2016 update: Special trackwork

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

Turnouts, diamonds, frogs and other special trackwork components are always evolving as manufacturers study new technologies to improve the rails.

 

Manufacturers of special trackwork report a capital spending decrease in the past two years, but are optomistic and anticipate an increase in late 2016.

 

Atlantic Track
Atlantic Track says its focus has been on expanding infrastructure to enhance technology and to expand capacity to produce special trackwork.

“In the past 12 months, the company has made significant capital investments as part of its commitment to maintain its present customer base, as well as meet the demand with better delivery times,” the company noted. “We have completed the expansion of a 30,000-square-ft. space that now houses our new Advanced Switchpoint Machining Center in Memphis, Tenn.”

Atlantic Track anticipates that orders for manufactured goods will be sluggish through the third quarter of 2016, but are optimistic that they should pick up from there in anticipation of 2017 projects.

Cleveland Track Material
Cleveland Track Material, part of Vossloh North America, is utilizing its in-house resources to soon begin producing Buy America-compliant flash-butt welded frogs.
Products will include welded mono-block, conformal and standard profile welded frogs.

“We are committed to expanding our product offerings to meet the needs of North American railroads,” explained the company.

L.B. Foster Company
Since 2013, L.B. Foster Co. has been marketing the Tracksure™ range of patented nut locking devices in North America. The company said these devices can be used in a variety of trackwork applications, such as large diamond crossings, as this unique product prevents unintentional bolt loosening due to vibration and settlement.

They are designed to minimize railroad maintenance operations and enhance track safety. The company notes that the Tracksure bolt offers significant benefits in maintenance-intensive and safety-critical applications by securing the joint more effectively, thereby reducing railroad downtime, reducing bolt fatigue and allowing for quicker and simpler service where necessary.

“It has been extensively tested and approved by many freight and passenger railroads around the world and has just recently been approved for use in The Netherlands and Australia,” the company noted. “In North America, it has been successfully trialed at major transit agencies and is used by Class 1 railroads. It is suitable for OEM applications and can be retro-fitted to existing track.”

The locking device consists of a modified bolt with a reverse thread added to the end, which accommodates both the original nut and a Tracksure locking nut. This locking nut is applied to the reverse thread until it tightens against the original nut. A serrated steel locking cap then pushes down over both the original nut and the Tracksure nut, held in place with a spring clip. If the original nut starts to loosen, even microscopically, L.B. Foster says the locking nut tightens on the reverse thread with the locking cover combining both actions, ensuring a fail-safe bolt fixing.”

But unlike other fasteners, it can be simply maintained and does not require expensive capital equipment to install,” the company explained.

Nortrak-Damy
Nortrak-Damy introduced the WSM spring frog to Ferromex during 2014/2015, which is used in the railroad’s highest traffic lines.

Some anti-vandalism features have been tested and introduced to Ferromex and Ferrosur during the past few years due the high rate of steel components being robbed from the track.

The company is now in process to test an insulator (steel/plastic) to be applied in track curves with high vandalism.

Alejandro Damy, chief executive officer, notes that there has been a decrease in sales since 2014 and 2015 due the high investments in rolling stock to attend to the increasing demand of the auto manufacturing industry and intermodal in Mexico.

“We believe 2016 will be similar compared to 2015,” he explained. “Basically, railroads are looking for better performance on special trackwork, less maintenance and longer warranties. The major problem in Mexico is the poor maintenance provided by railroads to specialty trackwork after installation. Class 1s rely much on suppliers when a product fails prematurely or shows bad performance. Frogs are still the most demanding component in turnouts; Ferromex and Ferrosur are looking to test improved design frogs for mainline traffic.”

Progress Rail
Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company, manufactures a full line of track infrastructure products for the railroad, transit and industrial markets, including turnouts, crossing diamonds and replacement components for all sizes and design specifications. Progress Rail’s acquisition of Rail Products Solutions (RPS) expands the company’s product line for special trackwork to the transit and freight markets.

“Through efforts to reduce wheel impacts within turnouts and crossing diamonds, we are striving to achieve the railroad industry’s goal of reducing maintenance and overall product life cycle cost,” said Scot Campbell, director Class 1 sales, engineering and track services at Progress Rail. “We continue to develop and improve on our One-Way Low-Speed (OWLS) and full-flange bearing crossing designs. The OWLS design eliminates the flangeway gap on the mainline run. The full-flange bearing crossing design eliminates the wheel contact at the flange opening, which is an area with tread bearing diamonds that receives high impacts, leading to accelerated maintenance costs and eventual replacement of castings and subcomponents. Our full-flange bearing diamond significantly reduces these impacts.”

Progress Rail has also developed a vertical switch that eliminates the traditional interface between the switch point and stock rail. When used along with the company’s lift frog, Progress Rail says the turnout is seamless and invisible to mainline traffic. The company has also designed and tested in track a vertical, double-point switch derail, that when open, is also said to be seamless and invisible to mainline traffic.

“Following several years of strong demand for special trackwork from all segments, there has been a slight pull back in the market this year due to reduced car loadings caused by lower coal and oil shipments,” Progress Rail noted.

The company says it is actively pursuing transit and high-speed rail projects.

“We work jointly with our trackwork manufacturing and design staff in the United Kingdom and Australia to develop products for the transit and high-speed markets. With the acquisition of RPS, we now offer a complete system with direct fixation plates, rail fasteners and special trackwork,” Progress Rail commented.

voestalpine Nortrak
After the introduction of the thick web moveable point frog (MPF-TW) last year, voestalpine Nortrak released its Heavy Point Switch (HPS) this year. The HPS is a stock rail – switch point pair designed to strengthen and substantially extend the life of switch points in Class 1 turnouts.

“We have used a patented process called Kinematic Gauge Optimization to thicken the switch point at the most vulnerable area near the tip,” explained Ken Ouelette, vice president marketing. “The HPS can replace existing switch point – stock rail sets as a ‘direct drop in’ without modifications, regardless of the turnout geometry or manufacturer.”

Ouelette says that as Class 1 carloads, revenue and capital budgets have decreased, the company has seen a proportional decrease in available capital for special trackwork.

“At voestalpine Nortrak, we are fortunate to have the largest engineering team in the industry,” he noted. “We have had design resources dedicated to passenger rail in North America for many years. Beyond North America, we are also part of the voestalpine group, which has extensive experience with high-speed rail turnouts and signaling systems in Europe and Asia.This relationship within voestalpine allows us to draw upon shared experience and IP within the group to develop the right high-speed rail products for North America.”

He says that he has noticed that railroad managers are demanding optimal value for their special trackwork investments and that the company understands that this means products must be competitively priced and easy to install and maintain.

“We also understand that products must be delivered on time,” he noted. “At voestalpine Nortrak, we have rolled out an ‘Operational Excellence’ (OpEx) program to align all of our processes behind fulfilling customer needs. This has already helped us to improve on time delivery and we anticipate many more improvements as the OpEx program permeates our organization.”

voestalpine Nortrak’s Welded Boltless Manganese® frogs are designed specifically for Class 1 heavy-haul service. The design utilizes explosive depth hardened manganese steel and eliminates all rail joints, which reduces maintenance and leaves the frog unaffected by continuous-welded rail thermal stresses.

The company’s Welded Spring Manganese® (WSM) frogs are said to improve performance by using wear-resistant manganese steel to replace an assembly of rail, blocks and bolts that can wear and work loose.

“WSM Frogs can be welded when worn because of the high solidity casting. The WSM presents a continuous running surface along the mainline route and, when coupled with the Nortrak Spring Wing Controller, the operation of the wing for the diverging route is smooth and controlled,” he explained.

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