magnum est res tacere

BART runs untapered wheels of carbon steel
whose flanges keep them centered on the track
but at the cost of a soul-rending squeal
like some tormented feline on the rack
a wheel of incremented radius
would bound the train in a potential well
with no more noise than tires make on a bus
thus sparing passers-by the screams of Hell
an engineering insight of nil cost
off-patent since the age of coal and steam
a lesson that was known, but then went lost
on crucial members of the planning team
a generation shunning cars for BART
has cause to doubt its overseers are smart