A closer look

Steel wheels scraping on steel tracks sounds like a banshee getting a root canal. Unlike cars, tram axles are completely rigid, meaning the outer wheel has to drag across the rail to keep up with the inner wheel on a curve. To stop this city-wide auditory torture, Melbourne trams are equipped with automated flange lubricators that perfectly time a squirt of water-based friction modifiers onto the track just before a turn, chemically silencing the physics of heavy metal.