The El

The old elevated train tracks of Rail City no longer carried trains during the Ironworks era, but they carried something just as essential: workers. The El looped around the city and extended up the North Side, providing a pedestrian walkway above the street-level threats of zed and raiders. In some places, bridges connected from nearby buildings directly onto the tracks, allowing laborers to travel from their North Side housing to Center City without ever descending to ground level.
  Guards were stationed along the route, providing some measure of security, though the elevated exposure had its own dangers. Raiders could throw spears at pedestrians from below or from the windows of nearby buildings. Storm season made the El deadly; when tornado clouds rolled in, the elevated tracks became the worst place to be caught in the open, with simultaneous storms and zed tides creating lethal conditions.
  The El also served as Rail City's storm warning system. When lookouts spotted tornado clouds, they banged on the rail with pipe or hammer. Anyone who heard the signal was expected to repeat it before descending to shelter. The traveling clang echoed along the struts and buildings the entire length of the loop, warning everyone in earshot that weather was coming. The sound of metal striking metal, rolling from one end of the city to the other, was one of the most recognizable features of life in Rail City.