Seattle-area Sound Transit tunneling contractors Traylor Kemper Frontier pushed through the wall into the Capitol Hill station site to complete a two-mile light-rail tunnel from the University of Washington. The 21-foot diameter tunnel boring machine emerged within three millimeters of its target as part of the University Link light rail expansion.
Southern California’s Caltrain will conduct construction on the San Bruno Grade Seperation Project and perform maintenance at several locations.
In January, Railway Age announced that it had named KCS president and CEO Dave Starling its 2012 Railroader of the Year.
Harsco Corporation received new U.S. and international orders in its Harsco Rail track maintenance services, equipment and parts business totaling more than $25 million.
Twelve cities and states will share $16.9 million to relocate, replace and improve segments of railroad track under the Federal Railroad Administration’s Rail Line Relocation and Improvement competitive grant program.
Harsco Corporation’s Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, Salvatore Fazzolari has resigned, effective immediately. Harsco Director Henry Knueppel will serve as interim chairman & CEO while the Board of Directors conducts a search for a permanent successor.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today praised President Obama’s $74 billion budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation saying the funds will lay a new foundation for economic growth and competitiveness by investing in a national infrastructure network, building on recent safety achievements and modernizing transportation systems through research and innovation.
Winter is just a season for most of the lower 48. However, planning for winter and its slew of challenges is a year-round job for railroads. Avalanches can close routes and sub-zero temperatures can affect switches and engines. Plus, heavy snows can drive large game to follow cleared tracks. According to a report in the Juneau Empire, between October 2011 and January 20, 2012, 118 moose had been killed on Alaskan tracks. While an average moose that weighs between 1,200 to 1,500 pounds is no match for a locomotive, hitting one can be a sad and stressful experience for personnel.
RT&S asked North America’s most northern railroads, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific and the Alaska Railroad how they are preparing for and dealing with winter weather.
Canadian Pacific has a comprehensive winter plan in place for the 2012 winter season, which includes enhancements to strengthen its operation with contingent resources. The enhancements include increased staff in key critical locations to keep trains moving; 61 new locomotives in 2011 and 30 new locomotives in 2012, which will improve efficiency in adverse weather conditions and surplus older locomotives will be kept on hand in warm storage, making them easily accessible and immediately available to the operation, if weather conditions deem it necessary and increased snow plows, switch heaters and snow fences in critical areas.
Overall, the railroad says it’s pleased with its current equipment used to fight winter conditions but also notes that it is always open to any new equipment that may emerge.
“As you know, railroading is an outdoor industry and subject to all weather conditions, whether adverse or not,” said Kevin Hrysak, media relations manager – Canada. “CP has a rigorous winter planning process and has operating mechanisms in place to respond to all kinds of different weather situations from severe snowstorms, high winds to freezing rain. We have the infrastructure and measures in place to keep trains moving.”
CP says it has taken steps to enhance its robust winter plan and protect its service this winter thanks to lessons learned from the extreme, record-breaking weather conditions in 2010-2011.
“We have spent several months upgrading our plan and have increased our contingent resources to protect our service and believe we are prepared, if we encounter unfavorable weather conditions,” said Hrysak.
Canadian National’s approach to winter preparation is simple: it’s all about teamwork.
CN has made enhancements to three areas to make sure operations run as smoothly as possible during the current winter season. The enhancements include a bigger winter fleet, an improved winter operating plan and increased communication.
The railroad’s winter fleet is composed of 438 distributive power locomotives with 40 additional high horsepower locomotives; 15 new snow fighting machines; five additional rail-flaw detection vehicles, 12 new switch heaters, five switch heaters that have been upgraded from cold to hot air and 101 upgraded hot air blowers.
CN says having more equipment in place means it can maintain service standards throughout the winter months. The railroad is also focusing on initiatives to maintain terminal fluidity, improve communication and strengthen its fleet.
Some of those extra efforts include a new drainage system in Prince George, B.C., to prevent flooding, 30 dragging equipment detectors and snow clearing gangs in place at major terminals.
Alaska Railroad Corporation has two major concerns when it comes to winter. The first is the constant monitoring of avalanche paths, which requires coordination and careful considered judgment for both maintenance-of-way and train operations. The second is the extreme cold. The north end of ARRC’s system occasionally sees daytime highs of -32F.
“Cold weather patrols and train operating restrictions are used to mitigate this risk. The ARRC also installed a wheel impact load detector and we are seeing favorable results from controlling shelled wheels in cold weather,” said Tom Brooks, vice president of engineering.
While yards on the ARRC use graders, loaders, along with D6 cats and excavators for snow removal, most of the railroad’s snow removal operations employ ballast regulators. As snow accumulates, the railroad will run a snow fleet with a Jordan Spreader to push the snow further back, creating more storage for the ballast regulators.
Although, notes Brooks, larger ballast regulators may eventually eliminate the need for Jordan Spreaders and snow fleets.
ARRC also performs winter preparation during the warm weather months. Brooks says the railroad has an active summer program to upgrade avalanche paths with improved detection devices, mitigation or monitoring.
“We have a short summer season, so our summer equipment has to quickly convert to winter. This is particularly true of ballast regulators,” said Brooks.
Perhaps the best tool ARRC possesses to fight winter is a healthy sense of reality.
“It’s Alaska,” said Brooks, “winters are always tough.”
Class 1 railroad budgets are gearing up for another robust year and the engineering side of the industry is set to benefit. Last year saw the completion or progression of several expansion projects and 2012 looks to continue that trend. Expansion isn’t the only aim of these projects; railroads are continuing their commitment to renewing existing infrastructure. Crosstie, rail and bridge rehabilitation and replacements look to have another great year in 2012.
In our annual RT&S survey, we asked all the major railroads for a breakdown of their expected spending over the next year. In addition to the information gathered in our survey, supplemental sources such as industry association presentations and general reporting were used to develop the most accurate picture of the 2012 engineering forecast. All dollar figures should be read as estimates and are subject to change.
RT&S thanks all those who responded to the survey.
Amtrak’s engineering budget will see a slight increase to $483 million in 2012 from the $476 million budgeted in 2011. Amtrak’s C&S budget for 2012 is more than three times what its 2011 budget was, $42.8 million versus $13.1 million. One reason Amtrak will see a jump in its C&S budget is that the railroad intends to complete installation of Positive Train Control technology on a section of Amtrak-owned tracks along the Northeast Corridor by the end of 2012, which is three years ahead of the federally mandated deadline.
In addition to the PTC installation, Amtrak plans to move forward on several infrastructure improvements along the NEC. Close to $15 million will be spent for planning and other pre-construction activities on its Gateway Program; design, engineering and other pre-construction activities will advance on a project to upgrade speeds along a 24-mile section of the NEC between Trenton and New Brunswick, N.J.; construction will continue on the Niantic River Bridge replacement and work will continue on a multi-year project to replace track in all four of Amtrak’s East River tunnels that access New York Penn Station.
Amtrak plans to lay 153,000 rail feet of new rail, surface 600 miles of track and install 99,458 crossties, which includes 29,000 wood ties and 76,258 concrete ties.
“Amtrak is building the equipment, infrastructure and organization needed to ensure our strong growth continues into the future. We are investing in projects critical for enhancing the passenger experience, essential for supporting our national network of services and vital for the future of America’s railroad,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman.
BNSF plans a 2012 capital commitment program of approximately $3.9 billion, a $400 million increase over its 2011 capital spend of $3.5 billion.
The largest component of the capital plan is spending $2.1 billion on BNSF’s core network and related assets. The program also includes about $300 million for PTC and $400 million for terminal, line and intermodal expansion and efficiency projects. BNSF’s expansion and efficiency projects will be primarily focused on coal routes to improve velocity and throughput capacity and the new intermodal facility at Kansas City.
On the maintenance side of things, BNSF plans to lay 875 track miles of rail relay; install 3,518,000 ties of which 3,426,000 will be wood and 92,000 will be concrete; perform 600 miles of production ballast undercutting and 5,080 miles of production shoulder ballast cleaning and complete 140 bridge rebuilds including three major projects in Galveston, Texas, Burlington, Iowa and Plattsmouth, Neb.
In 2012, Canadian National plans to invest approximately C$1.75 billion (US$1.74 billion) in capital programs, which is up slighting from C$1.71 billion (US$1.70 billion) in 2011. Out of the 2012 budget more than C$1 billion (US$997 million) will be targeted on track infrastructure to maintain a safe and fluid railway network.
The railroad plans to lay 345 miles of new rail, install 1.6 million wood ties and 78,000 concrete ties.
In addition, the railroad will invest in projects to support a number of productivity and growth initiatives. These include speed/capacity initiatives, continued integration of the EJ&E, reconstruction of Kirk Yard, progress the AMT Infrastructure Program in Montreal, continued construction of the Calgary Logistics Park and several bridge projects.
Bridges will continue to be a large part of CN’s plan in 2012 with work scheduled to continue on the Dubuque River Bridge, Oshkosh Bridge and Fraser River Bridge, along with 17 additional bridge strengthening and rehab projects, as well as another 70 bridge replacements.
Canadian Pacific will increase the amount it spends on engineering in 2012 to $1.125 billion, up from $1.104 billion in 2011. The railroad plans to spend approximately $650 million on basic replacement capital and $33.2 million C&S expenses.
CP plans to lay 73,800 net tons of new rail, which is down slightly from the 85,600 net tons that was laid in 2011. Relay rail is up with an estimated 38,900 net tons to be installed in 2012 from the 34,400 net tons in 2011. Crossties also are expected to be slightly less with 862,000 wood ties in 2012 versus 910,000 wood ties in 2011 and 3,200 miles of track will be surfaced up from 2,650 miles in 2011.
CP will continue to rerail the North Line between Portage La Prairie, Manitoba and Wetaskiwin, Alberta in Canada, as well as bridge work including replacement of pile trestles on the DM&E acquired properties.
In 2012, CSX plans to install approximately 3.2 million crossties, lay 540 track miles of rail, surface 5,800 track miles, replace 18,000-20,000 bridge ties and perform approximately 50,000 welds.
The railroad continues to work toward the 2015 deadline for the PTC mandate. In 2011, CSX hired an additional 300 C&S employees and replaced more than 250 miles of obsolete signal equipment and equipped more than 1,000 locations with PTC communication solutions.
CSX continues to progress on its National Gateway Project with eight out of 10 tunnels under construction as part of Phase 1. Phase 2 and 3 of the project consists of 21 obstructions to clear with a target completion date of 2014. In 2012, CSX plans two overhead bridge removals, two track lowerings and two thru-truss bridge modifications. The railroad will also keep busy in 2012 with various new terminals and terminal expansions under construction including ones located in Worcester, Mass., Westborough, Mass., Winter Haven, Fla., Columbus, Ohio, Charlotte, N.C., and Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada.
The railroad’s central Florida capacity improvement projects are also expected to progress in 2012 and included 15 project locations, more than 51 miles of new upgraded track and more than 150 miles of new signal system upgrades.
CSX will also continue to work on the Chicago-area CREATE project, perform 20-25 miles of capacity construction and work on a number of passenger projects.
Kansas City Southern estimates its engineering budget to be $382.8 million in 2012 up from $366.6 million in 2011. On the C&S side of things, KCS plans to spend $21.5 million in 2012 up from $17.6 million in 2011 and the railroad will spend an additional $20.7 million on PTC-related expenditures not included in the 2012 C&S estimates.
KCS will lay 17,212 net tons of new rail in 2012. The railroad laid 35,285 net tons of rail in 2011, but that number includes a one-time stimulus-funded rail relay project of the Gulfport to Hattiesburg, Miss., line of approximately 63 miles. The railroad will put down 3,588 net tons of relay rail in 2012 as compared to 3,440 net tons in 2011.
On the crosstie front, KCS will install an estimated 927,500 ties in 2012, which includes 736,000 wood ties and 138,000 concrete. In 2011, the railroad installed 690,067 wood ties and 150,073 concrete. KCS will also surface 6,183 track miles this year, as compared to 6,009 track miles last year.
Norfolk Southern unveiled a total capital improvement program of $2.4 billion in 2012, which is a 12 percent increase over 2011 numbers.
“The majority of our capital spending is targeted towards strengthening the franchise,” said Deborah H. Butler, chief financial officer during NS’ fourth-quarter 2011 earning conference.
The engineering budget for 2012 is estimated to be at $1.491 billion up slightly from the $1.424 billion in 2011. NS will lay 82,083 net tons of new rail and 25,259 net tons of relay rail this year up from 75,438 net tons of new rail and 20, 538 net tons of relay in 2011. The railroad will install 2,508,000 wood ties, which is about the same number as 2011. NS will install 322,000 relay ties, down from 409,817 in 2011 and surface 5,480 track miles, which is approximately the same number of miles as 2011.
NS will move forward on several major projects in 2012 including expansion of the Bellevue, Ohio, yard, the replacement of intermodal terminal bridges above 51st Street in Chicago and continuing construction of several intermodal terminals located at Birmingham, Ala., Memphis, Tenn., Greencastle and Harrisburg, Pa., and Charlotte N.C.
NS also plans to spend an estimated $487.6 million in C&S capital and operating expenses in 2012, of which $231.7 million has been included for PTC. The C&S numbers are up significantly from $321.4 million in 2011, which included $75.1 million for PTC.
Union Pacific’s projected $3.6 billion 2012 capital spend is the largest in company history. In 2011, UP invested $3.2 billion in total capital. In 2012, UP plans to spend $1.92 billion, which is 53 percent of the total number, on replacement capital. This includes approximately 4.3 million ties, replacing approximately 1,000 miles of rail and surfacing 4,369 miles of track. The railroad also plans to spend $335 million, which works out to nine percent, on PTC.
In a prepared statement, UP said that by 2035, railroads are expected to carry 38 percent more cargo than they do today. To set the railroad up to handle this kind of future volume, UP has several key growth projects underway in 2012.
In the Northern Region, UP plans to construct a second mainline at Blair, Neb., upgrade signaling and switching systems on the UP West Line in Chicago and continue ongoing CREATE projects to improve freight and passenger rail traffic flow in Chicago. In the railroad’s Southern Region, siding projects and double tracking will progress in Texas and Louisiana, terminal improvements are planned in the San Antonio, Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston and south-central Louisiana areas and enhancements will be put in place on the Eagle Pass and Laredo gateway routes to Mexico. UP’s Western Region will see continued double tracking of the Sunset Route in Arizona, construction will continue on the Santa Teresa, N.M., intermodal and fueling facility and siding extensions and terminal improvements are planned in the Pacific Northwest.
The Association of American Railroads said the nation’s major freight railroads are projected to invest a record $13 billion in capital expenditures in 2012 to expand, upgrade and enhance the nation’s freight rail network. The freight railroads also expect to hire more than 15,000 employees this year, replacing retiring workers and adding new positions nationwide.
Yangtze Railroad Materials named Jeremy Tucker national sales manager.
Union Pacific will improve the transportation infrastructure in San Antonio, Texas, by investing $4 million in one of two rail lines that parallel Frio City Road. The project will help trains move more efficiently through the west side of the city.
L.B. Foster Company appointed Robert Bauer as president and chief executive officer and member of the board of directors, effective February 1, 2012. Bauer joins the company from Emerson Climate Technologies where he previously served as president of the Refrigeration Division, a business of Emerson Electric Co. Bauer also served as president of Emerson Network Power’s Liebert Division.
Weeds, plants and other undergrowth are Mother Nature’s little annoyances to the railroads. Vegetation management crews are constantly out on-track, off-track and now even up in the air, fighting the battle for a clear right-of-way. There have been many improvements in herbicide mixes and machines to help keep ground bare, including a new system called Chlorovision.
One challenge in particular for vegetation management crews is fighting for track time to get the job done, that’s why All Railroad Services Corp. takes the work off-track.
Vinnie Vaccarello, co-president of ARS Corp., notes that the company is consistently asked to find ways to do vegetation control off-track, since track time is always a premium. To aid in the time constraint battle, ARS Corp. looks to incorporate vegetation control in other services it provides to maximize track time.
Vaccarello says railroads defer vegetation management and it gets out of control; however, railroads are starting to learn that an aggressive maintenance program saves money in the long run.
Asplundh Railroad Division now offers its Aerial Tree Trimmer, an airborne trimmer, which does not require track time to perform trimming operations. It’s capable of working in rugged or swampy areas where ground crews have limited access to the right-of-way. Heavy overhanging brush is easily removed by the 10-blade saw cluster, leaving a ground to sky view. The Aerial Trimmer is also capable of providing chemical side trimming.
The company is currently working with Perceptive Robotics to develop a system called Chlorovision, which is currently in use. Using new vegetation identification technology, the Chlorovision system identifies vegetation in the treatment zone with pinpoint accuracy and automatically controls the application equipment to precisely treat only the targeted vegetation at speeds up to 50 mph. To learn more about Cholorovision, please see page 26.
Drift control is and always will be a major concern for railroad vegetation control applicator companies, notes Shane Boatright, president of Boatright Companies.
“It can have a tremendous impact on your insurance premiums in the event you have a claim due to allowing your chemical product to drift off the target area on to a landowner’s property along the railroad,” he explained. “We use a variety of drift control agents to avoid these problems and the weather each day dictates what and how much we need in a tank mix. Wind is not your friend in this business.”
Boatright says he is happy to see that with budget cut backs during this tough economy, the shortline railroad customers continue to spray their railroads each year.
“We encourage that simply because skipping a year of vegetation control spraying on your railroad can be very expensive in the long run,” he said. “Spraying something is far better than nothing in a railroad’s continuing efforts to control the brush and vegetation growing along their railroad each year.”
Brandt Rail Services is a U.S.-based service contract arm of Brandt Road Rail Inc. BRS provides the Brandt family of railroad maintenance-of-way products packaged in a service plan for its customers. BRS provides a self-powered excavator package, Brandt Rail Tool, that comes with a 52-inch brush cutting head. This head is powered by a dedicated power source so the operation is able to handle heavy brush cutting with no loss in motive or braking power.
“Our service plans include providing a grapple, a bucket and the heavy-duty brush cutting head,” said Steve Orrell, vice president rail services at BRS. “If heavy brush, refuse or timber products need removing from the same remote sight, the Brandt Rail Tool can pull up to two air dumps or gondolas for hauling away all types of material. No other brush-cutting platform can pull its own cars if heavy clearing is needed.”
“The single largest challenge in our industry today is the continued development of herbicide-resistant weed species,” said Wayne Hug, vice president railroad division at DeAngelo Brothers Inc.
“One key contributing factor to this problem is the fact that our industry has gone several years without much new product development, so our control options have been limited,” he explained. “Roughly 10 years ago, a lot of brand name product patents began to expire; that created huge expansion opportunities for the generic market. As costs for generic products came down, control of certain species became more difficult because the chemistry at hand had already been heavily used for several years. The end result is many of the products that effectively controlled challenging species just a few years ago now have almost no effect on our most difficult challenges such as kochia, sprangle top and even crab grass. While the old chemistry still effectively controls 80 percent to 90 percent of the weed and grass species we encounter and it is still needed, it effectively eliminates competition for other, more difficult to control species and those species populations are increasing at rapid rates.”
The company’s challenge with chemical-resistant weed species is comparable to the challenges humans are encountering today with “Super Bugs” (infections) and the lack of new, effective antibiotics to control them, notes Hug.
Dow AgroScience’s aminopyralid-based products are relatively new to the market. These include Milestone®, Capstone® and Opensight® specialty herbicides. The active ingredient, aminopyralid, provides systemic control of target species, such as marestail and many other tough-to-control broadleaf weeds. It also is said to have a favorable environmental profile and Milestone was registered under the Reduced Risk Pesticide Initiative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Resistance is no stranger to vegetation management crews.
“In 1990, you may have been able to treat an acre with five pounds of herbicide and get 80 percent control,” explained Homer Deckard, railroad IVM specialist for Dow AgroSciences. “Then, in 2000, maybe it moved to seven pounds of herbicide to get 70 percent control. Now, you could be looking at 10 pounds of herbicide to get 50 percent control.
Deckard says the resistance has become so specialized that you can’t just add more herbicide to achieve that same control. One has to consider adding additional herbicides with different modes-of-action to traditional mixes to address one or two resistant weeds.
“We are really at a tipping point,” he said. “If we don’t work as an industry to address resistance, our railway track and structures will be overtaken by resistant ‘super weeds’ like marestail, kochia, pigweed and others.”
Harvey Holt, professor emeritus, Department of Forestry & Natural Resources at Purdue University notes that kochia, an annual broadleaf weed, occurs in almost every state and province in the U.S. and Canada.
“It also has the distinction of having plants resistant to multiple herbicide modes-of-action,” he explained.
A test of herbicide treatments containing newly-registered products, as well as industry standards was established April 4, 2011, near Yakima, Wash., to a site had not been treated in 2010. The following combinations of registered herbicides resulted in more than 90 percent bare ground, 159 days after treatment:
• Esplanade 5 oz + Perspective 4.75 oz + Razor 2 qt +R-11 ¼ percent
• Esplanade 5 oz + Perspective 7.5 oz + Razor 2 qt + R-11 ¼ percent
• Method 6 oz + Matrix 3 oz + Razor 1 qt + R-11 ¼ percent
• Method 4 oz + Hyvar 2 lb + Razor 1 qt + R-11 ¼ percent
Each year presents its own unique challenges as more weeds develop resistance to popular chemical active ingredients and customers demand better control, explains Craig Mercier, president and CEO of MERCIER’S, Inc.
“By partnering with Alligare, LLC, the nation’s largest vegetation control chemical supplier, MERCIER’S, Inc., has isolated the best chemical active ingredients, creating sound herbicide mixes that provide unmatched weed control,” Mercier said. “The key to having chemical choices in the years to come is to not cut corners by applying at a reduced rate.”
Though many companies have experienced challenging times, Mercier says MERCIER’S, Inc. has had much success.
“Our greatest asset we bring to any customer for any job can be summed up in one word: integrity. If we always strive for the highest mark, then our business will continue to grow expedientially,” he explained.
Nufarm Americas Inc. launched a new product, Aquasweep, that contains the active ingredients 24-D triclopyr. It is the first combination product to be launched that contains aquatic use sites. The product is said to perform well on broadleaf weeds, brush and vines.
The EPA is no longer accepting label verbiage as “non crop” use sites, notes George Telesz, regional sales manager at Nufarm.
“Each application site must be specifically defined. Railroad applicators need to be aware of these changes to be in compliance with labeled use sites. As labels are updated by manufacturers the updates are being added. Some agricultural products may not be acceptable in the railroad market in the future.”
In the Midwest, high plains and west resistance management continues to challenge applicators, Telesz explained.
“Rotational herbicides needs to be considered to break the chain of over using the same product year after year,” he said.
Kershaw, a Division of Progress Rail Services Inc., has recently introduced the new generation Two Sky Trim. The Sky Trim is a high-production mechanical tree trimmer that is capable of trimming tree limbs up to a height of 75 feet, a faster rate than was previously possible, says Kershaw. The Sky Trim can be fitted with rail gear when used on rail right-of-way. This all-terrain machine is powered by a 127 hp Caterpillar engine and utilizes heavy-duty Caterpillar axles. The operator’s cab is said to offer exceptional visibility and comfort and is industry-certified for roll over and falling objects protection.
The company also developed a new high-production brush cutter, the Klearway Model 500. This machine is capable of cutting and mulching heavy brush and trees up to 12 inches in diameter.
“The machine is growing in popularity because of its maneuverability and high production on all types of terrain,” noted Mike Balkom, national sales manager utility equipment at Kershaw.
The unit is powered by a hp Caterpillar 200 engine and has power to spare when clearing heavy brush. The Klearway’s mulching attachment allows for safe operation when cutting near crossings as the front-mounted drum mulcher minimizes the possibility of projectiles being thrown while cutting. The cab offers operator comfort with great visibility and is industry certified for roll over protection.
“For 2012, we will be introducing an all-terrain carrier for bucket lifts and herbicide spraying equipment,” said Balkom.
The requests Rail Construction Equipment Co. receives are for versatility in products to handle vegetation requirements. RCE has developed a new on-track brush cutter that it says provides improved cutting ability and meets all tier 4 emission requirements.
RCE has been developing new attachments to handle brush cutting to add to its on-track and conventional off-track machines. For example, more cutter heads for RCE’s high-rail excavators and tie cranes.
“The economy has had some affect on this market, however, we are seeing an increase in the demand for the renting of this equipment,” noted Dennis Hanke, railroad specialist for RCE.
The Tiger WetCutTM from Robolube Industries, Inc., helps control unwanted vegetation with a systemic control system. The herbicide is applied directly after the cut, ensuring positive and complete application of the herbicide to the vegetation. It allows for spot spraying or continuous operation and can be used with rotary or flail cutters.
“A wide variety of herbicides can be applied,” noted Bob Pieper, president of Robolube Industries, Inc. “Most of our customers have been asking for a larger truck with the ability to cut at 28 ft. to 30 ft. from centerline of track. We all want to do more with the equipment that we have to justify the expense and cost of operation.”
The Tiger RailKutTM provides on-and off-track vegetation control. Tiger transforms a Ford F-550 truck into a 21-foot reach boom-type mower that will handle trees up to six inches in diameter with its rotary head. Tiger also offers a quick, interchangeable cold air blower that allows the RailKut to increase its utilization in the winter months for blowing snow and debris from switches and other areas that can be problematic.
Research and development departments continue to drive advancements in rail-flaw detection technologies and methods. Railroads want to find smaller and smaller defects but they also need a total assessment of rail health.
Herzog Services, Inc. (HSI), has seen continued growth over the 2011 calendar year with the addition of another Class 1 railroad to its customer base, allowing HSI to strengthen its presence in the North American market.
“A growing market share with new customers and new requirements is an exciting focus for our team,” said Troy Elbert, assistant vice president of Herzog Services, Inc.
Jeff Wigh, director of Research and Development, has been working diligently to increase HSI’s technical staff and to partner with HSI customers to analyze and meet changing needs and wants in the rail testing industry.
The Research and Development team also has new products on the horizon that Elbert says will not only improve defect detection capabilities, but also provide a suite of products to increase the analytical options available. Data, such as rail profile and light geometry, can be added if a customer so desires and can be updated with each subsequent scheduled ultrasonic inspection.
“This will allow us to collate ultrasonic inspection and other rail health data to trend and monitor problem areas more efficiently for our customers. This could present a cost savings to our customers by allowing them to focus on areas that need more frequent inspections or other maintenance measures to prevent premature rail failures,” said Elbert. “HSI will continue to provide customer service to the industry and refine our products to be the most reliable and efficient inspection system on the market. With upcoming new product capabilities and expansion of services, Herzog Services, Inc.’s goal is to give our customers value for their inspection dollar.”
Nordco Rail Services and Inspection Technologies launched two new rail-flaw detection vehicles in 2011. The company says these vehicles focus on providing exceptional reliability and defect detection.
“To accomplish this we have introduced some exciting new technology, our patent-pending On Board Run on Run system, a 48-channel fully digital hardware platform and an Automatic Wheel Probe alignment system utilizing rail profiling data,” said Patrick Graham, president of Nordco Rail Services and Inspection Technologies. “Our focus is to continue to improve the quality of the test while driving up the total miles we can test in a given day. The On Board Run on Run system allows the operator to see the previous test information; this will allow better decisions and affect both test speed and quality.”
Graham notes that adding rail profiling to a detector car allows the railroad to collect profiling data as frequent as every two weeks or specifically tailored to a customer’s needs.
“However, it also provides the detector car with the exact location of the web of the rail relative to the gauge corner. Using this, we have specific algorithms that adjust the wheel probe to insure it is always centered over the web of the rail. Once again, increasing quality and test speed,” said Graham.
Nordco also launched the “One Pass” manual inspection system in 2011. This allows for a fully recordable GPS tracked test of a rail in one pass. Nordco utilizes its XL9-11 wheel probe with 11 transducers including the side looker transducers for vertical split head detection.
According to Graham, customers are continuing to request increased quality and test speed, as well as looking for ways to reduce service failures.
“One of the ways we responded to this need is our expanded 48-channel platform. This allows us to continually deploy new wheel probe technology with significant extra processing power. When we couple this with our latest XL9-11 wheel probe, we have extra physical room available on the test carriage and have extra process channels.
Because rail surface conditions can be a factor in providing a good quality test and training and maintaining quality personnel is always a challenge due to the nature of the business, Nordco says it has enhanced its training programs with in-house simulations and hands-on track time to further develop the skills of its chief operators.
“Nordco continues to offer the railroads varying solutions to rail-flaw detection. We provide full service turnkey testing services, as well as sell rail-flaw detection systems directly to the railroads. This allows the railroad to work with the model that best fits their business needs. In many cases, the solution we provide is in-between the two options, which continues to be the strength of Nordco; flexibility to provide the right solution to meet our customer’s needs,” said Graham.
Precision Rail Stress Testing Inc (Precision RST) says it is addressing a long-standing industry need with the introduction of the Rail Stress Tester. According to Precision RST, the system is designed to quickly and accurately measure the neutral temperature of rail in a non-destructive manner.
“Our customers have told us that they are looking for a neutral temperature testing system that is accurate, fast, portable and non-destructive,” said Rick Middaugh, general manager at Precision RST. “There is increasing demand in a number of areas, from Class 1 to passenger to short lines: If there is a risk of a rail break or thermal misalignment, there is a need for neutral temperature testing.”
Middaugh notes that with rail stress measurement testing, the ongoing challenge lies in measuring the residual stress in the rail, as every rail has its own residual stress, however minimal. He says the system being introduced by Precision RST includes a calibration process that addresses the residual stress issue and allows for quick and accurate measurements every time.
“Neutral temperature testing has been an issue for years and Precision RST’s solution offers an efficient, accurate and cost-effective method to measure neutral temperature,” said Middaugh. “This system can be used for planning purposes. Railroads can focus valuable resources and maintenance efforts based on the results of the testing. The system can also be used for validation. For example, the tester could be applied as cwr is being laid and de-stressed to validate that it has been de-stressed to the targeted level prior to welding.”
Sperry Rail Service says a number of technological developments it brought to the market contributed to the company’s detection of 90,000 rail-flaw defects in North America last year.
“Sperry’s approach is based on three principles – customization, innovation and service,” said Jamie O’Rourke, general manager of Sperry. “Railway clients share common issues but are inherently unique in their operations, with widely varying internal infrastructures, cultures, track conditions, usage, standards and regulatory oversight. The Sperry approach is to customize our proprietary capabilities and best-available technologies for programs specific to each railway.”
Sperry says recent innovations have come from a range of specific customer needs to broaden strategies implemented from around the world. For example, Sperry has deployed and released its Joint Bar Crack Detection (JBCD) system for inspecting joint bars for cracks or breaks. According to Sperry, the need was highlighted by Class 1 railroads’ interest in leveraging the frequency of Sperry’s rail-flaw detection vehicle to deliver a non-disruptive, value-add solution. John Kocur, who leads Sperry’s production engineering, said “the JBCD has been deployed on our 950 Series vehicle platform. The test vehicles are upgradable with the JBCD technology. This means no additional track access time is required to complete the joint bar inspection.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Sperry says it is advancing the implementation of its nonstop testing program in North America, moving from the pilot stage of 2010 to offering full service in 2012. This is being done collaboratively with rail-flaw detection leaders of the Class 1 railroads in a series of “stakeholder meetings” allowing each railroad engineering group to review the best fit of this technology for their specific infrastructure.
“The common denominator between our Joint Bar Crack Detection and our nonstop testing innovation is more actionable management information while lessening the footprint of inspection services,” said Alastair Veitch, managing director of global engineering at Sperry, “North American railroads will continue to require reduced risk while traffic and tonnage increase. That means efficiency and expertise in the testing service are paramount.”
Sperry says its technology road map requires new products and enhancements in platforms for delivery, detection technology and software management and points out 2011 was a year of significant development in all three. In platforms, Sperry says its delivery of the new Sperry 450 Series vehicle offers a lighter-weight and more nimble rail-flaw detection vehicle to deliver its core ultrasonic, X-Fire and vision technologies. The company points out that this platform is a fit for railroads seeing the benefit from a smaller vehicle than Sperry’s 950 Series vehicle. Further down the size scale, 2011 saw the implementation and rollout of the Dual Rail Inspection System and B-SCAN Flaw Detector single rail walking stick.
In the key area of detection technology, Sperry’s efforts continue to drive towards a full review of the rail condition. The biggest challenges to full detection, notes the company, come from the surface condition of the rail and the need to inspect the steel at a high-speed. An exciting focus for Sperry is the improvement of its proprietary induction technology bringing newly modeled coverage of the rail head for detecting defects with induction as part of Sperry’s next generation Electromagnetic Rail Inspection. This technology includes Sperry’s new surface crack detection and measurement system. Sperry has initiated trials with new base-defect focused ultrasonic technology that can be targeted for areas with a high concentration of base defects. Dr. Mark Havira, who has been leading Sperry’s ultrasonic detection research and development for 10 years, commented that “the full complement of testing platforms from slow to high speed now in service by Sperry gives us the opportunity to focus detection where it is most needed. This is especially true with base defects.”
Sperry says it has made advancements in the area of software and information technology, as well. The company offers its Sperry Data Management System (SDMS), which uses the Internet with secure access to the rail-flaw detection history for each of Sperry’s North American customers and has outfitted all of its rail-flaw detection equipment with wireless technology to ensure connectivity with the vehicles and monitoring performance on a real-time basis.
The proprietary DCS.NET on-vehicle software program has been completely implemented in 2011 and manages the inspection process while updating and drawing from SDMS. Sperry notes that a powerful new component recently developed enables the chief operator on the vehicle to concurrently view prior tests to assess changes in the rail condition. Sperry points to this tool as a key reason the DCS.NET was advanced across its fleet.
Dave Corby, Sperry director of software and information technology said “these advancements are part of the Sperry Geographical Information System (SGIS) that will accurately tie locations and historical information to benefit each North American railroad, in line with their specific information technology strategy”.
Underpinning all of the above technological advancement is the ongoing development of a highly skilled workforce to operate these systems that are mission-critical to the railroads. Sperry points out its stringent classroom training for rail-flaw detection chief operators and 2011 marked the 100th graduation from the class curriculum by a Sperry employee.
“With all the technological advancements coming from fifty engineers working at Sperry, the focused training on standard operating procedures allows us to ensure we not only meet our customers’ needs in technology, but equally as important, in service,” stated O’Rourke.
Dear Railway Track & Structures and Rail Group News readers,
Happy New Year. January 1 marked my first day as publisher of the Simmons-Boardman Rail Division, which consists of Railway Age, International Railway Journal and Railway Track & Structures.
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