CSXT project to replace miles of ties in Michigan

More than a century ago, gangs of burly men would lay railroad ties at a snail's pace, driving them in with sledgehammers, the Lansing, Mich., State Journal reports. Today, the work proceeds more quickly with large hydraulic machines, but still not fast enough to avoid causing headaches for motorists facing traffic backups and detours.

Such a project to replace
40,000 ties on nearly 40 miles of CSX Transportation track between Lansing and
Howell, Mich., now is causing delays for motorists in Meridian Township. Drivers
hit some of those delays Wednesday and Thursday when Van Atta Road near Jolly
Road was closed off for the track upgrade. More temporary closures are
scheduled in coming weeks for Hagadorn, Burkley, Corwin and Harrison roads.

The track upgrades in
Meridian Township are occurring at the same time as a summer-long bridge
construction project on Dobie Road over the Red Cedar River and reconstruction
of Grand River Avenue near Meridian Road.

Bill Stelzer, a
Williams-town Township resident, said this week’s closure of Van Atta added up
to 10 minutes to his daily commute to his petroleum-exploration-consulting job
in Lansing. He said the Van Atta closure, combined with other work, was
disrupting north-south traffic in Meridian Township.

Bill Conklin, managing
director for the Ingham County Road Commission, said CSXT submits its upgrade
schedule to the road commission and other municipalities, and the commission
generally allows the train company to schedule their own work.

"We can’t really
control what the railroad does," Conklin said. "They have to do what
they have to do."

Tom Bowen, roadmaster for
CSXT in western Michigan, said the company began the project this month to
replace most of the railroad ties between Lansing and Howell. The work is
expected to be concluded in September. Bowen said there are about 3,000 ties
per mile of track, and CSXT generally replaces up to 1,400 ties per mile,
depending mostly on the condition of the tie. He said the company could extract
and lay 3,000 ties a day using hydraulic machinery that can pull up the old
ties and drive in new ones.

Bowen said the old wood
ties are shipped to a power plant in Alabama and burned for electricity.

The company generally
replaces most of the ties every six to eight years, he said. The project also
includes resurfacing where tracks cross roads.