Railroads continue to search for the perfect mix of chemicals and equipment to tackle weed resistance, chemical drift and regrowth. 

by Mischa Wanek-Libman, managing editor 

One common goal is shared among all railroad vegetation management programs: bare ground. Railroads need less-volume, more-effective chemicals and equipment that won't eat up track time. What follows is a look at what suppliers are producing and what innovations railroads could be implementing in the future. Here's a hint: Paintball, anyone?

ARS Corp.'s new yard cleaner outfitted for spray applications.

Hi-rail truck sprays

All Railroad Services Corp. not only does vegetation management programs for railroads, but has expanded to DOTs, utilities and gas-line companies. In addition to its Total Rail Yard Control Program, the company is developing a yard cleaner to also be a spray truck. According to Vinnie Vaccarello, co-president of ARS Corp., the new yard cleaner/spray truck combo is an answer to customers' requests for equipment that eliminates duplicate services.

"The main thing that our customers are asking for with vegetation management is how they can incorporate different aspects of their maintenance to include vegetation management," said Vaccarello.

The new piece of equipment is an outfitted yard cleaner with booms, nozzles and tanks for herbicide application. Once a yard is cleaned of material and debris, herbicide is sprayed on the yard cleaner's final pass by commercial pesticide-licensed operators.

"It allows a savings in time and money, especially now that freight revenue is down and yards are used as storage," said Vaccarello.

The company is in the testing phase with a Class 1 railroad and, if successful, ARS Corp. will be implementing the equipment systemwide for the Class 1 and introduce it to the other railroads.

The Asplundh Railroad Division now offers the Aerial Tree Trimmer, an airborne trimmer, which it says is gaining interest because it does not require track time to perform tree trimming operations.  

Asplundh, partnering with a technology group, is also developing an advanced automated weed identification and application system, Chlorovision. According to the company, the system identifies vegetation in a 30-foot-wide treatment zone, with pinpoint accuracy and automatically controls the application equipment to precisely treat only the targeted vegetation at speeds up to 50 mph. The system can also document poor track conditions "on the go" by using an integrated GPS that creates a report, including images and GPS coordinates, for use by railroad engineering personnel on a daily basis.

The company expects to implement usage sometime in the 2010 spray season. Asplundh notes that testing continues on CSXT and CPR and will expand this season to other railroads especially in the Northeast where states such as New York and Massachusetts have strict requirements for pesticide usage and reporting.

Equipment

Kershaw Manufacturing, a division of Progress Rail Services Corp., designs and manufactures vegetation-control equipment for railroads and electric utility companies world-wide.

In 2002, Kershaw introduced the Sky Trim telescoping tree trimmer to the U.S. electric utility market. The machine is available in a rubber-tired version and Kershaw recently introduced a crawler-tracked version to tackle the most-demanding of terrain.

Recently, Kershaw placed the highly-successful Sky Trim design on hydraulically-controlled hi-rails, enabling the machine to be used on rails, allowing the railroads to tackle high-level (canopy) vegetation problems. According to the company, the result is a machine with unique flexibility and maneuverability that can trim problem tree limbs up to 75 feet while mounted on hi-rails or from the shoulders of the track.

Kershaw has also introduced the Model 500 Klearway rubber-tired, rough-terrain brush cutter that can be outfitted with a front-mounted rotary or shredder-type cutter head, for clearing railroad and utility rights-of-way and site preparation.

Kershaw also continues to manufacture the Model 32-10 on-track brush cutter that can eliminate vegetation up to 30 feet from the centerline of the track. The Model 32-10 on-track brush cutter is available with conventional flail blades, as well as a solid carbide-tipped cutting disc.

"Our on-track brush cutters and Sky Trim are also available for long-term lease or short-term rental through our All Track Division. Rental demand for these machines remains high as many shortline railroads have severe vegetation issues, but do not have enough work to justify purchasing a machine. Kershaw also offers a flail mower attachment for the Model 12-12 tie crane for lighter duty applications," said Patrick Jansen, vice president sales and marketing at Progress Rail.

RBL, Inc., with Tiger® Corporation, distributes the Tiger RailKut® Hyrail Brush Cutter that can cut up to six-inch-diameter brush from on- or off-rail.  The cutter head reaches to 21 feet from centerline of track, 21 feet vertically and 12 feet 5 inches below horizontal. The unit is mounted on an F550 chassis with dual driving stations for one-man operation.  It also has a single-joystick control, operator safety protection, DMF Railgear and safety shutdown features. 

It has optional equipment, including a 900-ton-per-hour snowblower, the standard flail-style mower attachment and the cutter blades can be replaced with a 48-inch saw blade for urban areas. Also an option is the "WETCUT System" for vegetation spraying applications. This system has Automatic Rate Control, GPS Speed Sensor and Digital Readout of application rate and is applied through a fixed-zone spray chamber.  

RCE's high-rail excavator, the 225 Railavator.

Rail Construction Equipment Co. has added the RCE 225 Railavator to its fleet. The 225 Railavator is a high-rail excavator that can be equipped with a brush cutter head, has the capability of cutting on- or off-track allowing trains to pass and can also be used for other tack maintenance jobs when not cutting brush. According to the company, the Railavator meets what the railroads have been requesting: versatility from brush-cutting equipment.

Dennis Hanke, sales manager at RCE, notes that compliance to meet with FRA standards and maintenance budgets seem to be the main factors driving the rail maintenance market. The company has also seen an increase in the leasing of equipment more than past years and, as a result, has built up its rental equipment availability.

"We have always promoted the cutting of heavy vegetation to be completed during the winter months as the foliage is gone and allows the operator of the brush cutter to see debris that normally would be covered," said Hanke. "We are always looking to add to our current equipment line, either by building new models or finding better attachments to promote on existing machines."

RT&S asked Harvey Holt, Professor Emeritus, Department Forestry & Natural Resources at Purdue University, what was happening in the world of railroad vegetation management. The short answer was "a lot." What follows is his summary of what is coming down the line.

Figure 1 shows total vegetation control with aminocyclopyrachlor combination 118 days after treatment near Portland, Ore.

New herbicide for rail industry

For those from the old school used to names like diuron and bromacil, get ready for a new active ingredient: aminocyclopyrachlor. This remarkable new chemistry from DuPont is expected to be in herbicides labeled for railroad vegetation management in late 2010. This new active ingredient has a synthetic auxin mode of action that is proving to be very effective on rapidly growing brush, broadleaf weeds and woody plants. Studies are showing that the active ingredient is taken up by the foliage or by the roots of plants. Its residual soil activity will control germinating weeds, as Figure 1 shows. And its mode of action will aid in controlling ALS- and glyphosate-resistant plants.

Online weed identification

XID Services, Inc., is probably the most well-known expert weed identification software (http://xidservices.com/). The DVD has 1,200 weeds from the 48 states and adjacent Canada. And it has a cost. There is a developing alternative, which is similar, but it is free and online. At present, two specific states represent their regions: California and Wisconsin. The California site, http://wric.ucdavis. edu/, has more than 450 weeds with pictures. Click on "Weed identification tool" in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. The Wisconsin site, http://weed id.wisc.edu/weedid.php, has more than 350 weeds with pictures. The two sites are a joint effort of two faculty members, Mark Renz at University of Wisconsin and Joe Di Tomaso at University of California-Davis. The identification steps are similar to XID Services' platform, but considered by the authors to be simpler. They expect the states and regions to increase as other groups get involved.

Herbicide applied in paintballs

Drift from liquid sprays is a major concern when controlling woody plants in so many railroad situations, i.e., under pole lines, adjacent to crops, at crossings and steep or inaccessible terrain. New technologies are being developed by Dr. James Leary at the University of Hawaii that can accurately deliver effective herbicide doses from long-range distances. The recreational paintball industry has contributed to the technological advancements of liquid encapsulation and pneumatic ballistics. These technologies have been adopted for developing a new tool in weed management called Herbicide Ballistic Technology^TM. The basic concept is to encapsulate dollops of a soil-active herbicide into 0.68 caliber starch gel projectiles that can be delivered to specific weed targets with a pneumatic applicator. The first prototype batch of HBT capsules was highly effective in trials targeting Australian tree fern, banana poka and kahili ginger from more than 100 feet away. Other potential advantages of HBT technology include safer pesticide handling and improved application technique. Encapsulated HBT projectiles are by design ready-to-use and will eliminate the need for mixing liquid herbicides in the field. To learn more about the progress of HBT visit the Website at http://www.youtube.com/user/HawaiiRREA. Dr. Leary will be discussing this technique at the 2010 NRCA Weed Control Seminar in Indianapolis, January 27.

Figure 2 shows one stem becoming multiple stems when stumps are not treated with a herbicide.

Figure 3 shows prolific first year black locust root sprouts. Note stump in front of Joe's foot.

Stump treatment vs. cut surface

It seems every railroad has a brush cutter. Cutting removes the offending woody plants. Since hardwood trees store food reserves in their roots, nearly all hardwood species will sprout from the stump and root system if the stump is not treated with a herbicide. Not treating cut stumps with a herbicide means more stems to cut the next time, as Figure 2 illustrates. Cut stump treatments apply the herbicide solution to the bark of the cut stump and all exposed roots. These treatments are applied in an oil carrier and can be applied sometime after the stem has been cut. This is in contrast to a cut surface treatment where a water soluble herbicide is applied to the cambial region of a newly-cut stump. When done correctly, cut stump treatments are very effective.

A test of cut stump treatments, sponsored by Asplundh and Dow AgroSciences, was applied in the summer of 2008 and evaluated in September, 2009. The test sites included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Oregon. The treatment combinations were 1) 24 percent Garlon 4 Ultra + one percent Milestone, 2) 24 percent Garlon 4 Ultra + one percent Stalker, 3) 20 percent Garlon 4 Ultra + three percent Stalker, and 4) 100 percent Milestone VM Plus. These treatment combinations are known to be effective on a number of woody plant species.

Table 1. The occurrence of sprouts by stump diameter for all species and all treatments.

Table 1 shows most sprouts occurred on stumps less than 4.5 inches in diameter. Thirty percent of these small stumps sprouted compared to less than 10 percent of stumps larger than 4.5 inches in diameter. Small stumps may be the most difficult size to get enough herbicide through the bark to effectively control the developed root system, which can be seen in Figure 3. This diameter group highlights the strength and weaknesses of the main herbicides involved; Garlon + Milestone and Garlon + Stalker. Garlon + Milestone was weak on sassafras, ash, cherry and red oaks, but more effective on ailanthus and black locust. Garlon + Stalker was weak on ailanthus and black locust, but more effective on cherry. Neither combination was effective on sourwood at the rates used.