CTA rails get high-tech checks

February 14, 2001 Since the 1800s railroads have relied on a measuring stick and a trusty set of eyeballs to make sure tracks are properly aligned, which is essential to preventing derailments. It might be surprising, but the Chicago Transit Authority still uses that low-tech approach on a daily basis reports Jon Hilkevitch in his column in the Chicago Tribune.

Thirty-two CTA inspectors
walk every foot of the agency’s 224-mile rail system, visually checking old
track twice a week and newer track once a week. It’s a tall task on such an old
system, and there is little room for error.

After a bad accident four
years ago blamed on inspection lapses, the transit agency now brings in lasers
and a sophisticated "brain box" once a year. The diagnostic equipment
recently completed a check of the tracks to pinpoint any emerging problems that
CTA inspectors might have missed.

The correct gauge, or
distance between rails, of CTA tracks is 4 feet 81/2 inches. That’s what is
needed to provide a smooth ride for passengers and, more important, to prevent
a derailment.

Two traditional tools are
at the core of the standard visual inspection conducted each day by CTA trackwalkers
– a 6-foot carpenter’s rule that can be purchased at any hardware store, and an
eagle eye, which takes years of experience to acquire. If it appears to an
inspector that the rails are not spaced properly, the carpenter’s rule is used
to check, officials said.

The visual inspections can
be hit or miss, however. The worst recent failure resulted in the 2006
derailment of a packed train in the Blue Line subway. So now, annually, CTA
officials leave nothing to chance. The agency has contracted with the Holland
Co. of suburban Crete, Ill., to bring in a track-strength vehicle to evaluate
the track gauge. In addition, the vehicle applies a 3,000-pound force downward
per wheel and 3,000 pounds outward against the rails, simulating the loaded
gauge of a train, to test whether the rails stay securely in place or start to
spread out.

The track-strength vehicle
is basically a pickup truck converted into a high-rail car. Its brain box is
equipped with lasers, cameras and data-transcribing devices that feed a computer.

"You learn from the
testing whether the rails are going to move laterally, which obviously would be
a bad thing to have happen," said John Herndobler, CTA manager of track
and civil engineering.

The strength test isn’t
something a trackwalker can carry out.

"I’ve never seen a
track inspector who can kick the rail with 3,000 pounds of force," said a
straight-faced Herndobler, who developed a wry sense of humor while working
alongside 600-volt electrified third rails for many years.

After the July 11, 2006,
Blue Line derailment and smoky fire west of the Clark/Lake station downtown, an
investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board uncovered systemic
weaknesses and a lax culture regarding how the CTA carried out track
inspections. The accident involving the eight-car train sent more than 150
passengers to hospitals suffering from smoke inhalation and other injuries. Lag
screws and other devices that secure the rails had been broken or were badly
corroded, investigators found. In reports before the derailment, CTA track
inspectors did not note rotten rail ties and corrosion of fasteners that
contributed to the failure of the track.

The safety board determined
that the probable cause was "the CTA’s ineffective management and
oversight of its track inspection and maintenance program and its system safety
program."

Then-CTA president Frank
Kruesi subsequently fired five employees, including two managers. Kruesi also tightened
oversight of the trackwalkers and their supervisors, requiring strict
documentation, whereas before paperwork was often missing or falsified, the
NTSB found.

The safety board
recommended that the CTA bring in a track-strength vehicle annually to assess
the condition of the eight CTA rail lines and all rail yards.

"It gives us a
secondary level of assurance that the track fastener system is holding the
rails in place," said James Harper, CTA deputy chief engineer.

A major drawback with the
daily visual inspection routine is that it takes years of experience for CTA
workers walking the tracks to acquire the skills needed to spot a long list of
potential flaws, officials said.

"I can walk on the
track and pick up with my eye a half-inch (variance)," Herndobler said.
"So that’s what you’re hoping (rookie track inspectors) are going to
develop into so they can eyeball it."

Inspectors are trained to
look for such signs as fresh movement of the steel plates that sit on top of
rail ties. Movement often can be detected by discoloration from rubbing on the
plate, Harper said.

Worn-out plates were among
a number of clear signs that the degraded section of the Blue Line track in
2006 should have been reported and repaired, the NTSB investigation said.

During the evaluation by
Holland’s track-strength vehicle, no emergency situations were uncovered,
Harper said.

The track-strength vehicle
did find instances of track "warp," he said. Warp results in
side-to-side shifting of railcars, which translates into an unpleasant riding
experience. Warp also is an early indicator of needed track repairs, he said.

Yet the overall condition
of the tracks has significantly improved in recent years.