2016 annual grade crossing report

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Whether they are made of concrete, wood, composite or rubber, grade-crossing surfaces are made to provide a smooth, safe surface for railroads and vehicles to traverse across.

 

{besps}June16_grade{/besps}
{besps_c}0|1grade.jpg| A HiRAIL Full-Depth Rubber Gage panel being placed.{/besps_c}
{besps_c}0|2grade.jpg| Century Group offers ADA-compliant concrete grade crossings to railroads for a smooth ride for all.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|3grade.jpg| An Omega crossing being placed on the railroad in the Region of Waterloo, ON, Canada.{/besps_c}

 

Whether they are made of concrete, wood, composite or rubber, grade-crossing surfaces are made to provide a smooth, safe surface for railroads and vehicles to traverse across.

 

Manufacturers and suppliers of grade-crossing surfaces continue to work to provide the easiest-to install products for the railroads while keeping safety for all in mind.

American Concrete/Enterprise Concrete
American/Enterprise Concrete Products (ACP/ECP) manufactures panels for any length of tie and any tie spacing. The company supplies eight-foot and one-and-a-half-inch, nine-foot and 10-foot long panels that are manufactured with a non-slip surface that is sealed to prevent ion mitigation from salt and other chemicals.

Buz Hutchinson, railroad sales and service at the company, notes that transit and high-speed rail projects are being constructed at an all-time high pace and many new intermodal yard projects are being constructed now.
“With the high demand, the Class 1 railroads are turning over standardized, high quality product lines at ECP and ACP,” said Hutchinson. “The Class 1s are increasing their project planners to keep up with current and future work; they know to go with products they can trust and companies that can rapidly adapt to any changes that are presented.”

ECP and ACP combine to deliver a high-quality, standardized crossing product that is in great demand with Union Pacific and BNSF and an expanding high-speed rail market, Hutchinson says.

“Although the oil-by-rail and coal market have fallen off recently, the rail industry recognizes the current rail infrastructure is insufficient to meet future demand. Intermodal facilities are being constructed to help resolve the highway congestion worsened by high truck traffic. Double and triple tracks are being added across the U.S. and our crossing business has dramatically expanded with this growth,” described Hutchinson.

American/Enterprise Concrete Products says it is currently working to develop a new crossing panel with a more durable material to facilitate the heavy truck traffic.

ECP and ACP production facilities are AAR/M1003 and PCI Certified with all QC staff certified by these organizations. American/Enterprise Concrete Products has a PHD-led Engineering Design and Draftin Department which can assist with any new concepts.

“A certification is one thing, but the ability to apply new knowledge, with tried and true quality processes, is what our people do for our products,” Hutchinson commented.

Century Group
Century Group Inc. has produced precast concrete grade-crossing panels for more than 25 years and has been in the precast business for 70 years.

“All of our manufacturing facilities are National Precast Concrete Association certified and we have achieved OSHA’s SHARP certification this year,” said Jerry McCombs, vice president of the Railroad Products Division.

Century specializes in custom manufacturing panels for various track configurations, such as turnouts, diamond crossovers, wide/narrow gauge, extreme loads, pedestrian and American with Disabilities Act compliant crossings.

The company provides personnel that mobilize to project sites to assist customers in the design and development of these custom panels. Century takes “as built” measurements of track structure to ensure an exact fit that meets the customers’ needs and the parameters of site-specific applications.

Century continues to batch/mix all of its own concrete at the company-owned and operated facilities verses using ready mix combined with utilizing grade 72 reinforcement verus the industry standard of grade 60.

“The 12,000 psi stronger reinforcement, combined with hands-on QA/QC from batching/mixing our own concrete enables us to provide the highest quality product to the marketplace,” explained McCombs. “Improved capacities and inventories at our manufacturing facilities allows us to continue to respond quickly to our customers’ needs.”

HiRAIL Corporation
HiRAIL Corporation manufactures a complete line of rubber grade-crossing surfaces including Hi-Rail, Pede-STRAILTM and Hi-Rail Rail Seal (RS). HiRAIL says its full-depth rubber crossings are a green product, manufactured from recycled vehicle tires. The crossings can also be recycled at the end of their useful life.

HiRAIL full-depth rubber grade-crossing systems provide a smooth, safe and attractive crossing surface for motor vehicles, the company notes. They are manufactured to accommodate most common rail sizes, rail fastenings and wood, concrete or steel ties. HiRAIL full-depth rubber crossing systems are available in both lagged and lagless designs. The company says the lagless design lessens crosstie degradation, as well as allowing for installation on concrete and steel ties.

Pede-STRAIL is a pedestrian crossing surface that meets ADA requirements. Pede-STRAIL has all the features of HiRAIL full-depth rubber and comes with a raised diamond surface for pedestrian stability.

HiRAIL RS is a product that works in conjunction with asphalt or poured-in-place concrete crossings and is manufactured to fit most common rail sizes on timber or concrete ties using all types of rail fastening.

“For HiRAIL, the demand this year is down from last year,” noted Walt Barry, vice president. “The majority of our crossing material sold this year has been to Class 1 railroads performing routine crossing maintenance and to contractors working at industrial sites. I think the crossing surface maintenance budgets have decreased. Unless rail traffic improves, I don’t expect it to get much better this year.”

Koppers
Koppers Inc. produces full-depth panels to cover eight-foot six-inch, nine-foot and 10-foot crossties, which are flush at the ends of the tie, as well as gauge and field flangeway panels for use with asphalt or concrete centers between the rails.

“Customers are more concerned these days with having the panels flush at the ends of the ties,” explained Kevin Reinhart, sales representative. “In the past, contractors may purchase panels that did not extend to the end ofthe tie or extended past the end of the tie. That has changed.”

Reinhart says that budgets have been decreasing this year as carloads are down due to the downturn in the coal and gas industries.

LT Resources
LT Resources, Inc., is preparing to roll out its newest crossing product this summer. The company says its ENDURANCE® SCP utilizes an innovative technology not previously used in grade crossings and incorporates many of the features from its popular ENDURANCE-XL PLUS design, as well as some new features.

“The result is an additional durable, long-lasting grade-crossing surface material option to fill our customers’ needs,” explained Linda Thomas, president. “ENDURANCE SCP can also be supplied in various colors and patterns to address the industry’s focus on highway-rail grade-crossing safety.”

ENDURANCE-XL PLUS crossings are manufactured using an engineered plastics formulation and can accommodate all mainline rail profiles and fastening systems. With built-in composite flangeway filler and lifting devices, the panels are said to be quickly and easily installed due to a limited number of parts. Just lay them down, lag them down and go, the company says.

Standard ENDURANCE-XL (dowelled) panels are now manufactured in full-depth in six-inch, 7-1/2-inch and 8-1/4-inch panel thickness to accommodate most rail sizes for use with both eight-foot six-inch and 10-foot ties. ENDURANCE-XL notched flange material is available in all of these sizes, as well for use in composite and asphalt applications – an alternative to the traditional timber and asphalt design.

“Demand for our products continues to be high for state highway-rail grade crossings, as well as new industrial development,” noted Thomas. “Railroads continue to make the best use of their budgets by investing in innovative, sustainable products that provide the best long-term performance whenever possible.”

Oldcastle Precast
Oldcastle Precast has worked with its railroad and contractor customers to produce custom StarTrack Crossing Systems for radius track with restraining rail and colored concrete.

All of the company’s StarTrack surfaces are one-piece casting precast concrete modules, with embedded Pandrol shoulders and E-clip fasteners, placed on a prepared subgrade with no ties. The 17-foot, six-inch long StarTrack modules are said to be ideal for quick construction through long, straight crossings or street running track applications.

“We continue to see transit agencies and freight railroads interested in installing crossing systems that can stand up to increasing vehicle and heavy truck traffic with little to no long- term maintenance,” explained Patrick Juelich, regional business manager of rail. “Crossing surface durability is only as good as it’s foundation and many crossings have poor soil conditions. These problem crossing areas can be solved through stabilizing the sub base, improving drainage and distributing loads over a larger area with our StarTrack crossing systems.”

Omega
Omega Industries, Inc., is an approved crossing supplier to BNSF, Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Kansas City Southern, Alaska Railroad and a host of shortline railroads, transit, industry and port authorities.

“Over the years, we have established a reputation for our quality work, quick delivery and customer service,” noted National Sales Manager Mark Mottola. “We are known throughout the industry for tackling some of the most difficult crossing situations. Whether it’s a DF track crossing, high degree of curve with restraining rail, narrow gauge or heavily-used industry track, we have the engineering capabilities and experience to take on the job.”

Omega’s product line includes BNSF/UP common standard lag-down panels, Canadian standard lag-down panels, non-lag panels for use on concrete ties, curved panels, custom turnout panels, DF track crossing panels, ADA-approved pedestrian panels, narrow gauge panels and steel switch point covers.

“We are proud to say that all steel, rubber and concrete products we use are made in the USA,” Mottola commented.

Omni
Omni Rail Products, Inc., offers a variety of grade-crossing solutions, including its TraCastTM tub-style crossing, which is a one-piece concrete design; Full-Depth Heavy Duty Crossing made with virgin rubber; Steel Reinforced Rubber crossings, which is said to work well for small rail sizes; VRA Rail Seal crossing, which is a solid molded product (no holes); ECR Concrete crossing with attached rubber and an Improved Concrete/Full-Depth rubber between rail and concrete crossing.

Bob Cigrang, vice president of sales says the company is seeing more steel ties in industrial applications than other forms of crossties.

Rocla
“The demand is down this year compared to the past few years when it was very strong,” noted Scott Craig, sales manager of specialty products at Rocla Concrete Tie, Inc. “The second quarter is always our busiest time, though it is steady this year, it isn’t near what it has been. I think most of this is due to decreasing budgets from both the railroads and the states. I hope to see the demand increase as we head in to the summer months.”

Rocla’s grade-crossing facility, which is PCI and AAR M-1003 certified, is located in Sciotoville, Ohio. The company’s crossing design is a full-width, full-depth system that accommodates rail sizes from 112-lb. to 141-lb. rail. Rocla’s panels are designed for both timber and concrete crossties. The panels are manufactured with a heavy steel angle frame, high-strength 7,000 psi concrete and come complete with attached rubber flange-way, bearing pads, deflectors and lag screws.

Stella Jones
Stella-Jones Corporation offers a complete line of solid timber crossings.

Jim Raines, vice president of sales, says that 2016 budgets seem to be decreasing and that crossing business is down slightly compared to 2015.

TRANSPO INDUSTRIES
TRANSPO INDUSTRIES, Inc., says it is excited for the incorporation of a new aggregate surface on its Bodan panels. It is the same aggregate used with the company’s high-friction surface treatments on roadways and polymer bridge deck overlays. TRANSPO notes that this surface exhibits high wear and skid resistance.

“Our panels are steel reinforced polymer concrete with a high-friction surface,” explained Rudy Gradishar, midwest regional manager. “The panels are supported by the rails, not the crossties, like most conventional systems.”

There is a new trend in grade-crossing safety in the use of dynamic envelopes, which are areas of color pavement to help prevent cars from stopping on or close to the rail crossing, Gradishar says.

“Railroads have decreased budgets for maintenance,” he explained. “The reasons given are an uncertainty regarding the economy and volume drops in certain market areas. The hope is that the budgets will rise as maintenance needs dictate. Passage of federal transportation funding might help with some greater long-term maintenance planning.”

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