Railway Age August 2020

AUGUST 2020

W W W. R A I LWAYA G E .C O M

AILWAY GE S E R V I N G T H E R A I LWAY I N D U S T R Y S I N C E 1 8 5 6

COLDCOMFORT RAILROADS READY FOR A ROUGH WINTER

PSR, THE NEXT GENERATION Realizing Your Vision of 2.0

ROLLING PROCESSOR PLATFORMS railwayage.com

Locomotive Software Drives Greater Efficiency August 2017 // Railway Age 1

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AILWAY GE

February 2020 AUGUST 2020

10 FEATURES

10

Cold Comfort

17

Rolling Processor Platforms

Bruce Kelly

22

Preparing For a Rough Winter

Locomotive Software Advances

PSR, The Next Generation Part III, A Vision For “2.0”

DEPARTMENTS 4 6 8 28 28 30 30 31

Industry Indicators Industry Outlook Market People Events

NEWS/COLUMNS 2 9 32

From the Editor Financial Edge ASLRRA Perspective

Professional Directory Classified Advertising Index

ON THE COVER: A Citi Rail leased GE ES44AC on the BNSF at Hauser, Idaho.

Photo: Bruce Kelly

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August 2020 // Railway Age 1

FROM THE EDITOR There’s No Business Like Sales Business

I

ndustry veteran Chuck Welsh of Castle Rock Carbon & Coal, Ponte Vedra, Fla., has been on both sides of railroad sales and marketing, as a railroader and as a customer. He believes that relationships in today’s rail industry are, in a word, impersonal. He writes: “I received your July issue with updates pertaining to the continuing decline in rail freight traffic. There might be a partial solution to correct some of the damage done by the major railroads by re-opening sales offices at various locations and having salespeople call upon customers and those without rail service to extol the virtues of shipping freight by the common carriers known as ‘railroads.’

“My company has been in the business of tippling and marketing coal for more than 30 years. Prior to that, I was in the Coal Department at the Norfolk & Western Railway. My job was to call upon the traffic managers at the end-users who burned coal.

“I was also expected to spend time with purchasing agents. In addition, I called upon power plant, industrial and steel companies to speak with them concerning the various qualities of coal that was mined and loaded on our railroad. There were several combustion engineers within the N&W Coal Department who lent time and provided answers and assistance to various end-users of all grades of coal when they had questions.

“A primary problem some of us view is what is occurring in freight transport: The fact that the trucking and barge

industries keep salespeople on the ‘street’ soliciting business. Most railroads, on the other hand, provide little more than a computer, desk and a parking space, plus a title used to ‘impress’ those with whom they speak via telephone, emails or text messages. Short lines excepted, some salespeople who have gone to work for the railroads never go on the ‘road’ due to what might be considered expensive attempts to solicit new business or retain accounts.

“The larger issue is the fact that most executives who manage major railroads in the U.S. only call upon their larger accounts. Very few ever take the time to speak with the small- to medium-sized accounts who have access to rail.”

A combustion engineer (never heard of the name until I Googled it) is someone “skilled in the process of harnessing the energy created by heating up fuel. Job duties include installing combustion systems and testing the equipment once it is operational. A combustion engineer may also have to troubleshoot problems with equipment that is not working correctly.”

Sales engineering, on the other hand, is “a hybrid of sales and engineering that exists in industrial and commercial markets. Buying decisions in these markets are made differently than those in many consumer contexts, being based more on technical information and rational analysis and less on style, fashion or impulse.”

Perhaps the big railroads need more sales engineers?

WILLIAM C. VANTUONO Editor-in-Chief

Railway Age, descended from the American Rail-Road Journal (1832) and the Western Railroad Gazette (1856) and published under its present name since 1876, is indexed by the Business Periodicals Index and the Engineering Index Service. Name registered in U.S. Patent Office and Trade Mark Office in Canada. Now indexed in ABI/Inform.

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88 Pine Street, 23rd Fl. New York, NY 10005-1809 212-620-7200; Fax: 212-633-1863 Website: www.railwayage.com ARTHUR J. McGINNIS, Jr. President and Chairman JONATHAN CHALON Publisher jchalon@sbpub.com WILLIAM C. VANTUONO Editor-in-Chief wvantuono@sbpub.com ANDREW CORSELLI Managing Editor acorselli@sbpub.com BILL WILSON Engineering Editor/Railway Track & Structures Editor-in-Chief wwilson@sbpub.com DAVID C. LESTER Managing Editor, Railway Track & Structures dlester@sbpub.com Contributing Editors: David Peter Alan, Roy Blanchard, Jim Blaze, Peter Diekmeyer, Alfred E. Fazio, Bruce Kelly, Ron Lindsey, Ryan McWilliams, David Nahass, Jason H. Seidl, David Thomas, John Thompson, Frank N. Wilner Art Director: Nicole D’Antona Graphic Designer: Hillary Coleman Corporate Production Director: Mary Conyers Production Director: Eduardo Castaner Marketing Director: Erica Hayes Conference Director: Michelle Zolkos Circulation Director: Maureen Cooney INTERNATIONAL OFFICES 46 Killigrew Street, Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 3PP, United Kingdom Telephone: 011-44-1326-313945 Fax: 011-44-1326-211576 International Editors David Briginshaw db@railjournal.co.uk Kevin Smith ks@railjournal.co.uk David Burroughs dburroughs@railjournal.co.uk CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-895-4389 Reprints: PARS International Corp.

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Industry Indicators INTERMODAL DID RELATIVELY WELL IN JUNE: AAR “You know we’re living in a strange world when a 6.6% decline in a rail traffic category counts as good news, but so it is with intermodal,” the Association of American Railroads said last month. “U.S. intermodal originations were down 6.6% in June 2020 from June 2019, their smallest percentage decline since January 2020 and much better than the 13.0% decline in May 2020 and the 17.2% decline in April 2020. An average of 251,233 containers and trailers were originated each week in June, the most since November 2019 and up from a recent low of 219,085 in April 2020. Total originated U.S. rail carloads fell 22.4% in June 2020 from June 2019, a troubling result but better than the 25.2% decline in April and 27.7% decline in May.”

Railroad employment, Class I linehaul carriers, JUNE 2020 (% change from JUNE 2019)

TRAFFIC ORIGINATED CARLOADS

Four WEEKS ENDING JUNE 27, 2020

MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS

BY COMMODITY

JUNE ’20

JUNE ’19

% CHANGE

42,536 (-28.6%)

Grain Farm Products ex. Grain Grain Mill Products Food products Chemicals Petroleum & Petroleum Products Coal Primary Forest Products Lumber and Wood Products Pulp and Paper Products Metallic Ores Coke Primary Metal Products Iron & Steel Scrap Motor Vehicles & Parts Crushed Stone, Sand, & Gravel Nonmetallic Minerals Stone, Clay & Glass Products Waste & Nonferrous Scrap All Other Carloads

83,140 3,269 35,081 21,367 113,103 38,666 202,076 3,671 12,349 18,832 10,036 10,480 24,348 12,614 47,217 71,725 15,727 31,872 13,773 24,910

87,255 2,943 35,205 23,255 130,045 53,104 306,652 4,356 13,466 20,945 25,933 16,078 35,498 14,696 67,717 98,384 16,095 32,504 14,775 24,325

-4.7% 11.1% -0.4% -8.1% -13% -27.2% -34.1% -15.7% -8.3% -10.1% -61.3% -34.8% -31.4% -14.2% -30.3% -27.1% -2.3% -1.9% -6.8% 2.4%

Executives, Officials, and Staff Assistants

TOTAL U.S. CARLOADS

794,256

1,023,231

-22.4%

284,375

343,938

-17.3%

1,078,631

1,367,169

-21.1%

TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 116,128 % CHANGE FROM JUNE 2019: -17.99%

Transportation (train and engine)

7,591 (-2.13%)

CANADIAN RAILROADS

Professional and Administrative

TOTAL CANADIAN CARLOADS

10,512 (-8.22%)

COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR

Maintenance-of-Way and Structures

30,369 (-4.69%)

Maintenance of Equipment and Stores

19,985 (-21.22%)

Transportation (other than train & engine)

5,135 (-7.63%)

Source: Surface Transportation Board

CLASS I EMPLOYMENT LOWEST IN EIGHT YEARS Figures released by the STB show Class I total railroad employment decreased nearly 18% in June 2020, measured against June 2019, and the lowest since 2012. The double whammy of the prepandemic recession and COVID-19 lockdowns has stifled economic activity, and the resulting impact on rail employment has been significant. Across the industry, headcount drops were reported from all employment categories, including Maintenance-of-Way and Structures. The largest category decline was Transportation-Train and Engine, which dropped 28.6% from June 2019.

4 Railway Age // August 2020

Intermodal

four WEEKS ENDING JUNE 27, 2020

MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS

BY COMMODITY Trailers Containers TOTAL UNITS

JUNE ’20

JUNE ’19

% CHANGE

83,901

1,004,933

992,026 1,075,927

5.1% -7.6% -6.6%

0 257,165 257,165

0 280,680 280,680

-8.4% -8.4%

88,181 1,173,917

83,901 1,272,706

5.1% -7.8%

1,262,098

1,356,607

-7%

88,181 916,752

CANADIAN RAILROADS Trailers Containers TOTAL UNITS

COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR Trailers Containers

TOTAL COMBINED UNITS

Source: Rail Time Indicators, Association of American Railroads

railwayage.com

BEFORE YOU INVEST IN ANOTHER AIR BRAKE CONTROL VALVE,

TOTAL U.S./Canadian CARLOADS, JUNE 2020 VS. JUNE 2019

1,078,631 JUNE 2020

STOP & CONSIDER:

1,367,169 JUNE 2019

Short Line And Regional Traffic Index CARLOADS

BY COMMODITY Chemicals Coal Crushed Stone, Sand & Gravel Food and Kindred Products Grain Grain Mill Products Lumber and Wood Products Metallic Ores Metals and Products Motor Vehicles and Equipment Nonmetallic Minerals Petroleum Products Pulp, Paper and Allied Products Stone, Clay and Glass Products Trailers / Containers Waste and Scrap Materials All Other Carloads

ORIGINATED JUNE ’20

ORIGINATED JUNE ’19

% CHANGE

48,612 11,847 19,252 9,696 26,909 7,984 8,190 2,273 14,301 5,236 1,801 1,485 17,209 14,961 37,349 8,964 67,786

47,464 21,255 29,290 10,070 27,175 6,826 8,966 2,542 16,491 11,019 2,833 2,142 16,006 12,434 43,266 9,112 79,177

2.4% -44.3% -34.3% -3.7% -1% 17% -8.7% -10.6% -13.3% -52.5% -36.4% -30.7% 7.5% 20.3% -13.7% -1.6% -14.4%

Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved.

TOTAL U.S. Carloads EXCLUDING COAL, and intermodal, 2011-2020 (year-to-date through JUNE 2020, SIX-WEEK MOVING AVERAGE)

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August 2020 // Railway Age 5

Industry Outlook

Concerns About KCS Mexican Concession “Overblown”: Cowen COWEN AND CO. views concerns about Kansas City Southern’s concession in Mexico as “overblown. The exclusivity provision cannot be revisited until 2027, and the concession remains in effect for 20 years after that,” noted Cowen analysts Jason H. Seidl (Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor), Matt Elkott and Adam Kramer. “Further, KCS is improving its operations via PSR, which should aid Mexico, as reliable rail service is likely to be a necessity for the country as it grows its manufacturing base.”

“Following our virtual investor meetings with KCS, we have received investor inquiries regarding KCS’s concession from the Mexican government,” the analysts said. “KCS currently benefits from a 50-year concession that is set to expire in 2047. The concession contains a provision where the Mexican government will evaluate KSU’s exclusivity in 2027. In our view, the worst case scenario is that in 2027, the Mexican government decides to make some or all of KCS’s track in Mexico open access, allowing other railroads to operate on KSU’s rail lines. However, this is much easier said than done, as it would require the other railroad to hire and train employees, purchase and/or position assets on and adjacent to the track, and effectively run a railroad in a new geography. That said, the stock would likely suffer if such action were taken seven years from now.

“We acknowledge that these competitors would likely enter the market attempting to undercut KCS on price because they’d be 6 Railway Age // August 2020

seeking to gain share in new markets.

However, we believe that new entrants would likely have worse service, a notable negative to their value proposition relative to an incumbent like KCS. “We continue to believe that it is unlikely that the Mexican government would re-evaluate the exclusivity provision. KCS has invested significant capex in Mexico, is running a much-improved rail network, and has maintained good relationships with government officials; this has been aided by their CEO, who has been a widely visible champion on trade with Mexico. With the Mexican highway and infrastructure system in worse shape than the U.S.’s—and our road infrastructure routinely gets poor marks from the Army Corps of Engineers, with their most recent report card giving the U.S. road network a “D”—we believe that the Mexican government would have little incentive to take away KCS’s exclusivity, thereby worsening the quality of service on the overall Mexican rail system. We believe this to be true especially as Mexico continues to grow its manufacturing base with many companies having near-shored their supply chains.

“Making predictions about the political landscape in 2027 in Mexico would be futile on our part, but we have no reason to think that the government in six years will be particularly aggressive against KCS. The same goes for the political outlook for 2047. These are risks, but having a negative outlook now for 7 or 27 years out is not well-founded.”

AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORT™ INC. (AITX™) is the new name and brand of the railcar leasing and repair business of the former ARI (American Railcar Industries), whose railcar manufacturing division was acquired by The Greenbrier Cos. from ITE Management LP (ITE) in July 2019.

The new name and brand “is one of many steps in refocusing into a premier provider of leasing and repair services following the sale of its manufacturing business last year,” the company said. “The new name conveys a respect to our longstanding heritage,” which began when American Car and Foundry Co. (later ACF Industries) was formed and incorporated in New Jersey in 1899 from the merger of 13 smaller railcar manufacturers.

The AITX name and brand, which also is the company’s new, standard four-digit railcar reporting mark, “shows an ongoing commitment in shaping the modern railcar leasing and repair business,” the company noted.

Headquartered in St. Charles, Mo., AITX manages a lease fleet of more than 17,000 railcars owned by its affiliates and performs repair services for more than 10,000 railcars per year. It describes itself as “a leading solutions provider of railcar leasing and repair services, providing customers across diverse industries a flexible portfolio of leasing options from a railcar fleet, sourced and managed in-house. AITX and its subsidiaries also operate world-class railcar repair services through its specialized repair network spanning across North America. Offering a range of services from full to light repair, AITX’s repair capabilities include full-service repair facilities, mobile service units and onsitecustomer-dedicated repair operations.”

AITX’s railcar leasing business “supplies a young and productive fleet for shipping customers across all industrial applications: agriculture, chemical, energy and mineral,” the company said. AITX’s repair business (named AITX Railcar Services, LLC in the U.S. and AITX Railcar Services of Canada Inc.) specializes in tank cars and covered hoppers, and “extends across a network of repair facilities and services to provide a suite of repair solutions to North American shippers and railcar leasing providers.” railwayage.com

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Market MTA, Wabtec Ink Locomotive Deal

WORLDWIDE

NORTH AMERICA

PROGRESS RAIL, a Caterpillar company, has developed a new batterypowered switcher locomotive, the EMD® Joule, working in collaboration with its South American customer VALE. Progress Rail anticipates global availability of the new switcher locomotive in early 2021.

The zero-emission, zero-idle and lownoise EMD® Joule locomotive broadens Progress Rail’s rolling stock portfolio with “the latest smart lithium-ion battery technology and reliable performance for instant start within yard applications.”

CN’S acquisition of 1,500 high-capacity grain covered hopper cars “will encourage the economic recovery through job creation in the North American manufacturing sector, and help CN continue to meet the growing needs of grain farmers and grain customers,” President and CEO JJ Ruest said. “This investment, combined with our 2020 C$2.9 billion capital investment program, will help us move more grain. We are confident in the future of the grain business and its key role in CN’s long-term growth. By investing in the construction of these new cars, we want to help quickly stimulate the North American economy by supporting manufacturing and agriculture-related jobs.” The car order comes roughly two years after an initial order of 1,000 units from NATIONAL STEEL CAR to replace aging equipment and accommodate increasing annual Western Canadian crop yields. The 2018 order closely followed the Canadian government’s passing of Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act. The 55-foot, 8-inch jumbo hopper cars offer 5,431 cubic feet of capacity.

8 Railway Age // August 2020

LILEE SYSTEMS has released its Next Generation Communications Management Unit, which the company says “aims to enable wireless communications security and interoperable key exchange for the ACSES II Positive Train Control (PTC) system, a form of PTC implemented by Northeast Corridor (NEC) railroads.” The LILEE Systems Next Generation Communications Management Unit “is the first Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-compliant technology on the market helping railroads meet the requirement before the end-of-year PTC deadline,” LILEE said. “It is a new addition to LILEE’s extensive portfolio of PTC solutions, with security software for wayside and onboard systems, a Key Management System (KMS) for inter-rail key exchange, and a ruggedized gateway—TransAir™ STS2025—for remote management. Field-tested for system reliability, compatibility and scalability following FRA-approved specifications, the Next Generation Communications Management Unit ensures that wireless communications on the NEC’s ACSES II PTC network are resilient, and resistant to cyber attacks.” railwayage.com

Wabtec

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last month awarded a $233 million contract to Wabtec for 25 electric-diesel hybrid locomotives for use on NYC Transit work trains. The 25 hybrid locomotives will be delivered in approximately five years, with the first two locomotives arriving within 38 months. The diesel engine will be a Cummins QSX15 Tier 4 Final, rated at 675 hp. Funding for the hybrids will come from the MTA’s 20152019 Capital Program. An option for up to 45 additional hybrid locomotives, if exercised, will be funded by the 2020– 2024 Capital Program.

Financial Edge Pipeline Shutdown Highlights Downturn’s Depth

T

he Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has been grabbing headlines for a few weeks. A second pipeline, the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, has been shut down recently (due to disputes involving the pipeline’s right-of-way).

Together, the two pipelines are capable of moving about one-third of the oil out of the Bakken region (about 650,000 barrels per day). The situation surrounding these closures illustrates the depth of the rail market’s downturn, and the long road leading to recovery.

Before discussing the railcar market and the impact of the closures, first here’s a brief DAPL timeline: The pipeline was proposed in 2014 and approved in 2016 and 2017 (Executive Branch backing prioritized and accelerated the approval process and the EIS completed by the Army Corps of Engineers).

Construction began in 2016, and the first oil was moved through the pipeline in 2017. The DAPL has the capability of hauling up to 570,000 barrels of crude daily from the Bakken region in North Dakota. Recently, DAPL has been moving 470,000 barrels a day.

In late 2019, the Cheyenne River Sioux and Standing Rock Tribes filed suit in federal court to stop DAPL operation. In March 2020, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the same judge who had provided approvals during the permitting and environmental approval process, requested a more extensive review of the water easements through tribal lands granted for the DAPL, and issued a shutdown injunction.

Judge Boasberg refused to grant a stay on the DAPL closure during the new environmental study. This issue is now before a Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals, with a decision pending imminently.

The DAPL and the Tesoro are highly politicized situations. Both pipelines when operating at expectation (which they have been) create the safest and most cost-effective means of moving crude oil.

If all of the DAPL and Tesoro capacity railwayage.com

moved to rail, the bump in demand might help to stabilize a market that is under a heavy amount of strain. There are, by some accounts, 30,000 or thereabouts DOT-117J (new) tank railcars able to haul crude oil in service in North America. Of that f leet, up to 14,000 are in storage right now.

Assuming a 20-day transportation cycle and a tank railcar capacity of 28,700 gallons (683 barrels), every 100,000 barrels per day would create demand for just under 150 tank railcars per day, or about 2,900 tank railcars. Multiplied by 4.7, that would create demand for 13,000plus tank railcars.

That would be a steroid injection for a market on its heels and looking for optimism. Orders in 2Q2020 (reported by the Railway Supply Institute) were 1,900 railcars. Unfortunately, as the DALP is not operating at full capacity, neither are the other pipelines operating out of the Bakken region.

Estimates are that if the DAPL were to shut down, rail would need to fill a gap of 170,000 barrels per day. Multiplying 2,900 by 1.7 yields a number of roughly 255 tank railcars per day, or 5,000 tank railcars to cover the gap in takeaway capacity. 255 cars are roughly the equivalent of three unit trains per day. Adding the Tesoro capacity (assuming 100% utilization) adds another 250 cars to the pool, or one more unit train per day.

With so many tank railcars in storage, it is likely that all or a large portion of the 5,000 (or 7,500 for that matter) cars needed to move the DAPL crude are under lease to customers in the supply chain of crude and refining.

Any required equipment not currently under contract would create a frenzied battle between operating lessors and OEMs to fill any market need.

Rates on DOT-117J tank railcars for hauling crude peaked in early 2019 just below $1,500 per car, per month for fullservice leases. Strong oil prices, a decent spread between WTI and Brent crude pricing and congestion in the Permian Basin combined to froth the market,

Car owners and operators would likely be happy to take up additional capacity to avoid storage charges and bring in some revenue.” increase demand and create an inf lux of new equipment.

Rates have been on a decline since and are now (due to a 180-degree turn in almost all these factors, many COVID19-pandemic-related) looking at a prolonged slump.

Car owners and operators would likely be happy to take up any additional capacity at this point to avoid storage charges and bring in some revenue—similar for the railroads that may appreciate the increase in volumes. Alas, excess capacity in the rail system, low loading volumes and current velocity levels leave this as only a drop in the bucket of recovery.

The road is long and the road is hard.

Got questions? Set them free at dnahass@ railfin.com.

DAVID NAHASS President Railroad Financial Corp.

August 2020 // Railway Age 9

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report Winter preparedness is essential for avoiding frozen equipment, malfunctioning cars, service delays or even suspended operations.

COLD COMFORT

F

ail to prepare for winter’s harsh conditions and your railroad will be running on ice—literally and figuratively. One railroad that prepares for winter’s onslaught is BNSF, which has some of the most rugged territory in North America.

“BNSF can look at this past winter as another ‘in the books,’ and to sum up overall conditions, the past winter season on BNSF’s Northern Tier was just another year as one would expect,” spokesperson Gus Melonas says. “Depending geographically, there were heavy rain periods, cold snaps, large snow dumps and frigid temps at times. Preparedness begins in early fall and proactive measures help BNSF get through rough periods, we have come to expect.

“In the Pacific Northwest, in the early

10 Railway Age // August 2020

part of the first quarter to start off 2020, BNSF experienced more rainfall than we’ve seen in years. However, ditching, culvert maintenance, undercutting and general track work in advance helped keep the roadbed strong. Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota prep efforts also helped with switch machine and overall physical plant upkeep. Montana’s winter produced less-than-average snowfall conditions, some indicating quite mild.

“There were out-of-the-ordinary events that resulted in interruptions, including the derailment east of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, where a manifest train struck a rockslide along the Kootenai River, causing a 72-hour main line shutdown. Also, above-average rainfall totals dumped several inches of rain in Lower Mainland Canada in less than one

week on more than one occasion this past winter, causing mudslides north of White Rock and suspending passenger operations at times. BNSF’s Scenic Sub also experienced heavy wet snowfall in late January, where four feet of snow rapidly dumped, resulting in the freak breaking of more than 600 trees along BNSF right-of-way from Scenic to Skykomish, Wash., causing a 36-hour main line shutdown. Much traffic was diverted via the Columbia River Gorge and Stampede pass routes during this outage.

“Even with the heavy rainfall volumes experienced this past winter in the Puget Sound region, BNSF’s construction of Catchment Walls has paid major dividends, as the walls prevented multiple mudslides from impacting freight, passenger and commuter train travel between Seattle railwayage.com

Bruce Kelly

BY ANDREW CORSELLI, MANAGING EDITOR

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report

and Everett. BNSF installed a 1,500-foot catchment wall at North Woodway in 2019 (11 miles north of Seattle), and installed an additional 1,500-foot catchment wall connection in Spring 2020 in preparation for the upcoming winter. Additionally, BNSF is currently removing numerous hazard trees as a proactive winter measure in Washington State.

“BNSF has been running longer trains (up to 14,000 feet) in the PNW, and weather had little impact on operations. Locomotive positioning has helped with efficiencies.”

THE BASICS “Winter preparedness is really about maintaining network velocity,” Joe Ashley, Vice President, Railway Equipment Co. (RECo), says. “Precision Scheduled Railroading railwayage.com

and frozen switches go together like oil and water. If the dispatcher tries to line a switch and can’t, he’ll call out maintenance personnel. If they’re lucky, that person will get out there before the train gets there and has to stop, but quite often that’s not the case. Then you end up with a train stopped in front of the switch, which can lead to delays, especially in rugged weather. So it’s important in how you heat the switch, but to also have a reliable unit that you know is going to fire up every time you call for it, whether it’s from your network operations center or you’re relying on the unit to activate itself through a series of sensors.”

“The other way people really use winter preparedness is proactively,” Ashley notes.

“The people on the ground know a lot more about the weather that’s coming in than, say, the people down in Texas who are controlling the switches and the train movements. So if they know there’s a winter storm coming in, a lot of times they’ll go in there and fire up some of the heaters and critical switches for 10 minutes to make sure there are no problems ahead of the weather coming in.”

“People are now more aware of the need for winter preparedness early on,” says Peter Daigler, Power Drives, Inc. (PDI) Vice President of Business Development. “Short lines and Class I’s alike have to evaluate all locomotive costs. Fuel is expensive, and replacing key systems like starters and injectors before their expected replacement date is very costly, too. As well, water contamination in air brake lines and fuel systems can quickly turn into an expensive repair, especially in cold weather.”

Different weather conditions require different methods of snow and ice clearing, Gregor Harris, Business Development Manager-Rail, Thermon, whose clients include the freight railroads, transits and industrial facilities, says. Most locations, though, are best suited to heating systems.

For locations that typically have a thaw after a storm, elements are often preferred.

Further north, into the Midwestern prairies and mountains, hot air systems, gas-fired or electric, are preferred. The advantage of these is that they not only melt the snow, they actually evaporate the moisture, so you don’t have the icing problem that you can have with the elements.

“What’s counter-intuitive is that as you go

further north, many customers prefer using our high-velocity cold air systems,” Harris says. “When ambient temperatures are very cold, the snow tends to be light and dry, so a curtain of air keeps snow from falling into the switch and sweeps it clear. For example, for northern locations with extreme winter conditions, using heating elements does not provide enough heat and tends to create ice.

Melted snow drips into the ballast and then immediately freezes, creating ice buildup. This requires sending maintainers out with picks, shovels and torches to recover the switch. In these conditions many of our customers opt for high-velocity cold air curtains.”

Dana Logue, Product Manager, ThermOmegaTech—which works with all of the Class I’s as well as OEMs and Class II and III carriers—agrees, and adds that any hindrance could be catastrophic when looking at the big picture.

“Railroads should start prepping before any sort of freeze weather, even if it doesn’t seem like it might get that cold—the temperature can get down sooner than people anticipate,” she says. “But it really depends on where you’re located. So maybe our more Southern clients wouldn’t really have to worry about anything until November, but in Canada and maybe even in the Northeast, they might have to worry about that in October. So I would say late summer, early fall is probably the best time to start thinking about getting ready for the upcoming year.”

Hotstart is a thermal management company whose “bread and butter is the short line market but also does quite a bit with Class I’s, a lot for rebuilders, direct with OEMs, and is big with transit,” Market Manager Railroads Casey Hall says. “You can’t come into the winter without your equipment prepped and ready, because the minute you start getting those frozen rails or snow, etc., you can’t react quickly enough and have the downtime on the freight and/or passenger lines.

“Larger railroads, OEMs, transits—those big players are really sound with winter preparation. They’re discussing it and planning it and everything’s on order now. The short lines will be a little more reactive— waiting until it’s closer, more on a cash flow basis to say, ‘All right, it’s time. We’ve got to put it in’ at a last-minute junction.

That’s more active on the family operated August 2020 // Railway Age 11

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report

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The Eglinton Crosstown LRT Maintenance and Service Facility in Toronto uses Thermon Fastrax Hellfire 400 gas-fired switch heaters, shown here installed and operational. 50 of these units are installed in the yard.

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CHANGES IN WEATHER, INDUSTRY Logue says that ThermOmegaTech has been selling freeze protection products since the 1980s. She adds that the most notable change she’s seen in winter preparedness has been the maintenance schedule.

“Some of our customers are on a one-year maintenance schedule or some customers are every two years, so it kind of varies,” she says. “We’ve had some that change out our Guru Plug engine block freeze protection valve every four years. So it really kind of depends on the customer. We recommend changing out our valve annually, at the very least every two years.”

Thermon’s Harris, who has been in the rail industry for 32 years, has also noticed a change in winter preparedness.

“What has really changed is that snowclearing systems are accepted by railroads 12 Railway Age // August 2020

as a required piece of equipment,” he says.

“Historically, it was often left to the maintainers to decide what they needed. In the early days, they really weren’t too worried about the schedule. Now with the penalty clauses, it’s important to keep goods moving. It used to be, after a big snowstorm crews went out with their picks and shovels and torches to recover the switches—but that could take days. Now, management needs summertime operation year-round.

They don’t want any delays. The way things have evolved, you have to have switch heating and snow clearing devices, and they have to be reliable.”

Texas-based Whitmore Rail, a global provider of rail lubricants and friction modifiers, notes that the biggest changes it has seen are remote monitoring and the ability to shut down systems during extreme weather conditions, such as extreme cold and periods of heavy rain.

“In addition to the equipment,” the company says, “the product pumping through the equipment has changed from

simple greases—which would have a limited range of useful ambient temperature range—to a range of products which have complex thickeners and either a blend of synthetic or pure synthetic base fluids.

The new products are far better in low operating temperatures and allow the product to be effective at much higher temperatures.”

THE TOOLS TO PREPARE Power Drives, Inc. is best-known in the market for its PowerHouse™ idle reduction technology. “Our system makes sense for an operation of any size, as it saves fuel while reducing noise and emissions,” says Peter Daigler. He notes that more short lines are starting to realize how this one-time purchase saves them money over the long haul. The U.S. EPA SmartWay-verified idle reduction technology heats and circulates water or coolant through the locomotive engine block and cooling system to maintain a temperature of above 100 degrees F, “even in the coldest of temperatures.” It also comes in three models to accommodate railwayage.com

Therrmon

businesses; they’re a little more reactive to the winter. But all the large players in the game are already prepped. Now it’s just go-through-the-troubleshooting phases.”

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report

NYAB’s flagship products include the DB-60 II Control Valve with Brake Cylinder Maintaining (BCM, pictured), the LD-1000 Air Dryer and VV1000-T Oil-Free Compressor. BCM continually compensates for changes in brake cylinder leakage, which is made worse by cold temperatures.

shore power or lack thereof: the PowerHouse™ 120, PowerHouse™ APU and PowerHouse™ AC-APU. All are available with remote monitoring capabilities.

“With the PowerHouse™, there’s a huge fuel cost savings, a positive environmental impact of not running locomotives constantly during the night,” Daigler says.

Daigler adds that winter preparedness 14 Railway Age // August 2020

“saves more than just one kind of green.

In addition to the PowerHouse™, PDI has various other innovative solutions to tackling locomotive inefficiencies.” Two address water contamination: the Compressed Air Dryer Water Separator and the Diesel Dehydrator.

“The Compressed Air Dryer Water Separator is a water separator installed after the

air compressor, right off the intercooler,” Daigler explains. “Originally designed for GE locomotives, the Compressed Air Dryer Water Separator is a drop-in solution that packs a punch by tackling the basics: It separates water from the air so that water does not build up in the air lines, since those air lines feed all air requirements, specifically the brake lines. In the winter, that water can freeze and cause the braking system to malfunction, which obviously is a big problem.”

“It is common knowledge that water contamination is also a huge problem in diesel fuel.” Daigler explains. PDI’s Diesel Dehydrator “filters the diesel fuel, but it also has an integrated water separator. The water gets pulled away from the diesel fuel so that the locomotive can run more efficiently.

The Diesel Dehydrator can help prevent algae bloom in the tank because it is removing the water from the system.”

PDI’s Diesel Dehydrator units have been installed on many Class I locomotives and have been sold to rebuilders, “who make inclusion of the unit standard in a rebuild, due to the increase in fuel injector longevity,” Daigler says.

Joe Ashley notes that RECo has been offering gas hot air blowers for at least 30 years, and it’s “probably our biggest mover.” railwayage.com

Power Drives Inc., New York Air Brake

All Power Drives, Inc. models—PowerHouse™ 120, PowerHouse™ APU and PowerHouse™ AC-APU—are available with remote monitoring capabilities.

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report The gas hot air blower, whether it’s two or five hp, “is really the most effective means of keeping the switch clean in the winter,” he says. Along with the heaters, RECo is seeing more people installing fiberglass switch covers in the switch, which aim to keep snow out.

“Trains often will drop or drag snow in, which can cause problems, because even if the heater was kicked on when it detected snow coming in, it might be too late, Ashley says. “It could really plug up a lot of stuff.

So the covers do a really good job of keeping that snow from causing issues.”

Ashley points to RECo’s Sno-Net® for low-visibility areas. It works with a cellular device on the heater that allows the user to access the heater through a mobile phone application or a website and control the heat or diagnose a problem.

Deepak Kumar, Director of Marketing for New York Air Brake (NYAB)—which provides brake and air supply systems for locomotives and freight cars for all the Class I’s and car and locomotive builders—says

that when NYAB designs products, it keeps the harsh winter conditions in mind to “help the operations work efficiently and safely in frigid conditions.”

NYAB’s flagship products include the DB-60 II Control Valve with Brake Cylinder Maintaining (BCM), the LD-1000 Air Dryer and VV1000-T Oil-Free Compressor. BCM continually compensates for changes in brake cylinder leakage, which is made worse by cold temperatures. It maintains brake pressure up to a certain point, restoring any leakage and maintaining braking force.

“Our LD-1000 Air Dryer eliminates moisture from the train’s air supply system,” Kumar notes. “You have an oil-free compressor pumping air, and right in that circuit you have a dryer. Therefore, in cold temperatures it would prevent freeze-ups.

Our air dryer not only removes the moisture but also oil and any other contaminants through its three-stage filtration system.

“Our VV1000-T Oil-Free Compressor is a state-of-the-art product, sophisticated

technology. If you compare it to the oil compressor, that oil in cold temperatures freezes up and has major issues with startup. Railroads have to keep their locomotives running all the time to make sure that there’s enough heat being produced and the compressors stay warm. This obviously burns a lot of fuel; it’s not efficient.

“Cold weather leads to leakage, which could very easily compromise the safety of the system if you’re not pumping air reliably. The Oil-Free Compressor is effectively able to provide that capacity in cold weather. It does not need the engine to be running, and because there’s no oil it can start very quickly. To fill a system from empty to full charge, for example, our oil-free compressor takes less than three minutes. With an oil compressor it can take seven to eight minutes.”

ThermOmegaTech’s Guru Plug freeze protection valves sense locomotive cooling system water temperature. When it gets close to freezing, the valve will pop open and drain everything out before any freeze

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ANNUAL WINTER PREP report

Railway Equipment Company, Hotstart

Railway Equipment Company (RECo) has been offering gas hot air blowers for at least 30 years.

Hotstart has equipment that can improve AESS systems by keeping coolant and lube oil flowing to maintain operating temperature, enabling fast restarts. railwayage.com railwayage.com

damage can occur.

“We do all sorts of temperature control valves, but for the railroad industry, we do locomotive freeze protection,” Logue says.

“We released Guru PC, our passenger car potable water tank freeze protection, about seven years ago. This is something that we’re really trying to market in North America.

We’ve been working with some of the larger transit agencies here as well as in Europe.”

ZTR Control Systems’ flagship winter preparedness offering is its SmartStart IIe, which reduces idling. “Instead of guessing when to end ‘manual shutdown’ policy based on weather forecasts and gut feel, the system will automatically maintain engine temperature and keep the battery ready to go,” the company says.

In addition, ZTR has other winter preparedness technology, such as its NEXSYS system, which improves traction in wet and icy conditions. In high-horsepower applications, NEXSYS automatically adjusts engine power to the environmental August 2020 // Railway Age 16A August 2020 // Railway Age 17

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report

conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.).

ZTR’s KickStart product aims to help with cold-morning engine starts. The AxleGen is designed to reduce accumulation of ice and snow and is a non-contact technology unaffected by extreme temperatures, water ingress or ice build-up. Its snow plow control system automatically adjusts the plow’s power and speed to the snow conditions (wet, packed, fluffy etc.).

Hall says that Hotstart has equipment that can improve AESS (automatic engine start-stop) systems. “We can tap into an AESS and instead of a locomotive running all night, it can actually be shut down,” he says. “Our equipment will keep coolant and lube oil flowing to maintain operating temperature, so the locomotive can be restarted at a moment’s notice.”

Harris says that Thermon last fall, after two years of monitoring and fine tuning, introduced its new ArcticSense snow detector, with improved drifting snow detection. In addition, he says Thermon has “started to get a few more ‘nontraditional applications,’ such as overhead cranes and conveyors for industrial facilities, as well as a project in Newfoundland for a mine application, a radial conveyor stacker for moving mine tailings,” and “a variety of new detectors and scanners being installed by our customers for whom we are designing systems to improve their winter reliability.”

Wabtec’s latest cold-weather-battling systems are its ABDX-CM (Cylinder Maintaining) and ABDX-CMHW (Cylinder Maintaining and Hot Wheel Protection) brake valves, and its Automatic Parking Brake (APB).

“Wabtec’s work on the ABDX Brake 18 Age 2020 16BRailway Railway Age////August August 2020

Spectrum Inc. SureStart™ Flex Control Cabinet.

Cylinder Pressure Maintaining feature will address leakage out of the brake cylinder air circuit due to leaking rubber seals in the brake cylinder (packing cup and pipe flange gasket), the piping system (pipe flange gaskets) and the control valve or empty-load valve (various rubber seals),” the company says. “Our work on the ABDX Hot Wheel Protection feature will address leakage into brake cylinder from leaking rubber seals in the control valve. Leakage into the brake cylinder can result in overheated wheels (potential wheel damage) and high brake shoe wear. The Brake Cylinder Pressure Maintaining feature is production-ready and can be provided on any ABDX Control Valve. The Hot Wheel Protection feature is nearly production-ready; we are just waiting on a new die casting, with samples expected before the end of the year.

“Our Automatic Parking Brake (APB) will automatically secure a train on a grade whenever an emergency brake application is made. The APB will retain at least 90% of the emergency application shoe force, even if the brake cylinder air pressure has leaked off completely. We expect to have limited quantities available for field test in 3Q2020.”

Driven by requests to provide a more f lexible, precise control of its snowclearing and ice-melting technologies, Spectrum Inc. recently released a new line of SureStart™ Flex Control Cabinets with Individual Circuit Control. The new design, which features the ability to individually heat specific switches in a track system with a single control cabinet via signal, is geared specifically toward energy and cost savings.

“This new design is geared specifically towards energy savings and costconscious Class I, Class II and industrial rail yards,” Spectum notes. “In some situations, 24/7 snow melters on un-utilized track is a waste of valuable resources. Our Flex Individual Circuit Control allows for the precise control of track switch heaters in a multiple circuit cabinet. When tracks are in use or about to be used, only the required track switch heaters need to be activated by dispatch or local control; thereby, slashing energy costs and increasing the longevity of the Flat Jacket Cal Rods and Crib Heater Elements.”

Spectrum’s Sure Start™ Flex Control Cabinets are available in 2-12 circuit designs “using high-quality COTS (commercial off the shelf) components,” the company says.

“Replacement components can be sourced from a local commercial electrical supply house, reducing down time. Spectrum does not use any proprietary software, computer panels or hardware in our designs. These units have been proven in the most rigorous Class I and Class II railroad systems throughout the U.S. and Canada.”

Spectrum manufactures SureStart™ Flex Control Cabinets and RRSH Hot/Cold Air Blowers in Cleveland, Ohio. “Each has the capacity to power both our Flat Jacket Cal Rods and Crib Heaters so that a high level of flexibility and customization can be achieved within any design specifications,” the company points out. “Each unit can be controlled manually, via sensors or remote relay. We are ready for the 2020-2021 winter season. Flat Jacket Cal Rods, Crib Heaters and Junction Boxes are always available for immediate shipping. Our lead times railwayage.com railwayage.com

ThermOmegaTewch, Spectrum Inc.

ThermOmegaTech GURU plug installed on a compressor.

ANNUAL WINTER PREP report

nVant

nVent Flat MI Switch Heating System.

on built-to-order control cabinets and hot air blowers have been dramatically reduced with additional investments in automation and manpower in our production facilities.”

Whitmore has synthetic-based, allseason flange lubricants as well as solid sticks for flange lubricant and tread friction modifiers the company says “require no changes between summer and winter seasons. If a customer chooses to use mineral oil-based products, the changeover from summer to winter can be done by mixing our summer and winter products, which are fully compatible, and this eliminates the need to empty reservoirs. The timeframe to changeover from summer to winter grades is quite long in most places. The changeover should occur when the ambient temperatures average below 85°F and above 25°F. This would give you a window of a few months in the fall to switch products.” nVent offers a wide range of rail heating and control systems that effectively melt ice on switches and critical transit infrastructure, including contact rail and overhead catenary contact wire. “This offering brings together core nVent capabilities that include the industrial heating technology and expertise of nVent RAYCHEM and the extensive railway industry experience and high quality components of nVent ERICO,” railwayage.com railwayage.com

says Dan Whiteley, Global Marketing Manager, Railway Solutions. “With our comprehensive rail heating portfolio, nVent has been the go-to supplier of snow melting and de-icing solutions that freight and transit railroads trust to protect critical track infrastructure from inclement winter weather.”

The nVent Flat MI Switch Heating System, a core part of the nVent rail heating product line, “is a proven solution for melting ice on track switches,” notes Whiteley. “It features a flat profile, constant wattage heater element. We recently introduced a new, AAR-certified heater element to the nVent Flat MI Switch Heating System product line that brings greater performance, reliability, fit and functionality. The new heater element undergoes rigorous quality testing to ensure there are no defects, significantly reducing the likelihood of premature system failure once installed. The innovative heater design features unique flat profile (.340 inch x .625 inch), wider yet shorter in height than competitive heaters. This profile helps the heater maintain contact with the rail for proper conductive heat transfer, as it’s less likely to bow away from the rail. Due to this efficient heat transfer, the heater not only consumes less energy, it also runs relatively cooler, minimizing the risk of track fires.

It also contributes to improving reliability and longevity of the heater, avoiding costly replacements and service interruptions.

With less height, the heater element is an easier fit in tight spaces, such as in between the stock rail and wedge brace located at the entrance of a turnout.

“Another advantage of the nVent Flat MI Switch Heating System heater element is in the flexibility to meet a variety electrical and engineering specifications. The heater element can be manufactured to operate at voltages up to 750V, allowing nVent to meet the needs of our customers who have different voltage requirements, some of which require 600V, 625V and 750V. The heater element can also be manufactured for AC and DC power, with design options to meet various wiring configurations, including single ended (positive to negative, two point connection) or double ended ( positive and negative for a single point connection). Finally, we can provide systems where the heater element wattage differs at various segments up to 500 watts per feet, should the customer prefer higher or lower heat output in certain areas. Standard sizing of the heater element goes up to 34 feet; however, we can provide custom lengths to more than 100 feet.”

To paraphrase a wise man, failing to prepare for winter is preparing to fail.

August 2020 // Railway Age 16C August 2020 // Railway Age 19

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LOCOMOTIVE SOFTWARE Progress Rail’s TALOS™ Energy Management system blends machine learning and computing power to analyze and optimize train routes, train types and train health.

ROLLING

PROCESSOR PLATFORMS Improvements in train handling, fuel efficiency and safety are all possible through the advanced microprocessor technology quickly becoming standard on locomotives.

BY WILLIAM C. VANTUONO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Progress Rail

I

t isn’t a stretch to look at the modern diesel-electric locomotive as a “microprocessor on rails.” Onboard software and related hardware technology have grown exponentially, encompassing numerous integrated systems that manage critical functions: Fuel consumption, through energy management systems. Engine control (prime-mover and traction alternator). EPA emissions compliance. Brake (independent, dynamic and train line) and throttle settings. Remote railwayage.com

health monitoring. Engineer-assist and/ or attended autonomous operation. PTC. Distributed Power. Safety.

Working closely with railroads, companies like Wabtec, Progress Rail, Wi-Tronix, Railhead and New York Air Brake are developing and deploying these technologies across a broad spectrum of applications. Following are examples of this close collaboration, which in many ways illustrates the best of railroad/supplier collaboration and synergy.

PROGRESS RAIL TALOS™, Progress Rail’s Energy Management system, is an attended autonomous technology that “delivers better fuel efficiency (up to 15%), reduced emissions (also up to 15%), and improved train handling for safer operation and increased network capacity, all of which can improve a railroad’s bottom line,” the company says.

On Nov. 19, 2019, Railway Age Editorin-Chief William C. Vantuono climbed on board a TALOS™-controlled heavy-haul August 2020 // Railway Age 17

LOCOMOTIVE SOFTWARE

freight train at the RTT (Railroad Test Track) at TTCI in Pueblo, Colo., for an exclusive demonstration. The train, as it had been doing throughout numerous tests, operated automatically in ATO mode, navigating the 13.5-mile loop at speeds up to 50 mph, climbing the RTT’s 1.5% ruling grade and negotiating its S-curve, among other right-of-way characteristics.

“As the global rail market changes at an ever increasing pace, Progress Rail has listened to its customers to deliver new solutions driving efficiency, productivity and reliability throughout operations,” the company says. “As a result, more emphasis has been placed upon the company’s digital suite of connected solutions than ever. Energy Management and Train Automation is at the forefront of these digital tools. TALOS™ Energy Management utilizes machine learning and massive computing power to analyze and optimize train routes, train types and train health, resulting in significant improvements for 18 Railway Age // August 2020

fuel and time. Additionally, SmartConsist™ sets each locomotive to its individual, prime throttle position within the consist to improve overall fuel economy and reduce emissions, while achieving required power and tractive effort.

“By adapting to train behavior, TALOS™ delivers higher fuel savings, reduced emissions, improved train handling for safer operation and increased network capacity to impact railroads’ bottom line. For full consist optimization, AESS™, our Automatic Engine Start/Stop system, monitors critical operating parameters during locomotive idle operation, safely and effectively shutting down the engine once all factors are satisfied.”

In terms of asset health monitoring and maintaining an efficient locomotive fleet, Progress Rail’s PR Uptime® Suite allows for leveraging of operational data, saving fuel by detecting potential problems before they become actual failures. This is an example of “moving from time- to condition-based

maintenance. Advanced asset monitoring combines with our Locomotive Monitoring Center (LMC) expertise to offer customized reports and streamline data delivery. With the enhanced capabilities to assess engine system health and determine ‘fuel hogs,’ as well as provide Virtual Load Testing and a fleet-level Fuel Management dashboard.”

Progress Rail’s PowerView is described as “a next-generation, crash-hardened Locomotive Event and Video Recorder that provides synchronized recording and playback of multiple data sources and can replace multiple locomotive recorders into a single unit. As an OEM-agnostic processing platform, PowerView provides a single advanced fuel monitoring solution across an entire and varied fleet, and can integrate with other third-party fuel management products. It supports edge computing for local analytics, alarming and other applications.”

Progress Rail’s drop-in, 64-volt replacement EMD Lithium-Ion Starting Battery railwayage.com

Wabtec

Wabtec Corp.’s Trip Optimizer energy management system, described by the company as a “smart cruise control system for trains,” has surpassed, globally, 500 million miles in operation.

LOCOMOTIVE SOFTWARE employs chemistry that “meets the highest demands for locomotive starting in a single battery enclosure,” the company says.

“Advanced battery technology significantly lessens maintenance and dead battery issues. Perhaps more important, the Li-On solution provides a foundation to power accessories on the locomotive, offering considerable fuel savings. A single lithiumion battery replaces two lead-acid batteries on a locomotive.”

WABTEC Wabtec Corp.’s Trip Optimizer energy management system, described by the company as a “smart cruise control system for trains,” has surpassed, globally, 500 million miles in operation.

Trip Optimizer, originally deployed in 2009 by GE Transportation (which Wabtec acquired in 2019), features “situational awareness that accounts for terrain, train make-up and speed restrictions to calculate an optimum speed plan, automatically controlling locomotive throttle and dynamic brakes according to that plan for optimal fuel utilization and emission reduction.” The system is installed on more than 11,000 locomotives globally and, according to Wabtec, “has saved 400 million gallons of fuel to date while reducing CO2 emissions by more than 500,000 tons per year—equivalent to taking 100,000 cars off the road. The system greatly reduces emissions and fuel costs for railroads worldwide.”

“Fuel is the second largest operating cost for our customers, with North American Class I railroads spending more than $7 billion on diesel each year,” said Wabtec Chief Commercial Officer for Digital Electronics Peter Thomas. “The Trip Optimizer system has demonstrated its value by improving locomotive efficiency and utilization for more than 500 million miles of [attended] automatic operation. It is EPAcertified to cut emissions by 10% by reducing fuel consumption, enabling railroads to shrink their carbon footprint and reduce operating expenses.”

“We continue to explore ways to enhance the benefits of the Trip Optimizer system to the environment and our customers by providing advanced features,” said Wabtec Vice President Train Performance and Automation Solutions Scott Horning. “The SmartHPT feature provides an additional railwayage.com

5% fuel savings by optimizing train performance for a given HPT (horsepower per trailing ton), while integration with our LOCOTROL DP (distributed power) system provides automatic control of DP trains in independent mode, delivering improved train handling over challenging terrain.”

RAILHEAD Section 11411 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) requires the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) “to promulgate regulations requiring each railroad carrier that provides regularly scheduled intercity rail passenger or commuter rail passenger transportation to install inward- and outward- facing image recording devices (cameras) in all controlling locomotives of passenger trains.” In addition, FRA, through an NPRM that has not yet been issued as a final rule, “is proposing to require that these devices record while a lead locomotive is in motion, and retain the data in a crashworthy memory module. The NPRM does not propose to require recording devices in freight locomotives.

Many railroads are installing these devices voluntarily. For example, Metra recently awarded a $15.5 million contract to Railhead Corp. to install, fleet-wide, tracking systems on locomotives and cab cars. Railhead’s system includes its Locomotive Digital Video Recorders (LDVRs), forward-facing twin-view cameras, three rear-facing cameras, microphones, Locomotive Application Remote Interface (LARI) event recorder data integration and crashhardened memory. This system “allows Metra the ability to sync event recorder data with video. LARI reads event recorder data live and streams it directly to the LDVR. It also provides Metra the ability to expand and grow to incorporate more on board devices for a complete remote monitoring solution,” the company says.

The latest iteration of LDVR is the LDVRHD (High Definition), described by Railhead as “the industry’s most advanced LDVR system to date.” The system “can support up to 12 IP A/V channels to connect to our industry-inclusive auto detect and configure IP cameras with up to 1080p HD resolution. Railhead has designed the LDVRHD to support multiple storage options ranging from 256GB to 2TB solidstate drive technology. To guarantee that the

critical data stored is available when needed, the LDVRHD has an option to protect the data by utilizing RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configurations and an available Crash Hardened Memory Module.

Retrieving the data is simple, using backwards-compatible RSM software.”

Rail describes LDVRHD as “a full featured, highly reliable, steel constructed LDVR designed specifically for use in rail applications. It is Mil-Spec and SAE rated for proven resilience and dependability in unforgiving railroad environments, with added protection for water intrusion, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, voltage fluctuations and power loss. It is built to withstand all the elements, featuring robust M12 connectors, a completely sealed and water-resistant chassis, while recording the clearest, highest quality audio/video. The system has been tested and meets FRA specification S-5702, is easy to use, provides superior video quality and delivers years of reliable service with the lowest cost of ownership.

“LDVRHD supports PoE digital high definition IP cameras that deliver the clearest, highest quality video. The system provides a user-friendly and technologically advanced solution for mobile video surveillance while including all the high-quality features of a standard stationary IP system. It supports plug and play functionality. This allows for the installation of cameras and microphones to be easily installed with no programming or networking expertise required.

Our cameras’ auto connect feature provides a common setup across all cameras while saving hours on installation.

“The LDVRHD provides superior video streaming capabilities, is wireless-ready for use with any TCP/IP based network and compatible with existing wireless 802.11 and cellular modem devices.”

To date, more than 5,000 Railhead LDVRs and 2,500 inward-facing cameras have been installed on passenger and freight railroads.

WI-TRONIX After labor, fuel is a railroad’s single-largest cost. A technology-supported fuel management strategy is a recent development.

According to Wi-Tronix, “access to realtime, accurate fuel-use data has taken on additional urgency. Incorporated into the overall data stream, a data-based fuel management program is an indispensable August 2020 // Railway Age 19

LOCOMOTIVE SOFTWARE part of a railroad’s overall business strategy, one focused on safety, efficiency, sustainability, service quality, cost control and profitability. Indeed, fuel management goes well beyond basic fuel conservation.”

A newly published Wi-Tronix white paper on fuel management is instructive on why fuel management is important: “Among the primary jobs of railroad personnel responsible for managing locomotive fleets is ensuring that locomotives get fuel where and when they need it.

However, the data needed to make business-appropriate strategic decisions often lacks detail and/or comprehensiveness.

For example, actual fuel consumption is often higher than what is projected. Reconciliation of purchased gallons with actual gallons consumed is very challenging.

“There are many considerations. Locomotives, individually or in multiple-unit lashups, are often cut out of a train to visit the fueling pad. With Distributed Power (DP) units spaced throughout a consist (more common today, with longer, heavier

trains operating under Precision Scheduled Railroading), this becomes more problematic. Even with run-through refueling pads located on the main line handling multiple locomotives simultaneously, a train must still stop for an extended time period.

Traffic control, even for the most experienced dispatchers, is often a chess game.

Refueling stops, planned or unplanned, are just one of many pieces on the board.

“Locomotive fuel tank gauges have improved over the years, from simple sight glasses to gauges that use compressed air to determine how much fuel is left in the tank.

But these methods have up to a 5% margin of error (for example, plus or minus 250 gallons on a 5,000 gallon tank). Fuel level readings are skewed by roll and pitch and rail cant, and whether a train is operating on a grade or flat territory, through curves or on tangent track.

“Fuel costs vary, depending upon geographic region. Fueling in regions where prices are higher impacts cost control initiatives. Delaying locomotive refueling until a

train is operating in a region where prices are lower creates risks: running out of fuel, stranding power on line-of-road, unplanned stops, and financial penalties for delayed trains and shipment deliveries outside of contracted windows. The remedy is a DTL (Direct To Locomotive) fuel stop requiring a contracted truck making a fuel delivery in a remote location, at higher cost than a railroad facility. DTL, however, can be problematic, particularly, reconciling billing with the amount of fuel actually delivered.

“Technology exists in the market today that provides the benefits of reduced fuel consumption, simplified fuel consumption accounting, and reduced emissions. This technology, utilizing AI (Artificial Intelligence) as well as railroad operating systems, is designed to provide high-quality data— real-time and historical—for every locomotive in the fleet, resulting in ‘refueling optimization.’”

To address the numerous challenges railroads encounter like those described above, Wi-Tronix® has developed the

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LOCOMOTIVE SOFTWARE Wi-FuelSensor, Wi-Nav and Fuel Efficiency Monitor (FEM) System technologies. “All are fleet-agnostic, AI-based solutions that generate fuel data used to provide alerts and reports,” the company says. “Integrated within a refueling optimization program, these solutions provide access to real-time, accurate fuel data, generating alerts when specific fuel conditions are met. They allow railroad personnel to make real-time adjustments for optimal fuel consumption, ultimately decreasing fuel costs and increasing operating efficiencies.”

NEW YORK AIR BRAKE The New York Air Brake TDS (Train Dynamic Systems) Division LEADER® (Locomotive Engineer Assist/Display & Event Recorder) is a train control and energy management system designed to save fuel and reduce in-train forces. It has been in service since 2008 and is deployed on thousands of locomotives globally.

LEADER® software “contains data on the train’s length and weight, car types,

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power distribution and a detailed track profile, reacting en route in real time to signal changes, weather conditions and locomotive performance to optimize train handling,” NYAB says. “It performs highfidelity on-board simulations that predict train performance several miles ahead, evaluates multiple train operating strategies and selects the strategy that is the best match for increased fuel economy, railcar life and on-time schedule performance.”

In a study using two years of log data on EMD locomotives operating on a Class I railroad, NYAB found that LEADER’s overall, network-wide fuel savings were 11.8%.

LEADER® has evolved in recent years to a three-mode technology: LEADER DriverAssist™ “prompts the locomotive engineer on brake and throttle settings.” LEADER AutoControl™ “automatically operates the throttle and dynamic brake systems for improved precision. The most advanced iteration, LEADER AutoPilot™, “provides autonomous train control, and operates driverless in Australia.” LEADER® also

offers PTC compliance, real-time brake monitoring, trip management or “pacing,” consist management (such as integration with SmartConsist® from Progress Rail), and compliance with LCCM (Locomotive Command & Control Module) and other interoperability standards.

As well, says NYAB, LEADER® has the capability “to model and prompt for Asynchronous Distributed Power (ADP), providing a material improvement in fuel savings and train handling in both hilly and flat terrain.” As a long, heavy freight train crests a hill, the force of gravity pulls on the portion of the train on the ascending grade— draft—while pushing on the portion on the descending grade—buff. ADP allows the lead locomotives to use gravity to their full advantage, while supplying power to the rear locomotives to climb the hill. On flat terrain, ADP selects the most efficient units, since less power is needed. Fuel consumption is reduced by temporarily idling unneeded units and reducing power to others.

Rolling processor platforms, indeed.

August 2020 // Railway Age 21

PSR 2.0

PSR, THE NEXT GENERATION PART 3: Realizing your Vision of PSR 2.0.

BY SONIA D. BOT AND JOHN F. ORR 22 Railway Age // August 2020

railwayage.com

Norfolk Southern

P

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recision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), as we know it today, is rapidly reaching an inflection point. Escalating trade disruptions, rail strikes, blockades, weather events and the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the urgency to make supply chains more resilient.

Weaknesses in international supply chains have been exposed, and escalating domestic transportation turmoil demonstrates the need for end-to-end approaches, standards, solutions, and greater service level accountability and safety. PSR has been applied to some Class I’s and has yet to be applied widely to Class II, Class III, tenant and passenger railroads in North America. This gap represents 40% of North American route-miles.

The current version of PSR, which we refer to as “1.0,” has produced measurable financial, operational and service improvements. Yet, some internal growing pains continue, accompanied by shock waves absorbed by shippers, non-PSR railroads, industry partners, advocates and policymakers.

This three-part Railway Age series introduces PSR 2.0, which will take PSR to the next level, within individual railroads and across railroad and transportation “ecosystems.” It demands an entrepreneurial culture, and is geared toward increasing relevancy in a world rife with existential economic threats, increased competition and urgency to embrace the tail end of the digital age while preparing the foundation of the new era of breakthrough innovation.

In Part 1 (June 2020), we presented the case for mainstream adoption of PSR 2.0. It is a reliable, scalable, and high-gain approach for delivering sustainable financial results safely and securely, while building reputational equity. PSR 2.0 calls for people and the organization to make changes in how they think and operate. It differs from 1.0 by embracing entrepreneurship and partnerships across an integrated transportation ecosystem. It provides for a shared platform—a voice at the table—for the parties, ensuring integrity for delivering service propositions,

PSR 2.0 one where shock-absorbing assets and disproportionate cost are replaced by aligned service, balanced asset costs and smoothed operational flows. PSR 2.0 allows for responsiveness and resiliency to competitor moves.

In Part 2 (July 2020) we discussed key considerations that accelerate business and customer value realization, with lowered PSR 2.0 implementation cost and effort. This requires embracing the ecosystem view of the transportation supply chain, where benefits are realized for all the participants. We have provided a toolkit for leaders to succeed in the marketplace, by enabling them to invest in order to responsively support the needs of customers. We recommend certain cultural and capability considerations, provide tools for assessment of current state, and supply recommendations for implementing and scaling PSR implementation. With a focus on effectiveness, organizational process waste is reduced by 20% to 80%.

In Part 3, we step through a systematic and modern approach for delivering value while taking precision railroading to the next logical steps in its evolution: Precision Scheduled Transportation.

Pushing the envelope now and in the future toward a major shift in thinking and delivering an integrated transportation system.

SYSTEMATIC, MODERN APPROACH When you share objectives, your overall value increases; taking a shared systematic approach for implementing PSR 2.0 ensures low risk, high gain and least cost. Start with the end state in mind, in this case, the future vision of PSR 2.0.

Then assess the current state to establish the starting position. In well-defined value-added iterations, the journey to the future vision progresses. It’s an iterative journey, with new discoveries or entry of new forces that could not have been predicted. Knowing when to pivot—and having the organizational capability to do so—are key, as progression on the familiar, comfortable path is self-limiting and counterproductive.

Each railroad and ecosystem partner must follow this progression according August 2020 // Railway Age 23

PSR 2.0

to their respective timing and pace of adoption (Figure 1).

PSR 2.0 IMPLEMENTATION LEVERS There are many levers that can be used for closing the gap between the current state and the PSR 2.0 target. Current-state assessments and on-going progress checkpoints would include these levers, plus any Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that is being tracked (Figure 2).

The journey into PSR 2.0 and any of its initiatives or projects, while they should begin at the C-suite and senior executive levels, can only be successful when it permeates into the entire organization.

Similarly, the links to strategy, business objectives, people development, and risk tolerance must be explicitly communicated.

Ecosystem partners cooperatively participate and contribute to projects. Balanced distribution of value among the ecosystem partners is also key. These three levers are cornerstones and predictive indicators for the success of the endeavor.

A current-state assessment would reveal an organization’s types of leaders and personnel. Transformational programs such as PSR 2.0 requires highly experienced, high-performing “transformation leaders” and specialized subject matter experts. Typically, such resources are required when companies go through complex transformations. When they move on to their next mandate, a company is not always in a state of complex transformation or turnaround. Leadership and personnel capabilities are developed to focus both on deriving maximum value from up-to-date investments and the 24 Railway Age // August 2020

yet-to-be-realized improvements defined within the business plan.

PSR 2.0 requires an innovative, entrepreneurial and collaborative environment.

Personnel (insourced and/or outsourced) should possess a rich set of playbooks and best practices that enables them to perform exceptionally in a railroad environment and effectively pass it on to those that are learning.

“PSR 2.0 can be implemented in parallel, interacting streams, ecosystemfocused.”

Processes must be aligned and adaptable. They must be capable and predictable. These characteristics are measurable and statistically assessed. Processes must be professionally architected and high throughput technologies can streamline, standardize, and efficiently execute routine tasks.

The strategic plan should drive OT/IT (operational and information technology) projects. Assuming that processes and organizational change management will catch up after the fact is a fallacy. OT/IT must also

be well-versed and well-connected with the functions they serve, such as operations and engineering.

In order to derive full value and return on invested capital, infrastructure and assets must be right-sized. Over capitalization and under capitalization have risks. Deriving full value of capital value demands leveraging the direct experience and market knowledge of the broader ecosystem. Operations needs to be integrated, lean and safe, as should marketing, product management, business development and procurement. Tying it all together is the unified platform supported by reliable data and practical standards.

It is governed for business performance, adherence, and service quality.

ROADMAP AND STRATEGIES PSR 2.0 can be implemented in parallel and interacting streams. One stream is internally focused, where the PSR 2.0 competency is built within a railroad or ecosystem partner. The other stream is ecosystemfocused, where the PSR 2.0 unified platform is built. Both streams go through the same stages: plan, beachhead, early successes, scale-up, and operating (Figure 3).

The linchpins are strategy and business objectives. They provide the criteria for prioritizing the various gaps and opportunities in the pipeline. The beachhead project, which is directly tied to the strategy and business objectives, provides the opportunity to successfully mobilize the first valueadded element of PSR 2.0 in a key area. Use it to solve a problem that closes the gap on a specific business objective. Then, a series of low-risk/high-success projects follow that railwayage.com

PSR 2.0 are directly tied to the strategy and business objectives. Once the early successes are proven, scaling up follows. This can include similar areas where the same playbooks can be replicated, or new areas can be embarked upon to develop those playbooks. Once a fully closed loop is established, where the operation and processes are regulated by constant feedback, continuous performance improvement with new capabilities proceed as the operating norm. Considering the nature of the PSR 2.0 endeavor, the roadmap could be multi-generational.

Going deeper, the detailed roadmap would include actions and milestones that carry out the strategy moves and pivots. Key “swim lanes” are market segments, products/services, platforms, operational effectiveness, technology building blocks, and regulatory. Other swim lanes can be added over time, such as alliances (Figure 4).

The platform swim lane is worth calling out here. For a particular railroad, this would be specific to internal product and service lines. The “product platform” is used as the leverage base for spawning off new product and service offerings to customers, a competitive advantage for the organization. In the context of the ecosystem, the platform is the Unified PSR 2.0 Ecosystem Platform.

Adoption by railroads and ecosystem partners could follow the typical adoption pattern of innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.

Regardless, each would follow the roadmap stages. Their content may be different, depending on when they engage. For example, where later adopters can replicate proven solutions from early adopters.

Their culture and capability maturity, in addition to their baseline assessment, are other factors.

For the innovators and early adopters, a prudent point for engaging with building the ecosystem platform is after some early successes have been achieved by individual railroads. At this point, sufficient information would be on hand for formulating realistic strategies and objectives for building the PSR 2.0 platform. Beforehand, there could be fluidity of exchanges and ideas, though at this point there needs to be an explicit effort to launch from an ecosystem perspective and proceed systematically.

In the early adoption stage, a Class I and railwayage.com

Class II railroad may join forces to solve a business problem they experience, such as hand-offs between the two. Currently, this is quintessential for PSR 2.0. However, in parallel, each railroad is internally building up their PSR 2.0 competency.

Some early adopters (Class I’s, for example) may choose to explore building linkages to existing transportation supplychain platforms, possibly through vertical integration. Alternatively, they may be incented to place themselves in positions as chief orchestrators of the ecosystem, or they may own a vested interest in the platform.

There are many possibilities and proven examples from other industries that can be tapped into or used as stimuli for creating a new paradigm.

It is worthwhile to consider “future proofing” the ecosystem platform installation decisions so that it is made up of components that can be readily used without requiring replacement of the onboarding kit. Closed source vs. open source strategies must be vetted. Should alliances emerge— that is, competing groups of ecosystem partnerships vying for their platforms (think Mac vs. PC), interoperability strategies and solutions must be in place.

RISK MITIGATION The temptation to rush through or skip critical steps or deliverables in the roadmap is an important consideration. When you realize gains early on, the gains will grow as you progress through the entirety of August 2020 // Railway Age 25

PSR 2.0

the implementation. It may be tempting to stand on the immediate gains, as opposed to seeing it through. This limits the full positive impact of PSR 2.0 there by limiting the full expansion and ecosystem. It may also limit the scope of influence and setting the pace and tone of the change.

This includes treating strategy as an artificial exercise, skipping baselining assessments, making unsubstantiated assumptions on value propositions, building upon ambiguous or incomplete requirements, moving ahead without having properly completed and tested deliverables, engaging in mergers and acquisitions or joint ventures without requisite due diligence, etc. Each step and its deliverables in the roadmap are explicit building blocks, adding tangible value at each step of the journey.

Ignoring an opportunity to pivot is a risk.

PSR 2.0 allows you to realize that people in positions of leadership are your assets. It takes experience, support, and managerial courage to declare a pivot and to carry it out.

We create an entrepreneurial environment that provides employees the tools to succeed.

Leaders are not solely focused on the broken pieces within their department. A benefit allows you to see which sections of the endto-end are weaker and need improvement vs. just looking at things individually and compartmentalized. This allows for the development for a shared purpose within the shared entities and business objectives PSR 2.0 encourages an innovative and “speak-up” culture where problems can be identified and 26 Railway Age // August 2020

then mitigated.

Finally, PSR 2.0 and supporting technology advances such as advanced analytics and decision automation must be embraced. All projects must be closely tied to business objectives and receive constant, consistent support from executives. There are methodologies (e.g. design thinking) and support mechanisms (e.g. exploration framework) to properly conduct early-stage exploratory work that are far more effective.

The importance of a cohesive tie to strategy and business objectives is extremely important here.

REALIZING YOUR VISION PSR 2.0 is the breakthrough. It is the driving force of change and is also the link that mitigates risk.

Implementing PSR 2.0 is a necessary, complex and transformative journey involving many independent parts of transportation systems. If we want to keep moving forward in the development of rail, then to just continue to tweak or revise existing systems does not go far enough.

We must consciously look for the next break through. Thinking outside the box and stretching our visions is the only way that we can take precision railroading to the next logical step in its evolution.

This can only be accomplished through developed alliances which allow the sharing of objectives and thereby increasing overall value and overall growth. Our holistic focus and time-to-market strategies increase the likelihood of success and growth within the

rail and transportation industry. The more you know about the industry and culture, the better the overall global advances: It’s a 360-degree strategy to healthy growth and synthesis, to allow full potential and growth to be reached.

Broader engagement and commitment reduce the temptation to rush through or skip critical steps. Just continuing to tinker and tamper with the problem only minimizes the deliverables. While it is tempting to stand on the short term and immediate gains, doing so could thwart transformational growth and value creation from occurring.

PSR 2.0 broadens the scope of influence and sets the pace and tone of expansion and innovation, both necessary right now. Business strategies become better aligned and enriched exercises for business modernization. Baseline assessment replaces assumptions on value proposition. The richer the contextual story the stronger the global advances. PSR 2.0 creates real insight into current and future markets and emerging competition. A shared purpose and an “overall synthesis” allow for full potential and growth to be reached.

Sonia D. Bot, chief executive of The BOT Consulting Group Inc., has worked at the forefront of technology, media, and telecommunications companies worldwide, and was instrumental in SONIA BOT PTC implementation on CN’s U.S. lines.

John F. Orr, a top-level operations executive for railroading and transportation ecosystems, is a fourthgeneration railroader who rose through the ranks and became JOHN ORR CN’s Chief Transportation Officer. With E. Hunter Harrison and his successors, Orr delivered PSR operations, and continues the mission today throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, contact Sonia D. Bot at sdbot@botgroupinc.com and John F. Orr at OrrJohnF@outlook.com. railwayage.com

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People / Events SEPTEMBER 14-18, 2020

CINDY SANBORN Norfolk Southern

HIGH PROFILE: Cindy Sanborn, one of the first women to hold

a senior-level executive role at a Class I railroad, will succeed the retiring Michael Wheeler as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Norfolk Southern, effective Sept. 1, 2020.

Sanborn, who left as EVP and COO at NS eastern competitor CSX during a messy management purge by the late E. Hunter Harrison in 2017 following 30 years of service there, resurfaced at Union Pacific as Regional Vice President Transportation-Western Region in February 2018. She was subsequently elevated to Vice President Network Planning and oversaw all activities in UP’s Northern Region. At CSX, prior to her role as EVP and COO, Sanborn held various leadership positions during her 30-year tenure, including VP and Chief Transportation Officer, and Vice President Northern Region. “When we began the search for our next Chief Operating Officer, we looked for an experienced executive who could lead our operations and build on our successful implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading,” said Norfolk Southern Chairman, President and CEO Jim Squires.

“We are proud to welcome Cindy Sanborn, one of the freight rail industry’s leading operations experts, to the Norfolk Southern team. I thank Mike Wheeler for the many contributions he made during his 35-year tenure at Norfolk Southern. We wish him all the best.” Wheeler will retire effective Oct. 1. “It has been a privilege to be a part of Norfolk Southern, and I am proud of all that we have accomplished, especially over the past few years,” he said. “I am confident in the future success of Norfolk Southern and look forward to working closely with Cindy to ensure a seamless handoff of leadership responsibilities.” “Norfolk Southern is combining PSR with a superior service product,” said Sanborn, who earned an undergraduate degree from Emory University and an MBA from the University of Miami. “I look forward to working with the NS management team to build on the momentum that’s already well under way.”

S

teven L. Beal, 46, President and CEO of National Railway Equipment (NRE), died Saturday, July 11, at his home in Ladue, Mo. “The NRE family is devastated by this tremendous loss,” NRE said in a statement. “A lifelong ‘railroad man,’ Steven had been in the industry since the age of 12, constantly learning the business from his father, Lawrence, who founded NRE in 1984. When Lawrence passed away in 2010, Steven was well-prepared to assume leadership of the company. He was a remarkable leader for the NRE family and a well-known and highly respected industry advocate. The only thing more important to Steven than NRE was his family, including his wife, Erin, and their two young children, his sister Susan Frangella and her husband Patrick, and Steven and Susan’s mother Sandra Beal. We offer them our heartfelt condolences and our unwavering support through this unthinkable tragedy.”

“I had the pleasure of getting to know Steven Beal as he grew into his role as CEO of NRE after the unexpected passing of his father, Lawrence Beal,” said David Nahass,

28 Railway Age // August 2020

President of Railroad Financial Corp. and Railway Age Financial Editor. “Steven carried himself differently than Lawrence, but had the same kind of thoughtful and contemplative way about him. He was proud of his father’s legacy and his ability to maintain and expand the company. During the downturn of 2016 while visiting with Steven at his Mt. Vernon facility, while he fretted over business volumes and global sales levels, at the core of Steven’s concerns was the people he employed. When NRE had to shut the Paducah NRE facility, he worked to keep it open as long as possible, and then when he was able to reopen that facility, he was happy to bring those jobs back to the community.

Steven was a great industry ambassador, with passion and intellect he brought to his job. His great joy, however, was his family, and the time he spent with them, his wife, Erin, and their children. He was a consistent and constant presence at the Rail Equipment Finance Conference. We will miss his charming smile, warm demeanor and openness to talk on any industry-related topic.”

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Visit http://bit.ly/railjobs 30 Railway Age // August 2020

To place a job posting, contact: Jennifer Izzo 203-604-1744 jizzo@mediapeople.com

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Ad Index COMPANY

PHONE #

FAX #

URL/EMAIL ADDRESS

PAGE #

Rajeev.Kak@CloudMoyo.com

C4

315-786-5676

Janice.Pfeil@nyab.com

5

212-620-7205

212-633-1165

conferences@sbpub.com

27

POWER DRIVES INC

716-822-3600

716-824-4817

r.panzica@powerdrives.com

13

PROGRESS RAIL A CATERPILLER CO

256-505-6402

256-505-6051

info@progressrail.com

7

RAIL MOVEMENT PLANNER

5511931120950

railmp.com

21

CLOUD MOYO

415-640-6129

NEW YORK AIR BRAKE

315-786-5431

NEXT GEN TRAIN C

RAILWAY EQUIPMENT CO

763-972-2200

763-972-2900

sales@rwy.com

15

RAILWAY EDUCATIONAL BUREAU

402-346-4300

402-346-1783

bbrundige@sb-reb.com

29,C3

SALCO PRODUCTS INC

630-685-4661

630-783-2590

sales@salcoproducts.com

3

SPECTRUM, INC

800-605-9818

216-801-4774

sales@spectruminfrared.com

16

855-244-3218

303-979-7350

sales@fastraxind.com

16

trinityrail.com

C2

THERMON HEATING SYSTEMS TRINITY RAIL

800-631-4420

The Advertisers Index is an editorial feature maintained for the convenience of readers. It is not part of the advertiser contract and Railway Age assumes no responsibility for the correctness.

Advertising Sales MAIN OFFICE Jonathan Chalon Publisher 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com AL, KY, Jon Chalon 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA, WV, CANADA – QUEBEC AND EAST, ONTARIO Jerome Marullo 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jmarullo@sbpub.com

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AR, AK, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NM, ND, NV, OK, OR, SD, TN, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY, CANADA – AB, BC, MB, SK Heather Disabato 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 683-5026 Fax: (312) 683-0131 hdisabato@sbpub.com

THE NETHERLANDS, BRITAIN, FRANCE, BELGIUM, PORTUGAL, SWITZERLAND, NORTH GERMANY, MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA (NOT SOUTH), FAR EAST (EXCLUDING KOREA /CHINA/INDIA), ALL OTHERS, TENDERS Jerome Marullo 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jmarullo@sbpub.com

SCANDINAVIA, SPAIN, SOUTHERN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, KOREA, CHINA, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH AFRICA, RUSSIA, EASTERN EUROPE BALTIC STATES, RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING Michael Boyle International Area Sales Manager Nils Michael Boyle Dorfstrasse 70, 6393 St. Ulrich, Austria. +011436767089872 mboyle@railjournal.com ITALY, ITALIAN-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND Dr. Fabio Potesta Media Point & Communications SRL Corte Lambruschini Corso Buenos Aires 8 V Piano, Genoa, Italy 16129 +39-10-570-4948 Fax: +39-10-553-0088 info@mediapointsrl.it

JAPAN Katsuhiro Ishii Ace Media Service, Inc. 12-6 4-Chome, Nishiiko, Adachi-Ku Tokyo 121-0824 Japan +81-3-5691-3335 Fax: +81-3-5691-3336 amkatsu@dream.com CLASSIFIED, PROFESSIONAL & EMPLOYMENT Jennifer Izzo 800 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854 203-604-1744 Fax: 203-857-0296 jizzo@mediapeople.com

AILWAY GE August 2020 // Railway Age 31

Perspective: ASLRRA

Aiming the Congressional Hammer

C

ongress is one of the American public’s least favorite entities. Recent polling data puts the approval rating of Congress at 25%. Gallup’s long-standing “Confidence in U.S. Institutions” polling shows that Congress has maintained the lowest confidence rating of the 15 institutions listed since 2010.

Approval of the institution notwithstanding, Congress is made up of individuals, and when those individuals do good things, they should be recognized. The House of Representatives recently passed a huge transportation bill that combined the reauthorization of the soon-to-expire Surface Transportation programs and variety of additional infrastructure initiatives. The legislation was drafted by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I), and T&I Chairman Peter DeFazio did include some provisions that would help the short line industry, including increased funding for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvements (CRISI) program, authorization of continued funding for the Short Line Safety Institute, increased multimodal flexibility for a state freight formula program, and maintenance of the current truck size and weight limits.

While the legislation contained several provisions detrimental to the short line industry, and we are so far unable to support the legislation because of this, we do note that many individual Congresspersons offered amendments in the T&I Committee and during Floor consideration to address these issues. Not all were successful, but these Members should be recognized and commended for the effort they made on behalf of the short line industry.

Representative Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) successfully amended the legislation to maintain the existing 25% CRISI set-aside for rural areas. Representatives Greg Pence (R-Ind.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) had also sought to adjust the new CRISI set-asides and preferential treatment for public projects that would disadvantage private short line access to the program.

Representative Scott Perry (R-Pa.) led an effort by numerous Members of the T&I Committee to strike the two-person crew mandate. While that effort was 32 Railway Age // August 2020

unsuccessful, Representative Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) successfully amended the bill to raise the revenue of a small railroad subject to the two-person crew mandate to $40 million from the $20 million threshold in the original bill. While this mandate in any form remains our primary objection to the bill, and we will continue efforts to remove it in any final version of the legislation, we still note the incremental progress.

In addition to their CRISI amendments, Representatives Crawford and Pence worked hard on behalf of short lines on a number of other fronts. Representative Crawford successfully amended the bill to prioritize COVID-19 testing access to personal protective equipment for essential transportation employees, sought to fix unwarranted treatment of tank cars temporarily stored in the possession of railroads during

there are many thoughtful, diligent legislators.” transit, sought to allow railroads access to RRIF credit risk premium subsidies that were otherwise only available to public entities, and secured a good-faith promise from Chairman DeFazio to address needed clarification for tank car hazardous materials transportation and federal pre-emption to prevent the risk of a patchwork quilt of unpredictable enforcement standards.

Representative Pence sought changes in the Section 130 Grade Crossing program that would make better use of the investments and result in fewer crossing accidents over time. After amendments to delete the prohibition on transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in tank cars offered by Representatives Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Jenniffer González-Colon (R-Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico) failed, Pence sought to have the matter studied rather than prohibited with an emphasis on energy

costs in the proposed study.

Representative Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) sought to strike a study looking into making transportation modes contribute a freight fee into a trust fund where proceeds would be redistributed for infrastructure investment. We have concerns about the concept of taking funds generated by private companies on private infrastructure and redistributing those across the broader transportation infrastructure landscape.

Representative Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) attempted to ensure that newlyrevised Projects of National and Regional Significance (PNRS) would include a smallproject set-aside as exists under current law in the INFRA program, which is critical because short line projects would not meet the $100 million minimum project cost in the new proposed program.

Representative Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) attempted to eliminate the provision that established a 10-minute limit for blocked crossings, which is an arbitrary, unrealistic and unworkable mandate that will reduce rail network efficiency.

Representative Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) sought to strike an unneeded provision requiring Surface Transportation Board mediation of negotiations for commuter rail usage of short line tracks, since our members already willingly engage with viable proposals and strive to be good neighbors and community partners.

Will Rogers once humorously quipped, “This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when a baby gets a hold of a hammer.” While that may reflect a majority opinion, it should not go unnoticed that there are many thoughtful, diligent legislators who do the hard work of aiming that hammer in the right direction. Short line railroads, their employees and their customers are grateful for that work.

CHUCK BAKER President ASLRRA

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We’re current, are you? FRA Regulations Mechanical Department Regulations

Now Include Part 22 s 4

A combined reprint of the Federal Regulations that apply specifically to the Mechanical Department. Spiral bound.

Part Title 210 Railroad Noise Emission Compliance Regulations Updated 4-15-19.

215 Freight Car Safety Standards Updated 7-31-19.

216 Emergency Order Procedures: Railroad Track, Locomotive and Equipment Updated 7-31-19.

217 Railroad Operating Rules Updated 7-31-19.

218 Railroad Operating Practices - Blue Flag Rule Updated 7-31-19.

221 Rear End Marking Device-passenger, commuter/freight trains Updated 7-31-19.

223 Safety Glazing Standards Updated 7-31-19.

224 Reflectorization of Rail Freight Rolling Stock Updated 7-31-19.

225 Railroad Accidents/Incidents Updated 7-31-19.

229 Locomotive Safety Standards Updated 7-31-19.

231 Safety Appliance Standards Updated 7-31-19.

232 Brake System Safety Standards Updated 7-31-19.

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Current FRA Regulations Item Code

FRA Part #

Update effective

209 211 BKTSSAF 213 BKTSSG 213 BKWRK 214 BKFSS 215 BKROR 217 218 BKRRC 220 BKEND 221

7-31-19 7-20-09 7-31-19 4-3-17 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19

222 228 229 230 231 237 240

7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19 7-31-19

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232 7-31-19 Brake System Safety Standards

30.50

27.45

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13.25 11.25 11.25 23.35 9.45 7.15 12.85

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11.25

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Each

25 or more

BKCAD

40 219

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38.95

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There are no new proposals or final rules to report for this issue. Be sure to check back next month to see if there are any changes to FRA regulations.

Part 213: Track Safety Standards 49 Part 213, Subparts A-F. Classes of Track 1 through 5: Applies to track required to support passenger and freight equipment at lower speed ranges. Includes Defect Codes and Appendices A, B, and C to Part 213.

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BKTSSAF

38.00

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49.95

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Track Safety Standards Order 50 or more and pay only $9.86 each

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Part 214: Railroad Workplace Safety The FRA’s Railroad Workplace Safety standards address roadway workers and their work environments. Subparts A-General, B-Bridge Worker Safety Standards, C-Roadway Worker Protection, D-On-Track Roadway Maintenance, and Defect Codes for Part 214. Spiral bound. Updated 7-31-19

BKWRK

Railroad Workplace Safety Order 50 or more and pay only $9.45 each

$10.50

Bridge Safety Standards FRA Part 237 establishes Federal safety requirements for railroad bridges. This rule requires track owners to implement bridge management programs, which include annual inspections of railroad bridges, and to audit the programs. Bridge Safety Standards Part 237 also requires track owners to know the safe load capacity of bridges and to conduct special inspections if the weather or other conditions warrant such inspections. Softcover. Spiral bound.

Updated 7-31-19

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Order 50 or more and pay only $7.15 each

Part 228: Passenger Train Employee Hours of Service; Recordkeeping and Reporting; Sleeping Quarters 49 CFR 228 for records, recordkeeping, and reporting of hours of duty of a railroad employee. Also covers the construction of employee sleeping quarters and health requirements for camp cars. Softcover. Spiral bound. Updated 7-31-19

BKHS

Combined FRA Regulations

BKPSS

FRA News:

Hours of Service of RR Employees Order 50 or more and pay only $11.25 each

$12.50

800-228-9670 www.transalert.com

The Railway Educational Bureau 1809 Capitol Ave., Omaha NE, 68102 I (800) 228-9670 I (402) 346-4300 www.RailwayEducationalBureau.com Add Shipping & Handling if your merchandise subtotal is: U.S.A. CAN U.S.A. CAN Orders over UP TO $10.00 $4.50 $8.75 25.01 - 50.00 11.43 18.14 $75, call for shipping 10.01 - 25.00 8.40 13.66 50.01 - 75.00 12.71 22.90 *Prices subject to change. Revision dates subject to change in accordance with laws published by the FRA. 8/20