Batteries on subway tracks

Ever notice no matter what subway stop you are at in the city there are ALWAYS dead batteries on the tracks?  In any given station you can find all sorts of trash on subway tracks ranging from used napkins to soda cans to half eaten food.  Every station is unique with it’s plethora of human waste.  But, without fail, at every single station I have ever been to (in Manhattan at least but I can’t imagine it’d be different in the other boroughs) I have seen batteries somewhere on the tracks.  Sometimes you have to look hard but most of the time they’re right there.

I first learned of the battery phenom of the nyc subways my sophomore year.  Ever since, I almost always check when i’m waiting for a train.  there’s nothing else to do, so why not.  Anyone else notice this?  Can anyone think of a good explanation for why this happens? I mean, of all things - batteries? Why? Do people normally change batteries while waiting for a train? There is not a single reason I can think of that a battery should be sitting on the tracks in every station but it’s there.  Someone explain this to me.  Or, next time you’re waiting for a train go ahead and look on the tracks.  Find your battery.  And let your journey begin.

-jaap

ps: doesn’t the title make this sound like a song that chedda would listen to? bang.