Ah, that's not surprising... the wheels screeched a lot on that section when I rode it, so the track clearly experiences a lot of stress there!Only on the entry into the final brakes.
I'm surprised the change didn't come much sooner considering how loud Wodan is. But as much a shame it is, I hope they eventually cut and sand down the ragged edges to make the appearance more uniform.
Having ridden it this last week, the sound barrier doesn't overly affect the experience, but a tunnel would be much more intrusive. A large chunk of the ride would end up essentially 'indoors', which would be a bit over bearing, considering Wodan already has quite a few tunnelled areas.Surely a fully enclosed tunnel like Wicker Man would have been better?