FRA proposes new concrete crosstie regs

The FRA recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) related to concrete crossties.

In the NPRM notice posted in the August 27 edition of the Federal Register, the FRA is proposing "…to amend the Federal Track Safety Standards to promote the safety of railroad operations over track constructed with concrete crossties. In particular, FRA is proposing specific requirements for effective concrete crossties, for rail fastening systems connected to concrete crossties, and for automated inspections of track constructed with concrete crossties." FRA is also proposing to remove the provision on preemptive effect.

FRA requests that any comments on the proposed new concrete crosstie regulations be received by October 12, 2010. To view the entire NPRM, visit:

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480b3b3d6.

SEPTA to test the capture, reuse of subway energy

SEPTA announced a pilot project that would capture electricity generated by braking subway trains, similar to how a hybrid automobile produces power when it slows down.

The electricity will be stored in a large, railside battery array and reused when the train accelerates, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The system is expected to reduce electrical power purchases 10 percent to 20 percent at each location of the batteries, said Andrew Gillespie, SEPTA’s chief engineering officer for power.

The power-storage system is potentially so large – each battery array would store one megawatt of power – that SEPTA could further reduce its electric bill by buying cheap power at night to use or resell during expensive peak hours.

And SEPTA also could collect fees from the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection L.L.C., by providing power on short notice – one or two seconds – to stabilize regional power flows on the grid.

The pilot project, involving a single battery array at a SEPTA electric substation in Kensington, would cost about $1.5 million.

The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority is underwriting the project with a $900,000 grant. Viridity will underwrite the remaining capital cost, Zibelman said.

If the project proves economic – Viridity estimates one battery array will generate $500,000 a year in value – SEPTA envisions installing the technology at all 33 electric substations that serve its subway and trolley lines.

The system will take advantage of regenerative-braking capacity already installed in the Market-Frankford Line and SEPTA’s electrified buses and trolleys.

When applied, the brakes now convert the train’s kinetic energy into electricity, which is transmitted into the third-rail system for use by other trains.

But when there are no other trains nearby to consume the electricity, the power is lost. Excess electricity from the brakes is converted into heat that is dissipated from vents in the carriage rooftops.

About half the power produced by the regenerative brakes is now lost, Gillespie said.

SEPTA says the batteries, in addition to capturing the regenerated power that is now lost, will help increase the system’s electrical efficiency and stabilize the voltage – it operates on 600-volt direct-current power.

NS targets carbon emissions

Norfolk Southern Corp. has announced a five-year goal to reduce its carbon footprint through fuel-savings technology and improvements in operating efficiencies.

In a statement, NS said it plans to lower its greenhouse gas emissions per revenue ton-mile 10% by 2014, compared with 2009 emissions.

“Establishing this goal is an important step toward fulfillment of Norfolk Southern’s objective to achieve industry leadership inenvironmentally responsible business practices,” said Blair Wimbush, vice president real estate and corporate sustainability officer. “Disclosing our carbon footprint last year was the first step. Now, we move forward with an aggressive yet realistic goal, and we have the tools to measure our progress toward attaining it.”

In 2009, Norfolk Southern transported 158.5 billion ton-miles of freight, producing 4.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, mostly from diesel-burning locomotives. Emissions per revenue ton-mile were 30.0 grams. Using 2009 as the baseline and at the same traffic level, a 10% reduction of emissions—to 27.0 grams per revenue ton-mile—would result in 475,000 fewer metric tons going into the atmosphere annually by 2014.

Wimbush said the company’s emissions reduction strategy will focus on ways to achieve better fuel economy, including purchase of new, more fuel-efficient locomotives; continued deployment of idle-reduction and trainhandling technologies; and refined engine maintenance practices.

Further efforts will address direct and indirect emissions from energy used for heating, cooling, and lighting buildings and other facilities on the railroad. Nearing completion is a systemwide lighting upgrade that is reducing electricity consumption, and the company continues to adjust its nonrail vehicle fleet to save fuel and emissions.

In addition, Norfolk Southern expects significant efficiency gains from its major infrastructure improvement projects, such as the Heartland and Crescent corridors.

Earlier this week, NS’s Heartland Corridor Clearance Improvement Project was awarded the 2010 Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence during the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Annual Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Fla.

 

 

UTU: “Strangling coal kills jobs”

No commodity hauled by rail even approaches coal’s more than 45% of all tons originated; and coal also represents 25% of rail freight carloads. United Transportation Union Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch says coal is so important to UTU-member job security—responsible for some one of every five freight railroad jobs—that he puts coal in the Christmas stockings of his children.

Citing the linkage of American coal, railroad prosperity, and railroad jobs, Risch earlier this week told the Environmental Protection Agency, which is considering new regulations on coal, to be “very careful how you regulate coal because of its tremendous economic impact.

“In addition to coal’s railroad-job creating importance,” said Risch, “coal provides almost 60% of America’s energy—energy that might otherwise have to be imported from nations not friendly to the United States and our way of life.

“Much of our nation’s rail infrastructure has been upgraded and maintained from coal revenue,” Risch told the EPA panel, “benefitting shippers of other commodities as well as Amtrak intercity trains that travel over freight railroad track.”

Additionally, Risch told the EPA, if opponents of coal succeed in pricing coal out of the market through extensive and expensive new regulations on coal burning, emissions and ash disposal:

* Tens of thousands of rail jobs will be lost.

* Thousands of miles of the intercity rail network will be abandoned or downgraded.

* Hundreds of communities will be adversely impacted.

* Shippers of other commodities will lose rail access.

* Untold numbers of more heavy and dangerous big trucks will be added to the already overburdened and deteriorating U.S. highway system.

 

WisDOT offers Madison station plan

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation Tuesday unveiled a $12 million plan for a passenger rail station in the state capital, Madison, to be used by future regional and presumed higher-speed passenger rail services.

The state and Madison officials are negotiating a cost-sharing agreement for the station’s construction. WisDOT spokesman Paul Trombino says the state would own and operate the station.

The $12 million in funding comes for a $24 million appropriation to build passenger rail stations between Madison and Milwaukee. About $5 million has been allotted each to Watertown, Oconomowoc, and Brookfield, the latter a Milwaukee suburb, but plans for a station at Oconomowoc have been dropped.

Milwaukee is served by Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service trains and the Empire Builder; Madison has no passenger rail service.

CN continues compiling EJ&E pacts

By reaching a mitigation agreement with Long Grove, Ill., late last week, Canadian National Railway has come to terms with 23 of the 33 municipalities along the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, many of whom expressed concern or outright opposition to CN’s acquisition of the latter.

Under CN’s agreement with Long Grove, CN will provide funding to Long Grove for maintaining a quiet zone as well as safety training. Long Grove lies northwest of Chicago.

The Surface Transportation Board approved the acquisition on Dec. 24, 2008, with conditions, and CN began operating over the EJ&E early in 2009. But several municipalities, forming the umbrella group The Regional Answer to Canadian National (TRAC), filed an appeal of the STB’s decision. While opposition and the organization still exist, CN’s step-by-step approach to the situation appears to be slowly outflanking those still protesting the acquisition. 

Jacobs lands Valley Metro contract

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said Tuesday it has won a $12.5 million engineering services contract from Phoenix’s Valley Metro Rail, Inc. for the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension project. The project will extend LRT 3.1 miles through downtown Mesa, a Phoenix suburb. Jacobs will provide both preliminary and final engineering services for the project.

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Jacobs expects the project to take approximately two years to complete and will be followed shortly thereafter by construction. The extension is scheduled for completion in 2016.

Said Jacobs Group Vice President Robert Clement in a statement, “Jacobs is very pleased to be involved in the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension project and proud to support METRO’s overall efforts to improve transit in the greater Phoenix area.”

At present, Valley Metro’s LRT service ends in western Mesa, just across the border from neighboring municipality Tempe, Ariz.; the 3.1-mile addition will extend the line further east. Mesa, unlike some Phoenix-area suburbs, has been consistent in its support for LRT access.

Valley Metro began revenue operations on its current 20-mile route on December 27, 2008. 

 

TranSystems’ Miller to chair AREMA HSR committee

The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) has named TranSystems’ Frank Miller as the new Chair for Committee 17: High Speed Rail Systems. Miller begins a three-year term and new duties effective immediately.

Miller is vice president of passenger rail and transit for Kansas City, Mo.-based TranSystems, a transportation consulting firm.

Miller already has outlined a number of initiatives on which he would like Committee 17 to focus for his three-year term. "First, we need more authors contributing to our reference manual content, which is becoming more comprehensive," he said. "Second, we need to make sure our large membership of nearly 90 professionals stays active and involved with the committee. Third, we need to lead the way in developing and maintaining high speed rail recommended practices for which high speed rail design and construction can be applied here in the United States."

Currently a subcommittee chair on Committee 11: Commuter and Intercity Rail, Miller also has previously served as the vice chair for one year and secretary for two years for Committee 17.

Labor groups host hazmat course

The National Labor College Rail Workers’ Hazardous Materials Training Program, in cooperation with the United Transportation Union and other rail unions, will conduct a four-day hazardous materials training course for rail workers in St. Paul, Minn., from Sept. 27-30.
 

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The course includes advanced classroom instruction, hands-on drills and a simulated hazmat response in full safety gear. It addresses Occupational Health and Safety Administration and Department of Transportation required procedures in cases of unintentionally released hazardous materials.
 
Participants will also be eligible for academic credits from the National Labor College. 
The course is federally funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and includes incentive pay of $440 for participants who are unable to receive regular pay through their employer, as well as a $35 a day per diem for meals and mileage. Class size is limited to 25 participants, so the program hosts recommend that interested parties should register immediately. 
For additional information or to register, contact Freddie Thomas at (301) 439-2440; Email [email protected].

LIRR strives for normal service

Riders on the Long Island Rail Road will find out Monday if they indeed have access to normal weekday service levels, following a fire last week affecting an antiquatedswitching machine near Jamaica Station in Queens, N.Y., that hampered service on 10 of the LIRR’s 11 routes.

LIRR had been running three-quarters of its usual morning service since last Monday, when a pair of track cables short-circuited near Hall Tower, setting fire to a 1920s-era lever-and-pulley machine that controlled track switches at Jamaica Station. The railroad ran about two-thirds of its normal afternoon service while repairs took place.

The switching machine is scheduled to be replaced with a modern computerized system by late October. Transit officials said they believed the equipment upgrades would go on as scheduled, although the $56 million project is already behind schedule and over budget. Service disruptions are likely to occur again on the weekends when the railroad carries out the upgrade.

As for Monday, “we’re anticipating a normal rush hour, a.m. and p.m.,” said LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone.

In a statement, LIRR President Helena Williams said, “I appreciate the challenges our customers faced during the past week and I thank them for their patience during what has been a difficult time.

“I would alsolike to thank the hundreds of railroad employees who worked around the clock to put the damaged signal and switch system back together while keeping service going and assisting our customers throughout the week. Once again, they demonstrated their dedication and commitment to our customers,” Williams said.

 

Heartland Corridor wins Hay Award

Norfolk Southern’s Heartland Corridor Clearance Improvement Project has been awarded the 2010 Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence. The $190 million project, which improves capacity, clearances, and travel times for freight rail traffic between Chicago and Norfolk, Va., was named during the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Annual Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Fla.

This is the 12th year the award was presented.

Norfolk Southern Friday began running test trains on its upgraded Heartland Corridor between Chicago and Norfolk, Va., with hopes of beginning scheduled service on the improved route September 9.

 

Denver RTD breaks ground on East Corridor rail line to DIA


On August 26, Denver’s RTD
broke ground on the $1-billion East Corridor commuter rail line, the largest
single rail project in the voter-approved FasTracks program. The groundbreaking
ceremony was held at Denver International Airport on the south lawn of the
Jeppesen Terminal, the future site of the DIA rail station. Federal and local
officials participated in the ceremony, including Sen. Mark Udall, Rep. Diana
DeGette, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Aurora Mayor Ed
Tauer.

LIRR warns about cancelled trains, delays due to Jamaica fire






MTA Long Island Rail Road
continues to advise customers to expect significant schedule changes and delays
during Friday’s morning and evening rush hours August 27 as repair work and
testing continues as a result of damage to a major switching tower at Jamaica
Station caused by a cable fire on the morning of August 23.

Officials: Not so fast on aging rails






Railroad officials have
imposed slower speeds on Amtrak trains traveling through portions of western
Kansas because of deteriorating track conditions, The Hutchinson News reports. The
slowdown, which could become permanent, has added about 45 minutes to the run
from La Junta, Colo., to Hutchinson, Kan. Without a significant influx of
spending on the line, the miles of slowdown are expected to increase with time.

Nomad Digital provide communications technology to support Alstom






Nomad
Digital Limited, a provider of train-to-shore data connectivity solutions, is
to support Alstom’s contract with Angel & Southeastern in the United
Kingdom, in conjunction with Nexala, to supply a remote condition based
monitoring system, on Southeastern’s Networkers. The contract has been awarded
for the design, supply and installation of the system for the Alstom Class 465/2,
465/9 and Class 466 fleets, totalling 93 units.

 

Duluth zoo faces $175,000 repair bill from flooding






Last week’s flooding at
the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Minn., caused as much as $175,000 in damage to
pumps and other electrical equipment in the lower level of the polar exhibit,
zoo officials say, according to the Duluth News-Tribune. A culvert that was
under repair got blocked under a BNSF bridge downstream from the zoo, and water
backed up Kingsbury Creek during a heavy rain Aug. 18.