves on the Line' Despite It Being July

Passengers on the 8:15 AM commuter service from Hartford to New Haven were informed via the railway's automated notification system that their train was delayed by 90 minutes due to 'adhesion problems caused by leaf fall on the track,' an explanation received with considerable skepticism given that it was July 14th and every tree within visual range was in full leaf. 'Leaves on the line,' read commuter Barbara Track from her phone. 'It's July. The leaves are on the trees. That's where leaves are in July. On the trees. Not on the line.' The notification, generated by the railway's automated delay management system, selected 'leaf fall' from a dropdown menu of pre-programmed delay causes. Other options included 'weather-related infrastructure failure,' 'trespassing incident,' and 'operational adjustment,' the last of which railway employees describe as 'the one we use when we don't know what happened.' 'The system has a limited vocabulary,' explained railway communications director Sandra Template. 'Our delay notification software was programmed with twelve cause categories. Leaf fall is category seven. It was selected in error. The actual cause of the delay was a signal malfunction.' 'Then why didn't they select signal malfunction?' asked commuter Gerald Morning. 'Is signal malfunction not one of the twelve categories?' A review of the notification system revealed that signal malfunction is not, in fact, one of the twelve categories, having been removed during a 2019 software update that was intended to 'streamline the delay notification experience.' 'We took out signal malfunction because it was being used too frequently,' Sandra Template admitted. 'Management felt that reporting too many signal failures created a negative perception. So we removed the option. Now when there's a signal failure, the system selects the next closest category, which is apparently leaves.' The railway has committed to restoring signal malfunction to the notification system by the end of the quarter. Until then, passengers have been advised that 'any notification citing leaf fall between March and November should be interpreted as a signal failure.' 'Or leaves,' Template added. 'Sometimes it really is leaves.'