Turnouts, frogs and other special trackwork

	An example of a WBM™ frog from VAE Nortrak. The frog is in use across North America, including on Mexico's FERROMEX.

Despite slumping revenues, reduced car loads and pared-down budgets, railroads are not willing to take a chance on postponing maintenance of key track components such as turnouts, frogs and other special trackwork. Suppliers are doing their part to produce innovative and cost- effective products.

Cleveland Track Material

Cleveland Track Material, Inc., now part of Vossloh AG, still operates facilities in Cleveland, Ohio; Memphis, Tenn.; and Reading, Pa.

The current CTM product line includes panelized and pre-plated and packaged turnouts, slip switches, lap switches, crossings, frogs, guard rails, bridge joints, joint bars and compromise joint bars for use in the transit and Class 1 markets. The company now has the capability to provide European (UIC) designs of trackwork, including asymmetrical switches, movable point frogs and flash butt-welded manganese frogs.

Nortrak-DAMY

NORTRAK-DAMY manufactures a wide variety of products, including rail crossings, diamond crossings, complete turnouts and components such as frogs, guard rails, switch points and switch stands.

“We are proud to be part of VAE group, the world market leader in turnout technology with many trackwork companies around the world. We are committed to continue serving our customers in Mexico with product leadership, service and quality,” said Alejandro Damy, chief executive officer at NORTRAK-DAMY.

The company introduced two new test products to Mexico’s FERROMEX: the WBM™ frog and the jump frog. Both frogs have been supplied with VANGUARD® guardrails and were installed panel-assembled with ties. The WBM is a solid manganese boltless frog, with welded rail extensions, designed for main line track with heavy traffic on both sides. The jump frog was designed by VAE Nortrak and has a continuous gap-free running rail on the through route. For more information on the WBM and jump frog, please see VAE Nortrak’s section.

NORTRAK-DAMY is also working closely with FERROMEX in other developments. One major project includes panelizing turnouts. According to NORTRAK-DAMY, the company has supplied the first panelized UP/BNSF common standard #15-136RE turnouts with composite (blue) rods for efficient insulation to FERROMEX.

“We have noticed that the UP/BNSF common standard is getting stronger with KCSM. Turnouts, frogs and some other track components are the standard now,” said Damy.

“Regarding the Mexican market for Class 1 railroads, NORTRAK-DAMY has noticed railroad budgets decreasing substantially, the global economic recession has affected the Mexican economy and railroads are not an exception,” said Alex Damy. “Major projects have been postponed by the Mexican federal government, including Punta Colonet (major port project in Northern Baja California); line two and three of a suburban train running from Mexico City to the suburbs of Mexico state and a tramway for downtown Mexico City.

“Class 1 railroads have reduced their purchases around 30 to 40 percent compared to last year. A recovery cannot be expected until early 2010,” said Damy. Damy also mentioned that a similar reduction has taken place on the projects and investments from the private industry, contractors, port authorities, etc. He believes this is caused by a weak economy, a high exchange rate between the Peso/Dollar and low oil prices.

Progress Rail

Progress Rail Services Corp. Engineering and Track Services says its introduction of the flange-bearing Lift Frog for use in locations where there are limited diverging moves has been positive. According to the company, the Lift Frog is in use, on order or in test at all Class 1 railroads, as well as at a number of regional railroads.

The Progress Rail Services Movable Point/Swing Nose frog is in use in the Powder River Basin. The company says the first frogs were put in test more than four years ago and are performing well.

Progress Rail Services has introduced a new rail brace called the Clamp Tite brace. The company notes that test results have shown the brace to have five times the holding power of other braces currently in use in North America. The Clamp Tite brace is not rail section specific, which allows the railroads to reduce inventories of spare parts. However, it can be modified based on railroad requirements.

Unitrac

Unitrac Railroad Materials, Inc., manufactures a complete line of special trackwork products. Over the past few years, the company notes it has manufactured a significant number of diamond crossings and transition/compromise rails. Work the company aims to continue because it says the two products are a perfect fit in its equipment mix.

Despite the increase in diamond crossing and transition/compromise rails, Phil Pietrandrea, senior vice president – sales and marketing at Unitrac, believes overall budgets are slumping.

“It appears most of the railroads’ special trackwork budgets have decreased slightly, but, surprisingly enough, the decrease hasn’t had a major effect on any of our facilities due to our good fortune in finding some privately-funded projects. As of this writing, we haven’t noticed the stimulus package having any specific effect, one way or the other, as it relates to our business,” said Pietrandrea.

He also reiterated Unitrac’s commitment to producing quality products that are efficient and cost-effective.

“During these unprecedented economic times, Unitrac remains focused on providing high- quality products at competitive prices and shorter lead times,” said Pietrandrea.

VAE Nortrak

“Probably the most exciting development in the past year was VAE Nortrak’s acquisition of the business assets of Leading Edge Enterprises of Decatur, Ill. Prior to its acquisition, Leading Edge had successfully leveraged engineering, design and manufacturing expertise to establish an unparalleled reputation for the quick development of effective solutions to client problems. VAE Nortrak is committed to building on those strengths,” said Brian Abbott, chief technical officer at VAE Nortrak North America, Inc.

“Bringing Leading Edge into the VAE Nortrak family was an important strategic step in strengthening our ability to serve North America’s freight and transit rail sectors. We now design and build everything from the ties, plates, pads and insulators through to the castings and steelwork. This creates tremendous advantages in expediting design, maintaining quality, controlling costs and reducing lead times,” said Abbott.

Abbott recognized pressure being placed on capital budgets due to weak carloads and he expects some capacity enhancement projects to be placed on hold. However, he says any erosion in demand for trackwork has been modest because of the industry’s “discipline and foresight” in maintaining a high level of on-going maintenance.

Abbott mentions the stimulus package’s positive impact in that demand for trackwork from the trackwork sector is strong and the company is seeing an increase in the number of new projects entering the tender phase.

“Tight budgets, coupled with a growing shortage of skilled personnel, have the railroads demanding premium track components that last longer while requiring less routine maintenance,” said Abbott. “VAE Nortrak prides itself in the development of products designed to address that demand.”

One of those products is the company’s HAL “super turnout,” which features double-clothoid geometry with a zero entry angle together with premium components: composite rodding housed in hollow steel ties, rotary assists, vanguards, thick web points and stock rails machined for patented “kinematic gauge optimization.” According to VAE Nortrak, the turnout’s extended test results have been excellent with dynamic lateral forces reduced by nearly 50 percent, while maintenance cycles on key components have been significantly extended.

VAE Nortrak’s premium welded frogs, the welded boltless manganese (WBM) and welded spring manganese (WSM), eliminate the bolted joints typical of conventional RBM and spring frogs. The company says the result is reduced dynamic loading, reduced maintenance and greatly improved product life. Abbott points out that Class 1 roads have seen accumulated tonnages of 600 mgt on WBM™ frogs with very little maintenance.

“VAE Nortrak has also been a pioneer in the development of flange-bearing crossings. Sufficient field experience has now been accumulated with these products to validate their tremendous maintenance and life-cycle advantages relative to conventional tread-bearing ‘diamond’ crossing designs,” said Abbott.

The company has also introduced its jump frog to the market. The jump frog comprises a two-casting assembly that preserves a continuous gap-free running rail on the through route. Wheels on the diverging route are transitioned over the through rail in flange-bearing mode. Abbott says it virtually eliminates the need for frog maintenance and should prove an attractive alternative to conventional RBM or spring frogs in applications with small amounts of low-speed diverging traffic.

“VAE Nortrak is very excited about North America’s burgeoning interest in high-speed rail. Given the U.S. Administration’s commitment to funding, we expect to see significant investment over the next few years. Accordingly, we have already begun to work with service providers and project consultants to develop a family of high-speed turnouts specifically tailored to the North American market. VAE Nortrak is ideally positioned for this undertaking. Not only is our engineering and design group the strongest in the industry, but we are able to draw on the high- speed experience of our European affiliate companies,” said Abbott.