Purchases are down across the market, but Class 1s continue to focus on maintenance spending while regional, shortline and transits are holding to see if the stimulus promise becomes reality.
by Mischa Wanek-Libman, managing editor
Wood Concrete Steel & composites Tie preservation
Gross & Janes L.B. Foster NARSTCO Encore Rail
Koppers KSA/Koppers Dynamic Composites Tight Spike
Stella Jones Rocla Williamette Valley
Tangent Rail
Thompson Industries
The jury is still out on the tie market of 2009. Purchases for the first part of the year are on a par with 2008 numbers, driven by the railroads' commitment to upgrading infrastructure. However, the remainder of the year is expected to see a softening of purchases with the effects of the slow economy expected to be felt into 2010 and possibly beyond. What follows is a roundup of what's new to the industry, what the rest of 2009 may bring and what could be right around the corner in 2010. Below are extended comments and photos, for the original article, please click here for our digital version.
 Photo couresty of RTA.
RTA
submitted by Jim Gauntt, executive director of The Railway Tie Association
"It's been a very unusual year for the crosstie industry. Through August, production of wood ties has exceeded year ago levels by 29 percent. Surprisingly, even in a slowing economy, purchases are almost exactly the same as 2008. The discrepancy in the production vs. purchases numbers, though, means that the inventory levels have crept up and now exceed the level we consider as ‘balanced.'
"Purchases have held strong through the first seven months of the year, but are now showing the signs of a weakened economy. We expect purchases for the last half of the year to be fairly soft, and yet, it is still possible the new wood tie purchases will reach 20 million ties in 2009. The real effects of the economy will likely be felt in 2010 and into 2011.
"Our forecasts this year have regularly incorporated data that continues to indicate a deteriorating economy. In January, our recession forecast suggested tie purchases would dip to 20 million ties in 2009 and 19.2 million ties in 2010. Our most recent model output forecasts, which will appear in the Sept/Oct issue of Crossties magazine show a 2010 forecast for new tie demand between 18.6 and 19 million. This latest forecast uses US GDP forecasts from the Federal Reserve and from Standard and Poor's that are relatively optimistic in that they both say that the recession has ended and that growth in the economy will return in the last part of 2009 and 2010. If one believes that the economic situation has not yet bottomed, or that what growth there will be could be anemic, then even this most recent downward revision in our tie demand forecasts could also be more optimistic than what we will actually see next year.
"RTA is involved in two major initiatives currently. The first is a long-term test of alternative wood preservative systems. This test is designed to evaluate these systems as directly compared to creosote only full size tie controls over a twenty year period. These full size ties have been in test at Mississippi State University for a year now in two sites. One site contains active Formosan Subterranean Termite colonies; the other has only native termite species. A first year report on this project will be received at our annual conference in Baltimore Oct.13-15, 2009. The second effort is in conjunction with Georgetown Rail and ZETA-TECH and Associates. This project is designed to compare Georgetown Rail's Aurora automated tie inspection system with Zeta-Tech's TieInspect handheld system for tie marking. Results on this are also expected at our fall conference.
"Watch the next few months to see what occurs in capital markets. I just read a Moody's Investors Service report that predicts that the asset quality deterioration of the U.S. banking system has yet to reach its peak. This report suggested that there could be as much as another $470 billion in residential bankwrite-downs between now and the end of next year. Commercial real estate loan losses may exceed that figure according to the report. This continued stress on the capital markets may continue to constrain the economy for the foreseeable future. And, the health of the overall economy is the ultimate driver for freight volume and maintenance products demand. Thus, current levels of optimism regarding the resurgence in the U.S. economy could be short-lived.
"The most important thing I would like to mention in all of this is that railroads have done a remarkable job of maintaining their spending in track maintenance even as the economy has softened. Their commitment to maintaining track at optimal levels has been a bright light for the tie industry so far in 2009. It is also a real testament to the foresight of these roads in that they have continued this level of investment in their operations. This kind of forward thinking is one of the reasons why U.S. and Canadian railroads remain the most efficient freight transportation system in the world.
"Your readers may benefit from regularly visiting our recently revamped Website at www.rta.org where we post updated forecasts and inventory and production reports monthly. This data may be very useful to many business planners in understanding what's potentially around the next bend in the road in track and tie maintenance spending."
Wood: Gross & Janes
Matt Clarke, president and chief executive officer of Gross & Janes Co. notes that business through the second quarter of this year matched the numbers from 2008, but as customer concern over the economy grew, all segments of the market saw various stages of cutbacks.
According to Clarke, market dynamics, if left un-reviewed, always play a part in creating challenges and adding costs to raw commodity products.
Gross and Janes, notes Clarke, is focusing its efforts on providing additional services with maximum and measurable returns to customers.
"Long-term we are maintaining our focus on delivering superior products and value added services to our customers in creative and measurable ways and providing supply chain management services," said Clarke. "Additionally, we have also increased our pre-processing services to several customers, which further maximizes their transportation value and operating efficiencies."
Wood: Koppers
Submitted by Thomas Niederberger, vice president marketing and sales
"Amazingly, our business has held up reasonably well, especially in light of the economic downturn which seems to be bottoming out. The Class 1's have had pretty strong green tie programs and treatment programs through the first half of 2009 with some softening now taking place in the third quarter and on into the fourth quarter. Everyone is looking at their balance sheet and making sure that working capital goals, driven largely by the economic reality, are in line with corporate expectations. The Short Line/Transit market has really been influenced by reductions in state funding along with manufacturing sector cutbacks due to the economy. A large percentage of projects in 2009 have never started. The hope is for the economy to rebound and also that Stimulus money will begin to work its way through the approval process and generate some badly needed demand.
"This past year's economic activity has certainly caused us to move forward with a bit more caution. Our raw material purchase strategy is staying right in line with demand and we are carefully maintaining a balance of treated and untreated inventory in order to address any opportunities that develop. Plant operations are running steady with a bit less demand for overtime, the key driver here being less overall product demand. In essence we are moving forward with a business as usual approach and are prioritizing both short and long term objectives.
"Although not a trend, the consensus remains that the domestic rail network will continue to be bolstered to handle expected increased in rail freight traffic
"For the better part of this year, the Class 1's have been the primary driver to our business. With green tie inventories generally lower than desired at the tail end of 2008, the Class 1's have put a strong push for green tie production during the first half of 2009 to help replenish their drying inventory. With stronger green tie pricing, the sawmill industry has really stepped up to meet this higher demand. In addition Class 1 treatment has held up well and has actually been buoyed by longer windows of available track maintenance time. However, with car loadings and other related economic indicators remaining at or below prior year benchmarks, we expect some potential for lowering volumes going forward based on the overall health of the economy.
"Although I would not necessarily call it a new service, we continue to see some reasonable quoting opportunities for pre-plated ties. Our recent acquisition of Coastal Timbers' pre-plating business has been generating some nice business opportunities."
Wood: Stella Jones
Submitted by Kris Hedding, general manager sales and marketing
"Sales were $241.1 million, up from $189.3 million in the first six months of 2008. This increase includes the contributions of $37.3 million from the BPB operations, however sales are softening due to general economic conditions.
"We continue to see an overcapacity in the wood tie treating industry, and hopefully through consolidation we can create a stronger supply base to meet the industries long-term needs. We continue to grow our business organically and evaluate acquisitions. We focus on plant operations and best practices to deliver on our goal of providing a quality product at a competitive price.
"We believe that sales will soften in the upcoming quarters until such time as general economic conditions improve. Our view is that, historically, tie sales follow the return to growth for railroad traffic, so we expect the slow down to continue until we see traffic demand return.
"We continue to do multiple treatments with many chemicals, besides creosote we use CuNap, Penta, CCA, and of course, borate. We have made huge gains in the treatment processes mitigating drippage and making a cleaner product.
"We continue to research and develop improvements to borate treatment for Formosan termite issues as well as looking into CuNap treatment for bridge material to help reduce handling concerns. We are also researching new preservatives to lead to further improvements and more environmental acceptance which we hope to announce in the future."
Wood: Tangent Rail
Tangent Rail Corporation says its business remains steady for its Class 1 customers, although they have seen slower demand from commercial markets.
George Caric, vice president business development of Tangent Rail says that tie prices are coming down from the highs but sees a positive side, "Class 1's are taking advantage of slower traffic levels to do maintenance and with tie prices reversing, the railroads are saying, ‘great, we can buy more ties.'"
Caric also points to the success of company's Borate duel treated ties in severe rot areas to combat decay and insects. The ties are a common practice on NS, while UP and CSXT are testing with what Caric calls favorable results.
 Treated ties at Thompson Industries' facility.
Wood: Thompson Industries
Submitted by Jeff Broadfoot, national sales and service manager
"Thompson Industries, Inc., located in Russellville, Ark., provides quality treated crossties, switch ties, crossing timbers, bridge ties and timbers, specialty timbers, crosstie pre-plating, and custom wood treating. Thompson treats over 1 million crosstie and crosstie equivalents per year.
"Our fiscal year started October 1, 2008, and the first half of the year business was great! In fact we had the best first six months in the history of our company. However, this second half is a completely different story and proving to be quite a challenge. Our regional, shortline and contractor business is down significantly compared to this same time last year. Some customers have canceled orders and others are postponing capital projects until the economy improves. As a result, most of the ties we are supplying are for everyday maintenance rather than the larger capital projects we are used to seeing.
"On the other side of the coin, our Class 1 business has remained strong in spite of the poor economy. With car loadings off, the Class 1 railroads seized the opportunity to take advantage of the availability of track time to put more ties in. However, as car loadings continue to lag, even our Class 1friends have started to cut back. Usually we get a jump start shipping ties for next year's program by starting in October of the previous year, which may or may not be the case this year. This fourth quarter (July, August, Sept) is proving to be a major challenge to book orders.
"We supply approximately 50 percent of our products to Class 1 railroads with the balance going to shortline, regional, contractor, industry, commuter and government railroad customers. The economy has not significantly affected the way we approach our business from the supply side of things. However, with current sales lagging, we are certainly much more focused on our costs but our fundamental business plan remains strong and on plan. Wood ties represent approximately 92 percent of the total ties in track and this does not look to change. The railroads must maintain their infrastructure so when the economy improves they are ready and able to handle the anticipated increase in traffic
"Concerning our outlook for 2010, it appears to be a mixed bag. Currently, our Class 1customers tell us that their current plans are to purchase almost the same quantity of ties in 2010 as they did in 2009. However, the number of ties they actually purchase really depends on their financial performance from here on out. If car loadings continue to lag, we don't think the railroads will have a choice and will be forced to make further cuts most likely in area of track and ties.
"As far as our regional, shortline and industrial customers are concerned, we think 2010 tie purchasing will be off much like it will finish up in 2009. I believe that the railroads will continue to postpone most of their capital projects until we see some improvement in the economy. They will continue to purchase the minimum number of maintenance ties in order to keep operating but we will not see the usual levels from these folks that we have enjoyed the past several years until the economy improves significantly.
"We see a much more intensive focus on costs both from the railroad side and also from the supply side. We, as responsible suppliers, must do everything we can to keep our costs as low as possible, not only help our railroad customers achieve their goals, but also to keep our own bottom lines healthy. As one of our industry's lowest cost producers, we at Thompson are always on the lookout for ways to save money and share this savings with our customers.
"To a certain extent, the railroads cannot afford to jump in and out of the market and must install a minimum number of ties each and every year just to maintain the track that they already have. However, many of the capacity expansion and other infrastructure improvement projects will not be approved until the railroads decide just how much money they have to spend and where they can get the biggest bang for the buck. The railroads are always looking to save money everywhere they can.
"Last year, we teamed up with L.B. Foster and set up a high-capacity crosstie boring and pre-plating operation at our facility. We now have the ability to pre-bore and pre-plate crossties with hardware supplied by us, or, customers can send in their own hardware for us to use if they prefer. We lease our own fleet of high-capacity centerbeam and gondola cars and can ship by rail or truck.
"The real question for the shortline railroads and contractors is what impact the government stimulus money and/or the shortline tax credit will have on their respective businesses? If the shortline tax credit gets enough support to be extended, this will provide a significant boost to these customers and allow them to purchase ties where they would not been able to do so otherwise. We saw this happen last year and hopes are that it will take place again. Likewise, the amount of stimulus funding that finds its way to these customers will also have an impact on their tie purchasing. The real question is when this will happen and how much they will receive.
"Future plans include adding additional preservative storage, a top-of-the-line, overhead preservative tank car unloading facility, along with major upgrades at our company's two trim and grade stations. All of these projects are a vital part of the company's long-range business plan to enable Thompson Industries, Inc. to continue to meet the growing demand for economically-priced, long lasting treated wood products needed to support the world's vast rail network."
Concrete: L.B. Foster
Submitted by L.B. Foster Company
L.B. Foster CXT® Concrete Ties says it continues to take advantage of supply opportunities in the North American rail market and drive innovation in their product offerings.
"The company is utilizing its three strategically located manufacturing operations to provide concrete ties for a wide variety of applications in Canada and the United States. Plants in both Grand Island, NE and Tucson, AZ largely supply the needs of the company's largest customer, the Union Pacific Railroad. The Grand Island plant also produces a concrete tie design for the for Midwest and Southwest industrial markets. The 529S tie was successfully introduced to the market in 2008 and has continued to gain acceptance in a number of light density mainline, and industrial applications. The company's third facility, located in Spokane, WA, produces a broad range of concrete ties and turnout ties for heavy haul, transit, port and other industrial use.
"Despite the downturn in the economy, new orders so far in 2009 and the current backlog of business are essentially the same as one year ago. According to Mark Hammons, National Sales Manager, ‘Through all the troubled waters in 2009, CXT Concrete Ties has maintained a steady backlog for the first eight months. We were awarded some excellent projects which have allowed us to meet our customers' requirements and achieve our goals. Among significant activity in 2009 was the completion of the 87,000 concrete ties order for the Signal Peak Energy coal mine in Billings, MT, the awards at UTA Mid-Jordan in Salt Lake City, the Exposition Line in Los Angeles, Lakewood Sound Transit in Seattle and Ramsey Yard at the Port of Portland, along with continued successes in supplying concrete ties to the industrial and port markets.'
"Concrete ties continue to gain market share due to their advantages over other types of ties. New customers are realizing the life cycle cost savings using concrete ties can be significant. This is due to lower installation costs, improved tie performance and substantially reduced maintenance costs. Concrete ties are easier to install, require fewer ties per track mile and have a longer life expectancy versus other ties. In addition, concrete ties are environmentally friendly.
Hammons continued by saying, ‘We have continued to fund R&D activities to enhance our concrete ties and have completed development of an improved mix and new tie manufacturing process that will increase abrasion resistance and provide enhanced quality and durability without affecting flexural capacity and tensile strength. We are excited by early testing results and will undertake additional specialized tie testing. By the end of the year we plan to get these new ties into test track and arrangements have been made with a third party test center and several Class 1 railroads to do so.'
"Demand for concrete ties is anticipated to remain strong in the future. Per Kevin Haugh, President, CXT, Inc., ‘Freight rail has significant advantages over other forms of transportation, from better fuel efficiency to fewer emissions, and relieves congestion on our already crowded highways. Various rail projects have begun using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds across the country as states see the long term benefits of the expansion of rail services. Funds have also been obligated by ARRA for a number of transit initiatives, traditionally a concrete tie market. Finally, with the current administration's aggressive promotion of high speed rail, concrete ties are a natural fit for the ballasted track that we expect will be used to construct these lines. So the future appears bright for concrete ties.'"
Concrete: KSA/Koppers
KSA, like most companies, is currently in a holding pattern, waiting to see what this economy is going to do," said Scott Craig, general manager. "I am optimistic with all the talks about high speed rail that the future of concrete ties looks very good. In the next couple of months, with the applications for individual projects having already been submitted and October 2 being the deadline for corridor program funds, maybe we will find out how some of the stimulus money is being spent and on what projects."
He continued, "KSA/Koppers has been producing quality pre-stressed concrete ties with customer satisfaction for over twenty years now, and plan to continue our great success for years to come."
Concrete: Rocla
Submitted by Al Smith, manager of sales
"Let's just say that 2009 will not set any sales records! It seems that our major Class 1 railroad customers are trying to preserve capitol at this time. And, in spite of the promise of Federal stimulus funding, the reality is that projects requiring a good supply of ties have not been coming on-line as quickly as originally anticipated."
"In general, the current economic climate has not had a major effect on us, with the exception of making sure that we resharpen our pencil for each proposal."
"Rocla is fortunate enough to have Contract Work with several Transit and Commuter Rail Agencies to the extent that our total production remains steady. We do not see the Class One's taking the opportunity provided by lower traffic to perform significantly more tie replacement programs."
"The BNSF has asked Rocla to be their agent for the sale of their Relay Concrete Ties. These ties have been in service for some years, and have many more years of service life left in them. The prices for these Relay Concrete Ties are extremely attractive, and many Contractors who build and maintain industrial trackage have installed these ties to the benefit of their customers. Relay Concrete Ties have turned out to be a Win-Win in several situations."
 NARSTCO's steel ties on NS' Richenbacker yard.
Steel: NARSTCO
John Fox, vice president sales at NARSTCO says that the company is holding its own. The stress of the economy hasn't pulled the company's focus from its core business.
Fox says the company's focus continues to be projects such as terminals, yard and intermodal facilities. NARSTCO is currently working on projects for UPRR, NS, CSXT and an iron ore line in northern Quebec, Canada.
"When our product is used in new construction, we can save the customer a great deal of money in track material, " said Fox. Also the track construction is much faster and easier vs other products. "Currently, on a project in Joliet, Ill., the contractor is installing our ties two to three times faster than expected."
People need to relook at our Steel Tie products, things have changed and we have made numerous improvements; as well we are very particular where we sell our products.
In the right application the Steel Tie will out perform the competition.
Fox believes that producing a green product also gives NARSTCO a competitive edge. He points out that NARSTCO's Steel Ties are made from 100 percent recyclable steel, and do not have any toxic chemicals, which in today's environment is a huge benefit.
Composite: Dynamic Composites
Submitted by Kelly Runkel, sales technician
"With our first orders from the Class 1 railroads, business has grown in 2009 for Dynamic Composites, LLC. The railroads are gaining confidence through in-field testing of our innovative crosstie products that are made from recycled materials," said Kelly Runkel, sales technician at Dynamic Composites.
"The past year's economic activity has not changed the way we approach business or the goals we have set for ourselves. Our plant is busy ramping up to fill production orders from the major railroads-and we are prepared to expand production to meet additional tie order opportunities.
"Railroads are discovering the benefits of using composite ties that increase the performance of their rail lines and can be more cost effective over the long run. There is increasing demand for the use of composite crossties in track work.
"Demand from Class 1 railroads is driving our business. The Class 1's have been testing our ties in actual railroad applications with positive results. We have developed a strong working relationship, seeking suggestions and making modifications to our product to meet the customers' needs. We are happy that these experiences have led to larger follow-on orders for our product.
"Dynamic Composites has received requests from railroads to modify our standard 7" x 9" x 8'6" tie to meet their specific needs. One example is the request for a composite bridge tie, which we are currently working on. The fact that our tie is the only engineered composite tie on the market gives us the freedom to make changes to adapt to any type of track work."
 Encore provides the equipment and compounds to fix ties.
Tie preservation: Encore Rail
Submitted by Doug Delmonico, president
"We at Encore Rail Systems are always looking at new technology to help our customers protect their assets. We are currently working with railroads on a new drillable material that will help in maintaining direct fixation plates that require a lag bolt system. The direct fixation system has been out for some time and like any system now has a few maintenance issues. The repair of this system is going to require a chemical plugging compound that can be drilled and still have the strength to hold the lag bolt. It can't be too hard and it can't be too soft. We now have products designed for this application that can be applied to the tie, drilled, and the lag bolt reinserted. We have also just developed a new epoxy material for the repair of concrete ties that hardens instantly and in cooler temperatures. This will allow the rail gangs working on concrete ties to improve their production and quality with less time needed in the change out process. Our business model is that of a full service company, meaning our customers can obtain machinery, tested products, training, and service all directly from us. We pride ourselves in high quality safe equipment, with an excellent safety record and quick response via in-house and field staff. To the railroad this means they don't have to purchase material from one supplier and the application machinery from another. Our equipment and materials are being used daily by more railroads than any of our competitors. We are constantly training railroad employees in the application of the equipment and we implement a quality process for our product.
"We have been working with two Class 1 railroads and other regional railroads to help improve their track structure by repairing ties that are in good condition yet may have spike kill holes in the wood from degree curvature, grade, tonnage, or weather. In some instances spikes are loosened by the tie gang process itself. We are the only company to provide this service. We supply the railroads' tie gangs with specially designed tie plugging equipment. This equipment is used to plug ties which are not designated for replacement, yet which may have loose spikes due to the above mentioned conditions. There is great advantage in doing this. First by strengthening ties adjacent to newly placed ties, track reaction forces are more equally shared by all the ties versus being absorbed predominantly by new ties. A secondary benefit to expanding chemical tie plugging compounds is the exothermic chemical reaction which kills fungus, prevalent in wood rot, and seals cavities from further ingress of moisture, insects, and fungus. Next to our chemical compound that reacts with heat, an actual preservative would be the only other alternative, at a much higher cost. The results of the tie repair process are just becoming available. We do know that a track mile where this process has been implemented leaves a stronger mile by proof of the geometry car testing from before and afterwards. The track strength is much more improved. To the extent that we are making a tie live longer we need more time to really tell how much longer that life might be. One Class 1 has reported to us it is at least a 5 to 7 year extension on the life of a tie that has been chemically plugged.
"We have worked with the Union Pacific Railroad to put 23 of Encores Ride on Tie Pluggers out on their rail gangs. These new RTP's have been improved for higher production, safety, and many other features such as the moveable track system that allow the machines to negotiate wood trestles with out the operator having to be outside the AAR safety standards or requiring fall protection. We have recently worked with the UP to make the RTP a dual machine to improve productivity in the field. We have retrofitted the RTP so that it can work on wood ties in the morning and move right to concrete in the afternoon. We have made the dual RTP a machine that will dispense an epoxy for concrete ties or our high density polyurethane product for wood with out the operator needing to switch tanks. We have seen an increase in smaller railroads and contractors using our equipment and products. We recently finished a large project with R J Corman. The Corman group, I must say are very good at laying rail and lots of it. Although Corman had used other plugging equipment in the past, none of them could keep up with their production rates. We were able to meet their needs with one of our RTPs because production speed and reliability of that machine didn't them delays.
"We are constantly working on improving interface with the operator and the equipment. We realize that those people running the equipment have a responsibility to make sure the equipment and the material is working properly. We have five field representatives constantly traveling the system working with railroad personnel in training, quality control, and safety at no cost to the railroads.
"We have been looking at automated systems that will apply the product in the hole by itself. We have always been the leader in setting the standard for developing new technology in the repair of wood ties, tie plugging and repair of concrete ties. We plan on continuing that leadership role in this industry.
"We have been working with the railroads to build increased reliability and technology into the tie plugging or concrete tie repair process. Through our suppliers we have access to some of the top chemists in the world. This gives us the advantage of finding and trying new materials and developing better end products for the customer. We have been able to reduce our cost of manufacturing because of new and improved raw materials, being currently developed by the polyurethane industry. For instance, we have new technology now for concrete seat abrasion that will allow us to apply a material to the tie and harden instantly, which is imperative in reestablishing the cant of the concrete tie and speed up the rail change process significantly. This product has great adhesion to the tie superior hardness and can be applied in a much larger range of temperatures than any other product on the market with no reaction to moisture.
"We have set the stage to make tie life and stronger track a reality for many of our customers. They realize that basic things like fixing a tie will go a long way in reducing the over all maintenance costs down the road. As we enter an age of going green and reducing the use of our country's natural resources, the processes developed by Encore Rail Systems for its customers is doing its part."
 Tight Spike™ being applied on ties.
Tie preservation: Tight Spike
Gross & Janes Co. is the authorized distributor for Tight SpikeTM, a complete polyurethane foam tie plugging system. According to the company, Tight Spike HD (High Density) has been specifically formulated for railroads whose specifications require above average insertion and extraction parameters.
"Tight Spike is experiencing a well-rounded exposure throughout the rail industry," said Billy Davis, director of sales for Gross & Janes for Tight Spike products. "Our present economy seems to have reduced mow expenditures making synthetic tie restoration even more cost-effective given the reduced budgets."
Davis notes the Tight Spike was used on a recent completion and satisfaction of an on-track demonstration for a Class 1, a tie reclamation project for a contractor and Class 1 and it the company is presently providing equipment and product to a shortline switching railroad.
"Synthetic tie plugging is fast becoming the cost-effective answer to crosstie replacement," said Davis. "Compared to the complete tie replacement, Tight Spike Tie Restoration Systems provides for complete use of tie life that normally would be cut short."
 WVCO introduced two rail grout systems to enhance the support of fastening systems.
Tie Preservation: Willamette Valley
Submitted by John Murray, vice president
"Willamette Valley Company Railroad Division, at the request of the Class 1's railroads, has formulated a new product to aid in extending the useful life of concrete ties in the area of shoulder repair. The product, SRP-210, is a two component urethane. This compound acts as a gap filler between the face of the worn shoulder and the stainless steel shim used to re-contour the worn shoulder. The compound has robust physical properties that aids in the adhesion of the shim to the repaired shoulder and its compression allows for resilient life.
"WVCO Railroad Division has introduced two new rail grout systems that enhances the support of fastening systems being used and reduces harmonics in direct fixation and embedded rail for the abatement of noise and vibration.
"WVCO Railroad Division has formulated a polymeric concrete repair kit, FastPatch, for use in spot repair of damaged concrete. This product can be used on bridge decks and crossings when damage needs to be repaired during MOW activities.
"The general economy has impacted the railroad industry and evermore the extension of asset life is the highest priority. Product innovation towards remediation and how products impact the environment are the leading factors in new development. WVCO Railroad Division's continuous improvements to current products and new product development are centered on extending the useful life in a green manner. The bar has been raised over the last ten years when it comes to tie plugging and rail set abrasion repair and as a leader in this market, WVCO Railroad Division, is leveraging its future with improved crosstie products and application systems. There is a continued trend of railroads seeking new cost effective solutions in the areas of fillers, compounds and coatings.
"Class 1's are still our primary customer base. WVCO Railroad Division is looking to the shortlines, regionals and transit agencies for opportunities in using our current products and new technology. These customers are limited at times to capital funding however, new funds are being availed from stimulus money for various projects.
"The most recent project we were involved in was on the Minneapolis Twins Stadium Transit Project. WVCO Railroad Division assisted the contractor with a formulated product that would flow under the already installed rail and fastener system. WVCO Railroad Division was able to provide the contractor with chemical (HPRG-411-MD) and the dispensing equipment to help complete that portion of the project.
"The railroad industry is looking for their suppliers to be creative in developing new products or improving current products that reduce maintenance costs and achieve efficient and safe productivity."
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