Update 2015: special trackwork

Manufacturers of special trackwork components offer pieces designed with a longer lifespan in mind.

{besps}July15_special{/besps} {besps_c}0|1special.jpg| Nortrak-Damy’s WSM spring frog installed.{/besps_c} {besps_c}0|2special.jpg| Atlantic Track’s expanded facility in Memphis, Tenn., under construction.{/besps_c} {besps_c}0|3special.jpg| Progress Rail’s vertical switch is designed to eliminate the traditional interface between switch point and stock rail.{/besps_c} {besps_c}0|4special.jpg| voestalpine Nortrak’s moveable point frog made from thick web rail.{/besps_c}

Manufacturers of special trackwork components offer pieces designed with a longer lifespan in mind.

Special trackwork, such as turnouts, diamonds and frogs, are subjected to high impacts that affect life-cycle costs. Suppliers are working to design products that minimize or even eliminate these impacts to reduce maintenance and improve longevity.

Atlantic Track & Turnout

Atlantic Track & Turnout Co. is expanding its Memphis, Tenn., special trackwork manufacturing facility. Construction is underway on a 13,500-square-foot addition, which is scheduled for completion in August of this year. Since acquiring the property in 2010, the company has expanded the facility four times.

The company has also purchased a new six-axis switch point machining center, which will be installed when construction of the expanded facility is completed.

“The expansion of the Memphis facility, along with the addition of the advanced machining center, is just the next phase in a series of significant investments the company has made to provide a greater quantity of superior quality materials to our Class 1 railroad, contractor and industrial customers,” explained Jeff Grissom, vice president engineering.

Grissom says that he sees budgets for special trackwork holding steady.

“Demand for special trackwork items remains high across our customer base, which includes Class 1 and regional railroads, transit authorities, shortlines, industry and contractors. Our lead times are over-extended and we will continue to make investments in people and equipment to reduce those lead-times.”

For Atlantic Track, the continued development of tangential geometry for heavy-haul applications will continue to be an engineering priority. Grissom says that R&D in this area has yielded significant interest in improving performance by reducing the amount of lateral deflection that secant geometry generates.

“Focusing on the switch area and combining recent advances in creating conformal tread surfaces will re-define parameters in the immediate future for what is considered to be a premium turnout arrangement,” he explained.

Grissom sees supply chain diversity as a key contributing factor to the current and future growth of the company and feels strongly that a blend of different products sold to a variety of railroad and transit customers creates strength through diversity.

Nortrak-Damy

Nortrak-Damy recently designed and supplied anti-vandalism features for track components, especially in turnouts supplied to Class 1 Mexican railroads, due to the high rate of vandalism to track components.

“Railroad reform in Mexico had a negative impact in the budgets of the whole industry, especially with the Class 1 during 2014,” explained Alejandro Damy, chief executive officer. “We have seen some improvements during the past few months, but nothing compared to 2013.”

Damy says customers are looking to get the most for its trackwork investments. For instance, he says Ferromex has introduced the WSM spring frog at certain locations with immediate improvements. The low impact heel frog has been tested with Ferromex, which Damy says is designed to reduce maintenance cost and increase operational performance.

Progress Rail Services

Progress Rail Services is a subsidiary of Caterpillar and a full line manufacturer of special trackwork, including turnouts, crossing diamonds and replacement maintenance items of all sizes and designs to the railroad and transit industries.

“Turnouts and crossing diamonds are subjected to high impacts that affect the overall life-cycle cost of the components,” explained Matt Windon, manager engineering design. “Progress Rail Services continues work towards designing products that eliminate or minimize these impacts to reduce maintenance and increase the overall product life. In compliment with the lift frog that was introduced in 2006, we have developed a vertical switch that eliminates the traditional interface between the switch point and stock rail, creating a seamless invisible turnout for mainline traffic. The vertical switch and lift frog are installed in Class 1 track.”

In addition to the company’s OWLS crossing diamond that is designed to eliminate the flange gap on the mainline heavy run, Progress Rail Services continues to develop and improve its full-flange-bearing design. To date, there are eight full-flange-bearing crossing diamonds in track on Class 1 railroads with additional installations planned for 2015. The full-flange-bearing diamond eliminates the wheel tread contact at the flangeway opening that creates high impacts, which leads to accelerated maintenance cost and eventual replacement of castings and subcomponents, says Windon.

“Significantly reducing the impacts associated with conventional crossing designs will also aid in maintaining the track surface and mechanical equipment,” said Windon. “The full-flange-bearing diamond is designed for speeds up to 60 miles-per-hour in mainline Class 1 service.”

Through the company’s efforts to reduce wheel impacts within turnout and crossing components, Progress Rail Services says it is striving to achieve the goal of reduced maintenance and overall lower product life-cycle cost.

Unitrac

Unitrac Railroad Materials, Inc., distributes new rail and relay rail, OTM and does track removals, as well as buy and trade rail and other track materials. The company says that based on discussions with various railroads over the past six to nine months, budgets for special trackwork are holding steady. Unitrac has more than 85 years experience supplying the railroad industry with its services and President Phil Pietrandrea says the company does its best to listen and respond to customer needs on a case-by-case basis.

voestalpine Nortrak

This year, voestalpine Nortrak Inc. launched two new products: The Spring Wing Controller and the Thick Moveable Point frog.

The Spring Wing Controller replaces conventional retarders previously used on spring frogs. The Spring Wing Controller is available on all Spring Frogs manufactured by voestalpine Nortrak, including its Welded Spring Manganese (WSM) frog and as a standalone item for field retrofits.

“The Spring Wing Controller’s design suppresses the large internal pressure gradients normally experienced when the wheel initially forces the wing open,” noted Ken Ouelette, vice president marketing. “On track, this equates to a service life that is an order of magnitude longer than conventional spring frog retarders.”

After more than two years of testing under axle loads greater than 40 tons, the company released a Buy America-compliant thick web moveable point frog called the MPF-TW.

“As the name implies, the point and wing rails are made from thick web rail, providing a more robust MPF that retains all of the advantages of designs based on European rail sections,” explained Ouelette.

Ouelette says voestalpine Nortrak has responded to the ongoing expansion of capital programs over the past two years with significant capital investments in all five trackwork plants, plus its Decatur Manganese foundry, where the company has a fully-integrated and Buy America-compliant supply chain.

He says that after record investments made last year, spending patterns seem to be holding steady. Going forward, however, Ouelette notes lackluster carloadings (excluding intermodal) may cause budgets to tighten.

As intermodal traffic increases and other traffic patterns change, voestalpine Nortrak is seeing an increased focus on yard investments.

“We have seen that our yard optimized concrete turnout provides a cost competitive alternative to wood turnouts, while offering significant maintenance advantages over time,” he said.
The company’s Fixed Infrastructure Asset Monitoring (FIAM) line has been gaining popularity at a number of North American railroads this year, he notes.

“Using non-invasive technology, our FIAM equipment monitors the motor current on any brand of switch machine for every switch throw and then provides a warning as components wear and turnout performance degrades from an acceptable standard. This allows maintenance-of-way or communications and signals employees to plan a visit to the location and correct the problem before a failure can cause a train delay.”