Wheel Rail Interface Heavy Haul Conference Ready To Roll
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
CPKC Knoche Yard Office, Kansas City, Mo. Photo by David C. Lester
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –– The 30th Annual Wheel Rail Interaction Conference is set to kick off tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10 and runs through Thursday, June 12.
As the presenting sponsor of the Wheel Rail Interaction Conference, Railway Track & Structures will be reporting throughout the week on the key activities of the three-day conference, being held in one of the rail crossroads in America, Kansas City, Mo. The conference host is CPKC, and the Heavy Haul Principles Course, set for tomorrow, is sponsored by The National University Rail Center of Excellence (NURail CoE). NuRail CoE is a nine-university consortium led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and is the first academic research and education center to be supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration.
Today, several attendees who arrived early participated in a tour of CPKC’s Knoche Yard Office and Operations Center not far from Kansas City’s downtown area. This facility was constructed about one year ago, on the grounds on the former Kansas City Southern Knoche Yard, and is a state-of-the-art facility for dispatching and crew/employee support. The office has a locomotive simulator, handles conductor/engineer training and recertification programs, and constant reminders of the need to be safe on the railroad with it’s “Home Safe” program. CPKC reported that the rule on the railroad is “see something, say something,” when unsafe actions occur. The railroad reported on one conductor who had only been on the job two months who pointed out an issue with a train movement that avoided an incident. The “see something, say something” Home Safe program instills this careful thinking in the operating employees.
The facility also has a bank of solar panels on the property to help support power needs. It also offers a catering service to provide meal options for employees because of the relative lack of food options in the industrial area where the yard is located, along with a fitness area.
WRI founder and president Gordon Bachinsky said “We greatly appreciate CPKC providing the opportunity for our attendees to tour their new yard facility, and hosting our 30th Anniversary WRI Conference.”
