1railwayage.com AILWAY G E SERVING THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY SINCEWWW.RAILWAYAGE.COM1856SEPTEMBER 2022 INNOVATIONS SHOWCASE State-of-the Art Equipment and Systems TIMEOUT FOR TECH Fitness for Service: Assessing Safety and Health CHICAGO BY RAIL
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railwayage.comRailwayAge, USPS 449-130, is published monthly by the Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, 1809 Capitol Avenue, Omaha, NE 68102. Tel. (212) 620-7200. Vol. 223, No. 9. Subscriptions: Railway Age is sent without obligation to professionals working in the railroad industry in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. However, the pub lisher reserves the right to limit the number of copies. Subscriptions should be requested on company letterhead. Subscription pricing to others for Print and/or Digital versions: $100.00 per year/$151.00 for two years in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; $139.00 per year/$197.00 for two years, foreign. Single Copies: $36.00 per copy in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico/$128.00 foreign All subscriptions payable in advance. COPYRIGHT© 2022 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information contact PARS International Corp., 102 W. 38th Street, 6th floor, New York, N.Y. 10018, Tel.: 212-221-9595; Fax: 212-221-9195. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Cust.#7204564; Agreement #41094515. Bleuchip International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Address all subscriptions, change of address forms and correspondence concerning subscriptions to Subscription Dept., Railway Age, PO Box 239 Lincolnshire IL 60069-0239 USA; railwayage@omeda.com; or call +1 (402) 346-4740; FAX +1 (847) 291-4816. Printed at Cummings Printing, Hooksett, N.H. ISSN 0033-8826 (print); 2161-511X (digital).
September 2022 // Railway Age 1
FEATURES 553813444852 Innovations Showcase State-of-the Art Technology Chicago By Rail Hub of the Midwest Chicago’s “Big Three” A Rich Rail Transit History Tech Focus – Locomotives Rebuild, Renew, Repower Timeout for Tech Ninth In a Series With Gary Fry MxV Rail R&D Air Hose Anomalies COMMENTARY 60102 From the Editor Watching Washington Financial Edge DEPARTMENTS 59585857648 Industry Indicators Industry Outlook ProfessionalPeopleMarket Directory AdvertisingClassified Index COVER PHOTO Metra and BNSF on the shareduse, triple-track main line west to Galesburg, Ill. Larry Gross photo SEPTEMBER 2022 13 AILWAY GE
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FROM THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL AND EXECUTIVE OFFICES
2 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
This issue of Railway Age takes you to Chicago, the rail hub of the U.S., where this publication was established in 1856. We have two feature stories to regale you about Windy City passenger rail, past and present, starting on p. 38. Buona lettura!
CAROLINA WORRELL Senior cworrell@sbpub.comEditor
David Peter Alan, Jim Blaze, Nick Blenkey, Sonia Bot, Peter Diekmeyer, Alfred E. Fazio, Don Itzkoff, Bruce Kelly, Ron Lindsey, David Nahass, Jason H. Seidl, David Thomas, John Thompson, Frank N. Wilner, Tony Zenga Art Director: Nicole D’Antona Killigrew Street, Cornwall 3PP, dburroughs@railjournal.co.ukks@railjournal.co.ukSmithDavidBurroughsDavidBriginshawdb@railjournal.co.ukRobertPrestonrp@railjournal.co.ukSimonArtymiuksa@railjournal.com
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WILLIAM C. VANTUONO wvantuono@sbpub.comEditor-in-Chief
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Giuseppe De Cicco, Capo Stazione
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Contributing Editors
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AILWAY GE
POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to: Railway Age, PO Box 239, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0239, USA. Photocopy rights: Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for the libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy articles herein for the flat fee of $2.00 per copy of each article. Payment should be sent directly to CCC. Copying for other than personal or internal reference use without the express permission of Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp. is prohibited. Address requests for permission on bulk orders to the Circulation Director. Railway Age welcomes the submission of unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. However, the publishers will not be responsible for safe keeping or return of such material. Member of: By now, many of you may have realized that I’m of Italian origin. My last name, thanks to my paternal grandfather William (1891-1972), an Italian immigrant from Campobasso who served in World War I in the U.S. Army, is a shortened version of “Iacovantuono.” There’s actually a village of Iacovantuono in the Municipality of Spinete, in the Province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region. My middle name, Carmine, is after my maternal grandfather, Carmine Vaccaro (19031970), who I called Nonno His wife, my Nonna, was Rosa Russo (1904-2004). It is from the Russo and Vaccaro families that I trace my railway heritage. I may have had my first exposure to rail growing up in Newark, N.J., when my dad took me on Newark City Subway (today’s NJ Transit Newark Light Rail) rides on PCC cars from Branch Brook Park to Penn Station Newark, but my roots go back much further, to Italy. You could say that railroading is in my blood—literally!
United 011-44-1326-313945Kingdom International Editors Kevin
BILL WILSON Engineering Editor/Railway Track & Structures wwilson@sbpub.comEditor-in-Chief
Rosa’s father Giuseppe Russo (1873-1924), my great-grandfather, built and operated the first electric transmission system in the small town of Nola, near Napoli. In the early 1920s, he wanted to build a streetcar line that would connect with the main station in Nola on what is still called the Circumvesuviana, the five-line narrow-gauge (950 mm) commuter rail system (map, below, in yellow) connecting Napoli with the communities surrounding Mt. Vesuvius. He was recruiting investors when, in 1924, at age 51, he died of influenza. The line was never built. My mom and her sisters recall that one of their favorite things to do was riding Littorina diesel railcars on Italy’s regional main lines. Built by Fiat beginning in 1932 under orders from Benito Mussolini, some 800 examples plied Italian rails for many years. That’s where my great-granduncle Giuseppe De Cicco, whose sister Giovina married Pietro Vaccaro, my great-grandfather, comes in. Guiseppe De Cicco was the Capo Stazione (stationmaster) at the main railway depot in Conegliano Veneto, Treviso Province, Veneto (Venice) Region. He lived with his family at the station in a house provided by the railway.
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. Change of address should reach us six weeks in advance of next issue date. Send both old and new addresses with address label to Subscription Department, Railway Age, PO Box 239, Lincolnshire IL 60069-0239 USA, or call (US, Canada and International) +1 (402) 346-4740, Fax +1 (847) 291-4816, e-mail railwayage@omeda.com. Post Office will not forward copies unless you provide extra postage.
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In those days, when railway stations all over the world anchored central business districts in cities and towns large and small, Giuseppe earned a good living and provided for his family. He’d frequently visit his relatives in Nola, traveling, of course, on a Littorina.
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MARYBETH LUCZAK Executive mluczak@sbpub.comEditor
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4 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com Industry Indicators ‘RAIL TRAFFIC IN JULY WAS EVENLY BALANCED’
Source: Rail Time Indicators, Association of American Railroads Intermodal MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS BY COMMODITY JULY ’22JULY ’21% CHANGE Trailers 58,63379,533-26.3% Containers 975,273 986,467 -1.1% TOTAL UNITS 1,033,9061,066,000 -3.0% CANADIAN RAILROADS Trailers 0 0 Containers 281,199256,573 9.6% TOTAL UNITS 281,199256,573 9.6% COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR Trailers 58,63379,533-26.3% Containers 1,256,472 1,243,040 1.1% TOTAL COMBINED UNITS 1,315,105 1,322,573 -0.6% FOUR WEEKS ENDING JULY 30, 2022 Railroad employment, Class I linehaul carriers, JULY 2022 (% change from JULY 2021) Transportation (train and engine) 48,252 (+1.59%) Executives, Officials and Staff Assistants 7,838 (+7.06%) Professional and Administrative 9,905 (-1.80%) Maintenance-of-WayandStructures 28,417 (-0.34%) Maintenance of Equipment and Stores 17,324 (-1.11%) Transportation (other than train & engine) 4,671 (-1.27%) Source: Surface Transportation Board EMPLOYEES:TOTAL 116,407 % CHANGE FROM JULY 2021: +0.64% TRAFFIC ORIGINATED CARLOADS MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS BY COMMODITY JULY ’22JULY ’21% CHANGE Grain 78,05877,0771.3% Farm Products excl. Grain 2,8622,47715.5% Grain Mill Products 37,30535,2335.9% Food Products 24,15822,134 9.1% Chemicals 127,847128,743-0.7% Petroleum & Petroleum Products39,35241,107-4.3% Coal 262,075256,4872.2% Primary Forest Products 4,8573,95822.7% Lumber & Wood Products 12,70712,4651.9% Pulp & Paper Products 20,97622,850-8.2% Metallic Ores 24,26824,412 -0.6% Coke 14,637 14,872 -1.6% Primary Metal Products 29,67436,739-19.2% Iron & Steel Scrap 16,03917,198-6.7% Motor Vehicles & Parts 49,22945,5038.2% Crushed Stone, Sand & Gravel 83,07077,8736.7% Nonmetallic Minerals 15,23915,0151.5% Stone, Clay & Glass Products 30,50532,707-6.7% Waste & Nonferrous Scrap 15,43515,919 -3.0% All Other Carloads 18,61021,921-15.1% TOTAL U.S. CARLOADS 906,903 904,690 0.2% CANADIAN RAILROADS TOTAL CANADIAN CARLOADS 293,777 285,3602.9% COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR 1,200,680 1,190,050 0.9% FOUR WEEKS ENDING JULY 30, 2022
“Economists today can’t agree if we’re now in a recession,” the Association of American Railroads reported last month. “To reiterate what we said last month, recent U.S. rail traffic trends don’t provide an answer either way. Rail traffic in July was evenly balanced between commodities with carload gains and those with declines. As such, it doesn’t provide definitive evidence regarding the state of the overall economy. Moreover, the traffic category historically most highly correlated with GDP is Industrial Products, a combination of seven other categories. Carloads of Industrial Products have fallen for four straight months, but the declines have all been extremely small. In July, 10 of the 20 carload categories we track had carload gains, and total carloads were up 0.2% (2,213 carloads) over last year. That isn’t much, but it’s the first gain of any size in four months. U.S intermodal originations fell 3.0% in July 2022 from July 2021. July marked the 11th decline in the past 12 months for intermodal, but it’s also the smallest percentage decline in those 11 months.”
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September 2022 // Railway Age 5railwayage.com TOTAL U.S. Carloads and intermodal units, 2013-2022 (in millions, year-to-date through JULY 2022, SIX-WEEK MOVING AVERAGE) TOTAL U.S./Canadian CARLOADS, JULY 2022 VS. JULY 2021 1,200,6801,190,050 JULY 2022 JULY 2021 Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Short Line And Regional Traffic Index CARLOADS BY COMMODITY ORIGINATEDJULY’22 ORIGINATEDJULY’21 % CHANGE Chemicals 49,982 53,581-6.7% Coal 17,588 24,514-28.3% Crushed Stone, Sand & Gravel 27,478 22,33623.0% Food & Kindred Products 11,155 10,319 8.1% Grain 24,523 23,281 5.3% Grain Mill Products 8,181 8,115 0.8% Lumber & Wood Products 9,641 8,44714.1% Metallic Ores 3,007 2,966 1.4% Metals & Products 18,621 17,477 6.5% Motor Vehicles & Equipment 8,790 9,221 -4.7% Nonmetallic Minerals 2,315 1,68137.7% Petroleum Products 2,189 2,042 7.2% Pulp, Paper & Allied Products 17,529 17,639 -0.6% Stone, Clay & Glass Products 14,847 14,860 -0.1% Trailers / Containers 39,446 55,425-28.8% Waste & Scrap Materials 11,767 11,285 4.3% All Other Carloads 73,523 75,971-3.2% 315.786.5200 | www.nyab.com
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If a tentative agreement is reached prior to Sept. 16—or if the two sides agree to extend negotiations beyond Sept. 16 in expectation of a settlement—that tentative contract will be provided to members of each of the 12 unions for ratification. Failure to ratify by one or more of the union memberships similarly could result in a strike. In an effort to correct misinformation that has been spreading among members, the two largest rail unions, representing primarily train and engine service employees, have published a document, PEB 250 Myths vs. Facts, dispelling many of the myths being spread. The two unions are the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD).Twootherfacts that dispel misinfor mation spread among members are that rail employees are quitting their jobs in large numbers and that there are few applicants for available railroad jobs. As the NRLC (National Railway Labor Conference) observes: During the first six months of 2022, each railroad’s voluntary “quit rate” was between 2% and 3.7%, just a fraction of the 13.1% quit rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the trans portation, warehousing and utility sector.
Railroads have been outperforming the broader labor market in attracting new hires. For 2021, railroads reported more than 42 applicants for each open position, which is well above the 25 applicants per open position benchmark cited by workforce planning experts. Railroads have been reporting an even greater number of applicants per avail able job during the first six months of 2022. A caveat, volunteered by railroads, is that in some locations—especially those in remote areas—there are fewer applicants, but railroads have responded by offering relocation bonuses and other inducements.SMART-TD and BLET, along with the other 10 unions involved in national bargaining, met on Aug. 22 via Zoom, followed by in-person meetings held on Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 in Chicago, to “determine if PEB No. 250’s recommen dations could serve as a basis for a tentative agreement,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson and BLET President Dennis Pierce announced in an Aug. 27 joint statement. According to the unions, no tentative agreement was reached, but Ferguson and Pierce said SMART-TD and BLET “remain committed” to negotiate over issues most important to its members, including wages, quality of life and attendance, as well as voluntary time off issues. Additionally, the unions said they are “seeking clarification” on certain aspects of PEB 250’s recommendations concern ing health and welfare.
Ferguson and Pierce said they will continue to keep their members updated as the “cooling off period countdown clock to 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Sept. 16 approaches.”
SMART-TD/BLET
6 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com Railroads represented by the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) resumed nego tiations Aug. 2 with a coalition representing all 12 rail labor unions following release Aug. 18 of Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 250 recom mendations for amending national agreements establishing wages, benefits and work rules affecting some 125,000 unionized rail workers. Under provisions of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the sides have until Sept. 16 to reach a tentative settlement—subject to member ratification—after which labor may strike or carriers may lockout, which likely would prompt Congress to end any nationwide rail shutdown by imposing a third-party settlement.
Industry Outlook
“Our goal is and always has been to reach a voluntary agreement that is worthy of our membership’s consider ation,” the union leaders said. “As we approach the final stages of the steps of the Railway Labor Act, we appreciate our members’ continued support. We have made it abundantly clear to the Carriers that we are prepared and willing to exer cise every legal option available to us, to achieve the compensation and working conditions that we and our families right fully expect and deserve.”
PEB 250: Correcting Misinformation, Dispelling Myths in Labor Ranks
ARM will review the existing conditions and develop and execute a rail grinding program to remove corrugation, surface cracking, and gradually restore the design rail profile on open and tunnel main line track, including the at-grade embedded track sections in the downtown area, on the Blue and Red Lines across the 74.4 trackmile (37.2 route-mile double-track) system.
ARM will measure and analyze rail rough ness, corrugation, wear and surface defects on the system. From that, it will develop and supervise the grinding program through onsite field management to optimize track time and metal removal rates for the grind ing program. The plan is to address the Blue and Red Lines alternately each year. ARM will provide the rail grinding equipment, along with field supervision and quality control of the grinding unit, “to ensure that the desired rail profile and surface condi tions are achieved,” and will train and work with Calgary Transit’s in-house grinding crews on the use of hand tools to properly assess rail profile, and on pattern selection and grinding techniques to remove corruga tion and “achieve the desired rail profile with the least amount of grinding effort.” Metra market
Metra: Battery Locos from Progress Rail Metra has awarded Progress Rail a $34.6 million contract to convert up to six of its oldest diesel-electric locomotives to zero-emission battery power. The contract calls for a base order of three locomotives with options for three more. Conversions, which will be performed in Patterson, Ga., are expected to take about 3½ years. Metra plans to test the units, which will have an estimated range of 150 miles, on its Rock Island line. Charging stations will be designed after the locomotives are designed and will be placed in its main yard in Chicago and at an outlying point.
8 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
WORLDWIDE Czech infrastructure manager SŽ has awarded a consortium led by METROPROJEKT PRAHA and including VALBEK, MOTT MACDONALD and EGIS RAIL a contract to design the 37-mile Prague-Lovosice section of the high-speed line that will connect Prague with Ústí nad Labem and Dresden in Germany. The con tract covers the preparation of documenta tion to obtain final planning permission, as well as the project plan and documentation for the environmental impact assessment.
NORTH AMERICA RAILWORKS has acquired H&H ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION to expand its rail infrastructure services. RailWorks provides a wide range of specialty railroad construction and maintenance services, including track construction and turnkey rehabilitation and maintenance, along with solutions for predictive track maintenance. The addition of H&H will give RailWorks access to more western U.S. markets. Rail Works is a portfolio company of BERNHARD CAPITAL PARTNERS, a services and infrastructure-focused private equity management firm. The aim of their Novem ber 2021 partnership, RailWorks said, was to drive its long-term strategic growth and expand its core offerings and capabilities. The transaction follows RailWorks’ recently completed acquisition of PROGRESS RAIL’S RAIL WELDING SERVICES DIVISION, a specialized provider of flashbutt welding.
The CITY OF CALGARY has awarded ADVANCED RAIL MANAGEMENT (CANADA) INC. a one-year contract, with four option years, for rail grinding services on the CALGARY TRANSIT CTrain light rail system.
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10 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com Watching Washington FRANK N. WILNER Contributing Editor
Reason Together or Face the Sword
With acknowledgment that rival trucking, not management, is the enemy of rail labor, collaboration can extend to joint design of next generation train control, and adjust ments to Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) to correct its negative aspects while preserving PSR’s ability to improve asset utilization and deliver service reliability at lowest operating cost.
On rail-parallel highways between Dallas and Atlanta, for example, rail labor chiefs might see semi-autonomous trucks operating, whose artificial intelligence is learning—and with federal subsidies, no less—to navigate federally constructed and state maintained Interstate highways without drivers. Evolving technology embraced by
Failure to reason together in assuring more intelligent productivity enhance ments as offered by PTC and PSR only ensures both rail labor and carriers will be devoured by the sword of greater motor carrier flexibility and its embrace of techno logical advancements.
As Haverty, who earned entry with other railroad visionaries—including Alfred E. Perlman, Louis W. Menk, John W. Barriger III, D. William Brosnan and W. Graham Claytor Jr.—into the National Railroad Hall of Fame, recalls, “J.B. was transfixed by other intermo dal trains passing in the opposite direction.” As parallel-to-rail highways came into view, Hunt took equal measure of the procession of 18-wheelers, each requiring one driver. A fourth-generation railroader who worked as a switchman and brakeman before earning an MBA and moving up the management ranks, Haverty interspersed his sales pitch with explanations of rail operat ing practices and how UPS—idolized by Hunt for its operating efficiency and service reliability—had become Santa Fe’s biggest intermodal customer. Within days, Railway Age’s 2001 Rail roader of the Year had convinced Hunt to ink a contract creating a dedicated, premiumpriced intermodal service on Santa Fe named Quantum, growing to some 600,000 loads annually by 2005. Were today’s rail CEOs to shift from reading stock quotations at 30,000 feet to inviting their labor union leaders to join them in inspecting the railroad at humaneye level, disturbing scenes would appear quite different than what energized Hunt to shift his trailers from road to rail.
truckers threatens to reverse Haverty’s inter modal vision and visit on railroads and those dependent on them—including employees and their families—destructive long-term consequences.IntheDallas-Atlanta demonstration project, one driver monitors a lead trac tor-trailer with a second 30-feet behind controlled autonomously—a second driver aboard only to operate the rig the first and last mile and otherwise rest to comply with hoursof-service regulations before switching places with the lead rig. The result is near roundthe-clock equipment utilization. Should both drivers be eliminated, and battery-operated tractors substituted, truck operating costs will be slashed 30%. Grey heads may balk at driverless technology, but not so impatient younger whiz bangs designing it.
tial to determine the most productive use of train crews, rewriting of safety rules and contractual improvements in conductor and engineer lifestyles—enrichments that include more predictable work schedules, fewer offhours away from home and furlough protec tion. That collaboration is necessary at the national level if seamless train operation over an interconnected and highly interdependent rail network is to be preserved.
Labor-managementgrowth.collaboration is essen
security and wage
With acknowledgment that rival trucking, not management, is the enemy of labor, collaboration can extend to joint design of next-gen train control, and adjustments to PSR.”
The competitive challenge for rail is to match these cost reductions, as trucking’s greater service capabilities require rail inter modal pricing to be below that of motor carrierWithrivals.thecollapse of bedrock coal traffic, intermodal now keeps rail earnings buoyant, but that market similarly will evaporate if railroads are blocked from squeezing more productivity out of their own technological advancements such as Positive Train Control (PTC), which allows for redeployment of on-board conductors to more productive ground-basedProductivitypositions.advances of rail rivals are making labor’s inflexible opposition to conductor redeployment toxic to future rail profitability—the golden goose funding job
Johnny Bryan (J.B.) Hunt, founder of what had become America’s third largest trucking company, was then-Santa Fe President Michael R. Haverty (later CEO of Kansas City Southern and now retired).
As Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe, now part of BNSF) intermodal train No. 198 sprinted from Chicago toward Kansas City one November day in 1989, a special guest was aboard an attached businessHostingcar.
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AILWAY G E SERVING THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY SINCE 1856 PRODUCT INNOVATIONS SHOWCASE 2022
As the industry’s partner for generations, Railway Age recognizes the importance of the supply community continuing to interface with customers. We’re pleased to present our 2022 Product Innovations Showcase, spotlighting many of the industry’s top suppliers—innovators all.
BOGIE IQ™ GATEWAY
BROOKVILLE EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
• Forward compatibility with 5G cellular technology.
• First-of-its-kind technology delivers 80% of the value for 20% of the cost.
• Utilizes BLE standard communication protocols ready to support wireless sensors.
Amsted Digital Solutions leverages Amsted Rail’s research and development facilities across North America for its product development and testing, making ADS the global leader in merging onboard IoT technology with real-world freight railway experience in diagnosing component health.
• Reporting up to every 15 minutes.
Key features & benefits:
14 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com 2022 Product & Innovations showcase
EPA TIER 3 AND TIER 4 LOCOMOTIVE SWITCH CERTIFIED PACKAGE
The Bogie IQ™ gateway, part of the Amsted Digital Solutions IQ Series of devices, is a first-of-its-kind onboard telematics device that monitors the changing conditions of a wheelset and the performance of the brake system without the need for wireless sensors. Through ADS’s Supply Chain Visibility™ software platform, users have real-time access to actionable intelligence, including onboard component health monitoring and GPS location data to manage inbound empties, outbound high prior ity loaded cards, and first-mile/last-mile verification.
With more than 100 years of experience, Brookville Equipment Corporation is a world-class American manufacturer of innovative powered transportation solutions including switcher, freight and passenger locomotives, among other rail products. BROOKVILLE’s products are fully custom designed to the highest engineering standards for quality, safety, and environmental responsibility. With deep expertise in designing, engineering, manufacturing and remanufacturing, along with modernization and overhauls, BROOKVILLE can take your Tier 0 locomotive and modernize it with a Tier 3 or 4 certified turnkey solution. A recent partnership with Cummins Inc. focuses on the ability to repower low Tier loco motives by significantly reducing exhaust emissions and improving the locomotive’s performance. With grant funding possibly avail able, BROOKVILLE and Cummins offer an EPA Tier 3 and Tier 4 Locomotive Switch Certified package, ranging from 1,000 to 2,130 hp. By utilizing Tier 3 and Tier 4 Power Modules, it will reduce emissions by up to 80% to 93%, respectively. BROOKVILLE’s long history of high-quality locomotive work, coupled with Cummins Power Modules, will ensure your locomotive is back on the track with higher quality performance and cleaner emissions.
• Quick and easy installation utilizing built-in Object Character Recognition (OCR) and barcode scanning.
AMSTED DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
• 7+ years of device life.
• Ruggedized, low profile devices certified to ATEX Zone 1 and Class I, Division 2.
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DASSAULT SYSTÈMES
CLEVER DEVICES
The Clever Devices onboard system interface is the Zero Client - Transit Control Head (ZC-TCH), a rail-certified interface contained in a rugged housing with a graphical 9-inch screen color backlit display with highly reliable touchscreen technology. The ZC-TCH communicates to the IVN-R using an Ethernet connection and serves as the interface where technical maintenance staff perform diagnostics and testing. Contact us: bit.ly/IVN-R
Dassault Systèmes helps you manage the challenges in rail infrastructure and gain value via optimized planning. It empowers you to maxi mize capacity and make intelligent, financially sound decisions. https://www.3ds.com/industries/business-services/rail-freight
IVN-R is the foundation of the Clever Devices onboard rail solution. It is a fully contained, rail certified (EN50155, EN61373, EN50121 49 CFR 238), service proven, and reliable solution with enormous processing power. The IVN-R operates the installed Clever Devices rail system applications as well as other onboard systems and various communications devices. The IVN-R provides riders with automated audio and visual announcements as well as two-way text messaging between the vehicle operator and train controller and ad-hoc messaging to passengers from the train controller. The IVN-R interfaces with a cellular router or modem for real-time data communications between the IVN-R and the back-end systems. Examples of interfaces include onboard vehicle monitor ing and diagnostic data is captured by the IVN-R for transmission to the back office for evaluation of vehicle status and overall performance; the ability to manage and control the information on your wayside and onboard communication, signage and infotainment systems; passenger emergency intercoms, crew intercoms, and onboard vehicle alarms supported by IVN-R, keeping you connected to riders and crew; integration with Automatic Passenger Counting (APC) systems to help monitor passenger loads and plan appropriate service levels; various analog or digital discrete inputs; on-board CCTV solutions; and communications through Land Mobile Radio (LMR).
3DS Dassault Systèmes provides an innovative platform to thrive in the complex reality of today’s rail freight industry. By utilizing the real time insights, rail freight companies can stay on the top of the market by bringing all the trusted sources into a single place. Collaboration with the internal and external stakeholders is enhanced with real time monitoring of the tasks & ideas. By factoring in demands, constraints and labor regulations with KPI-driven plan ning and world-record breaking optimization algorithms, the Dassault Systèmes Rail Planning, Scheduling and Optimization Solution surpasses the capabilities of tradi tional solutions. Optimally integrate all rail resources into a cohesive, flexible plan to enable improved service quality and crew satisfaction, reduced operating costs and full visibility into changes. It enables rail freight operators to achieve operational excellence by putting in place digital best practices for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance activities for increased fleet Performanceavailability.oftherail freight operations is also determined by the interaction of multiple components, including the rail-wheel-contact interface, suspension, couplings and other moving parts. Optimizing and understanding of these interactions is essential to ensure safety, speed and reliability. Powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform Multibody System Simulation is the only technology making it possible to analyse and understand the complete system dynamics without requiring a physical prototype.
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• Ability to image more than 100 different inspection points and identify defects at full track speeds.
• Easy assessment of application changes.
• Cooperatively developed with large rail operators and industry leaders such as Dell and Nvidia.
RAILCAR INSPECTION PORTAL (RIP®)
is the solution for all HMI displays that need to meet safety requirements. This includes train control displays (aspect display units) and train operator displays. As Deuta has already deployed this technology since 2014, the risks of new technology introduction are largely mitigated. Deuta Trust Technologies have an installed base of approximately 12,000 units, deployed in 35 countries and have become a standard in many train control suppliers’ platforms. www.deuta-america.com/us/
The average railcar contains hundreds of mechanical parts and components. A large number of these are critical to the proper functioning of the railcar and must be inspected frequently to ensure safe and reliable operation. Duos Railcar Inspection Portal (rip®) is transforming the inspection process for Class 1 and passenger railroads. The rip® employs advanced optics, purpose-built sensors and specialized lighting. Cutting-edge image processing technologies, artifi cial intelligence (AI) algorithms and advanced presentation software enables acquisition and presentation of high-resolution images of passing train cars at normal operating speed. Offering a detailed 360-degree view of each railcar, the rip® enables mechanical inspectors to perform comprehensive inspections using state-of-the-art software. Duos combines Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) with the rip® to automatically detect anomalies and mechanical issues in real time. Duos machine learning algorithms are developed exclusively for the rip®. Each expertly designed algorithm targets and detects specific problem areas, including those required to maintain compliance with regulatory guidelines. We have scanned over 1.5 million railcars in the last 90 days. More information on this system and others is available at www.duostech.com
Requirements for safety-relevant Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for train operators are becoming more common around the world. With the increasing complexity of train control systems, additional functionality requires HMI devices to be safety critical. This includes require ments on information displayed (for example, current train speed), as well as input to the HMI from a human operator (a selection or acknowl edgement).
DUOS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
• Deuta’sCost-efficient.TrustTechnology
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The solution: IconTrust® with SelectTrust® function. IconTrust detects display errors and differentiates between the safety-related input areas on the HMI. The contained SelectTrust function checks the activation or release of the touch area, or the single or continuous transmission of the activation.
DEUTA AMERICA
HMIS WITH DUETA TRUST TECHNOLOGIES
Always safe: display and input.
• Modular solution can be deployed for specific & unique inspection applications.
• Assessment up to SIL 3. • Safe input and output. • Software and hardware from a single source.
• Aligns with “precision railroading” objectives improving safety, velocity, and operational efficiency and reducing dwell time.
Features & Benefits
• Latest generation includes high-resolution imaging capabilities for better AI performance.
SAFETY-RELEVANT
VEGETATION CONTROL SPRAY TRAIN
Tracks overgrown with vegetation can affect safety on rails and its surroundings. Railway installations require rigorous maintenance to ensure safe traffic on their networks. At EPIQ MS Rail, we believe that weeds should be controlled by measures that are appropriate to local conditions and track requirements. The North American MOW equipment supplier designed and manufactured innovative equipment: the Vegetation Control Spray Train (VCST).
RDD DESSICANT DRYING AND RDDMIN COMPRESSED AIR DRYER
The VCST has a sophisticated High Capture camera system for optimum weed recognition. Once detected, only the most appropriate herbi cide and dosage will be used. EPIQ MS Rail VCST meets North American environmental footprint requirements. The herbicide dosage is preprogrammed and automated. The spraying operations are fully automated as well, so that only specific areas are treated; the nozzles shut off when approaching a bridge or an area with subterranean water, thanks to the GPS tracking. Targeted spraying with automated dosing helps to better manage herbicide costs, avoids intensive spraying, and allows preventive weed control. At EPIQ MS Rail, we work in making more acces sible, preventive weed control aiming to reduce overall maintenance costs with intelligent dosing and spraying against weeds for sustainable rail operations.
Emerson’s AVENTICS™ RDD patented roll-up dessicant drying and RDDmin compressed air dryers are designed to significantly extend maintenance intervals, minimize downtime and reduce energy costs in rail applications, including brakes and door control. Typically, air dryers have an average service interval of less than two years. The AVENTICS air dryers have a service interval of eight years or 25,000 operating hours. Featuring a proprietary adsorption medium that removes humidity from compressed air systems more efficiently, reducing energy usage with a smaller envelope size and weight, the dryers’ shock- and vibration-resistant design further enhances their reliability in tough rail applications. Emerson’s AVENTICS RDD technology uses adsorbent crystals immobilized in a durable polymer support structure that is produced in a contin uously embossed sheet and rolled up to tightly fit into a barrel-type housing for high shock and vibration resistance. The RDD dryer is used for main air supplies on trains, whereas the RDDmini is used for auxiliary air supply, to driver seats, for example. For more infor mation, emerson.com/aventics
It is made in such a way that it has advanced smart targeted spraying. Also, operators’ workstations are fully EHS protected with spacious living space for long trips, an ergonomic work area, plenty of storage, and safe mixing and spraying. The VCST comes with GPS tracking and reporting features.
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https://epiqmachinery.com/rail-maintenance/ EMERSON AVENTICS™
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Our local warehouse is fully stocked, fulfilling purchase orders within days of receipt. www.frauscher.us
The importance of having a signaling system that performs reliably can never be underestimated, especially in safety-critical applications such as grade crossings and switch-point protection. Frauscher axle counters, proven in the global marketplace as an industry leader in reliability for over 35 years, are immune to conditions that prove problematic for other types of signaling equipment including:
• Electromagnetic interference, track return current, radiated emissions.
Switch point protection is provided vitally and non-vitally. This functionality can be integrated using output pulses for every wheel from the individual wheel sensors located around each entry and exit point of the switch, or by using a single dry-contact relay to indicate clear or occupied. These are just examples of our wide range of available solutions.
• Leaves, debris, vegetation on tracks.
• Rusty rails and other deteriorated track and ballast conditions.
Three of America’s leading industrial and transportation companies—United States Steel Corporation, Norfolk Southern Railway and The Greenbrier Companies—have created a unique partnership to produce a new, more sustainable steel gondola railcar.
HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL GONDOLA
Using an innovative formula for high-strength, lighter-weight steel developed by U. S. Steel, each gondola’s unloaded weight is reduced by up to 15,000 pounds. These award-winning gondolas will provide an extended lifecycle, increased sustainability and greater freight capacity. See the railcar revolution at go.gbrx.com/gondola
FRAUSCHER SENSOR TECHNOLOGY
ROBUST AND RELIABLE AXLE COUNTING SYSTEMS
THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES
• Snow, ice, flooding, road salting.
• Extreme temperatures.
Grade crossing applications are ideal for Frauscher axle counters since performance is not reliant on shunting. By replacing existing equipment in the island and approaches (replacement of the island circuit only is also an option) with Frauscher wheel sensors, reliability and uptime are significantly improved. Frauscher systems interface vitally with any existing crossing controller via relay or Ethernet, making this partial equip ment replacement possible. Functionalities are available that recognize and address faults, further improving performance. Safety and traffic flow improve when grade crossing operations are reliable.
Leading freight and passenger railroads (BNSF, Union Pacific, Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, CSX, CN, KCS and more) trust our virtual instruction technology every day. Heartwood is one of Inc. Magazine ’s 500|5000 Fastest Growing Companies, 10 Most Trusted Simulation Solution Providers, and featured in major rail publica tions. www.hwd3d.com/rail GREENKOTE® HIGH-PERFORMANCE ANTICORROSION COATINGS FOR RAIL HARDWARE
VIRTUAL INTERACTIVE SIMULATIONS AND GUIDES
Greenkote® anticorrosion metal coatings can significantly extend the service life of rail fasteners and fixtures that have long-term exposure to weather and harsh environments. These coatings are especially useful for coastal, mining, high-humidity or high-dampness applications, as well as for many uses in which appearance is important and visual rusting is undesirable. The newest, highest-performance Greenkote coating is G5k™ which extends anticorrosion protection to more than 5,000 hours of ASTM B117 salt spray testing, to stand up to the most challenging conditions.
HEARTWOOD
Heartwood helps railroads improve maintenance efficiency & upskill their workforce by leveraging Virtual Interactive Simulations and Guides that directly address the needs of the industry. As railroads and the workforce continue to evolve and a new normal is established, a few points are clear: Information access is important to success, the labor shortage is real while staffing is in high demand, and the new generation of railroaders expect to learn and perform their job differently.
Heartwood’s Simulations and Virtual Interactive Guides help railroads properly instruct new or current employees, directly leading to a reduc tion of safety incidents and service disruptions. Benefits include increased engagement and skill transfer; accessible instructional data and deploy ment across many devices or LMS; reduced service disruption; increased fleet equipment longevity due to fewer errors; and reduced costs (travel, facility, student/instructor time) by up to 60% with a ROI of up to 7x.
The Greenkote name derives from its eco-friendliness. Unlike many coating processes, Greenkote uses no hazardous materials, generates no toxic wastes, and is benign to the environment. It passes even the strictest environmental regulations around the globe.
Fast-turnaround coating of parts can be scheduled at the Greenkote headquarters facility in Ohio or at many other Greenkote locations internationally. Contact: 1 (440) 243-2865 or contactus@greenkote.com
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Employing a patented zinc thermal diffusion process, Greenkote coating is physically diffused into the surface of metal parts, for an excep tionally strong, permanent metallurgical bond. Its corrosion resistance lasts longer, without chipping or peeling. And with an intrinsically high surface hardness, up to HRC 40-42, Greenkote survives bulk handling, contact with installation tooling and service conditions. Plus, Greenkote coverage is highly conformal and uniform, making it ideal for complex part geometries.
HUMATICS
RAIL NAVIGATION SYSTEM
CASE STUDY: In 2022, Humatics completed a project with Hitachi Rail in Naples, Italy. The HRNS was deployed on a 1.5 km test track and met all performance and economic metrics for use in CBTC operations. Humatics has been operating in New York City with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) since 2019 and has successfully passed all CBTC functional testing. To learn how the Humatics Rail Navigation System can revolutionize your odom etry systems, see www.humatics.com/contact_us/
HOW IT WORKS: The HRNS software processes data from various sensors and provides continuous localization in all environments. For operations with open sky, the HRNS uses GNSS and IMU providing a 100% onboard positioning capability. In GNSS degraded or denied envi ronments such as city centers or tunnels or where precision is required such as station platforms or switches, trackside UWB beacons are used to enhance positioning capabilities.
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The Humatics’ Rail Navigation System (HRNS) is a drop-in replacement for traditional odometry and detection sensors such as tachometers, transponders and track circuits. The HRNS is a software platform that combines data from ultra-wideband (UWB), Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and other sensors as needed to provide precise train localization data such as position, speed, acceleration and uncertainty for vital and non-vital control systems.
HOLLAND TRACK MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY
Holland’s proprietary Argus® track measurement tech nology offers multiple applications for railroads to inspect their railways. Our TrackSTAR® contract testing vehicles are designed to provide a range of track measure ment data in our various dedicated and manned vehicles for freight, transit, or short line railroads. We recently have joined a partnership with Cordel to provide rail roads with LiDAR data while performing contract testing to give our customers the ability to make the most of their track inspections. This eliminates the need for additional track time to acquire valuable LiDAR data that has dozens of use cases.
Our Argus® technology also offers other applications outside of our contract testing programs, such as our portable and unattended systems. Portable inspection systems, like Holland’s Gauge Inspector and Track Inspector, are usable under any hi-rail vehicle in a lightweight and foldable mounting design. Our Gauge Inspector provides real-time gauge measurement with on-board alerts, while our track inspector provides full track geometry. We also offer an unattended geometry measurement system designed to be mounted to the underside of a locomotive. This system utilizes locomotive power to reduce the overall cost and number of components to maintain. All our track measurement applications, as well as third-party data, can be combined into our Rangecam™ track inspection and maintenance planning software. This platform allows users to view a number of track condition data, including geometry, GRMS, rail wear, profile, and rail flaws, to make the right maintenance decisions at the right time.
APPLICATIONS: Humatics enables safety-critical train positioning for Positive Train Control (PTC), Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC), European Train Control System (ETCS) and other Automatic Train Protection (ATP) systems.
IRIDIUM THALES MISSIONLINK® 200
KAWASAKI TRACK TECHNOLOGIES
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Kawasaki is also developing a track maintenance platform that provides comprehensive track maintenance support. These innovative technologies will continue to expand Kawasaki’s autono mous track inspection and maintenance technology to enhance railroad safety and operating efficiencies.Moreinformation at www.kawasaki-track.com
Iridium provides fully mobile satellite broad band network access as a backup solution to areas not covered by cellular or private networks. Iridium’s network enables safety systems to remain connected to prevent train collisions, speed-related derailments, incursions into established work zones, and movement for trains when switches used in combination with Positive Train Control (PTC) systems are left in incorrect positions. The more affordable, smaller, and solid-state MissionLINK 200 broadband terminal from Thales provides access to Iridium’s reliable satellite network for the only truly global connectivity option on the market. Iridium also provides unattended sensors reliable connectivity for remote track monitoring, helping to detect obstructions, flooding, or other unanticipated events. To learn more, visit iridium.com/rail
AUTONOMOUS TRACK GEOMETRY MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
Kawasaki has been providing innovative technology solutions across the globe for centuries. Kawasaki is excited to bring Kawasaki Track Technologies to the North American market place. Our vision is to be the technology leader in the rail industry that provides a mainte nance platform with all track monitoring data and software solutions to analyze and predict maintenance needs. In 2021, Kawasaki launched a remote track geometry monitoring service in North America after multi-year testing. Kawasaki is utilizing the latest technologies in order to achieve loco motive mounting with optimized components such as camera, gyro and accelerometer by combination of edge computing, which realizes a small but reliable and accurate measure mentKawasakisystem.is currently developing and testing an autonomous rail fastener monitoring system. This technology, while installed on a locomotive, will capture high resolution pictures and provide the necessary data for Kawasaki to utilize machine learning algorithms to identify potential rail fasteners that need to be inspected and repaired.
LORAM TECHNOLOGIES
WDSZ – ZERO SPEED WHEEL DETECTOR
The WDSZ – Zero Speed Wheel Detector also introduces a new ability to sense its surroundings and self-calibrate to the installation environ ment. When connected to DC power, it automatically scans the surround ing area for the rail head and eliminates it from the sensing zone, thereby making it very easy to set and eliminate any false readings due to sensing anything but passing wheels. An LED on the sensor body illuminates with each wheel passage. Wheel detectors on wayside friction management systems have tradition ally been a weak link in the overall system and expensive to replace. The installation environment is very prone to damage from dragging equipment and high wheel flanges. The WDSZ – Zero Speed Wheel Detector is a breakthrough from an overall performance and cost stand point, and the industry best 2¼-inch height setting minimizes the risks associated with wheel strikes.
Loram Technologies Inc. (LTI) provides Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), LiDAR measuring services and imagery along with data analysis for substructure condition evaluation. GPR provides continuous measurement of subsurface conditions such as layer configuration, moisture content, and the fouling condition of the ballast. The LiDAR data and digital video images are being collected to further evaluate the right-of-way and track conditions and can also be used for drainage design, accurate loca tion of assets and detecting root-cause of the problems, such as shoulder heaves and insufficient internal/external track drainage. To facilitate GPR and LiDAR inspection services and better adapt this technology for different inspection conditions such as different gages or different transporting vehicles, LTI has developed a self-contained inspection box that can be set on the back of a small hi-rail pick-up truck or a large hi-rail flatbed truck for data collection. This box weighs around 1,000 pounds with the dimension of 40 inches wide, 72 inches deep and 72 inches tall. The box includes three channel 400 MHz GPR antennas, dual LiDAR, a high-quality GPS with inte grated IMU and rearward facing cameras. Everything is folded in the box and will be unfolded by pressing a button. This system only requires an encoder feed and power cable run to the truck’s 12-volt battery and the operator can connect to the system wirelessly for data collection. Antenna distance and height can be adjusted to operate on narrow, standard and wide gages and maintain the height for different truck bed heights.
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GPR AND LIDAR
LORAM TECHNOLOGIES
Loram Technologies Inc. (LTI) has recently introduced the new standard in wayside lubrication wheel detection technology with the WDSZ – Zero Speed Wheel Detector. It is designed to function with our LTI family of gauge face and top of rail friction management systems, as well as being a direct replacement for all the common competitive products in the market today. Designed for a working voltage range of 12 to 24 volts DC and can be set as low as 2¼-inch below the top of the rail and still pick up passing wheels, at virtually 0 MPH and up to 90+ MPH. The wheel detector body is very robust and designed specifi cally for the harsh environment at the wheel/rail interface.
A new video from Miner Enterprises illustrates how Miner FCS® friction cushioning systems provide higher levels of protection available to railcars transporting critical lading. The innovative Miner FCS® raises the standard of protection over what is currently provided by hydraulic cushioning devices. Often, hydraulic-based systems do not efficiently manage energy. Short life cycles lead to costly maintenance. Also, assets are not sufficiently protected when broken knuckles, hose separations and lading shifts interrupt operations. The new video demonstrates how the Miner FCS® provides a solution to these critical issues. The video is viewable on Miner’s website (https://www.minerent.com/Friction_Cushion ing_Systems.php) and its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/minerent/videos).
AssetPro Locomotive™ provides railroads, fleet owners and mechanical contractors the ability to easily manage all maintenance intervals, regulatory compliance requirements and unscheduled repair events for locomotives and MOW equipment.
FCS® VIDEO: FRICTION CUSHIONING SYSTEMS IMPROVE OPERATIONS, PROTECT ASSETS, REDUCE COSTS
Installed in the railcar pocket, Miner FCS uses two draft gears in a specialized tandem arrangement to minimize free movement caused by slack. This prevents premature wear, lowers maintenance costs, and better protects assets. It also reduces service interruptions and provides more flexibility to safely operate longer trains. Miner FCS also mitigates run-in and run-out events by combining draft gear fric tion with Miner’s patented TecsPak spring material. The result: fewer lading shifts, broken knuckles and hose separations—root causes for undesired stoppages and costly delays often associated with hydraulic units.
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Miner FCS installs easily on refrigerated and standard box cars, steel coil cars and flat cars—including centerbeam and general service flats. Miner has been collaborating with Class 1 railroads for several years in developing the Miner FCS. More than 4000 Miner FCSequipped cars are in service, with a combined 100+ million miles traveled. Learn more at www.minerent.com
MINER MINER
The Fleet Status Dashboard is the primary means to determine in real time where units stand in their maintenance cycles along with access to other pertinent information like OOS status, repair history and files. Maintenance procedures capture checklist items, testing, gage measure ments and repair details including labor hours and parts consumption. 49 CFR Part 229 compliant Blue Cards are automatically generated from AssetPro Locomotive to be signed and located in the cab. Powerful ad hoc and standardized reporting capabilities can be exported into a variety of formats or automatically scheduled for email distribution. AssetPro Analytics™ offers interactive infographic data dashboards to monitor trends like wheel wear, average time in shop and related KPI. AssetPro Locomotive also manages granular component configurations along with parent/child relationships for major subcomponents like APUs. Road failures or performance issues can be captured through the Dispatcher interface automatically notifying key staff by email or SMS text of any issues and creating a system alert against the unit. The resulting disposition of the unit can preclude small issues from becoming costly, larger ones. AssetPro Locomotive is intuitive, easy to use web-based software which increases productivity across the organization while elec tronically capturing all relevant repair and maintenance informa tion. MaxAccel supports customers large or small, so please visit www.MaxAccel.com for more information or to request a demo.
MAXACCEL ASSETPRO LOCOMOTIVE™
NEW YORK BLOWER COMPANY
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GLOBEHOPPER CROSSMODAL: REAL-TIME MONITORING
Rail freight stakeholders are demanding visibility and accountability. Cargo owners and shippers want to know their goods will arrive OTIF ‘on time and in full.’ Real-time asset and cargo data from Nexxiot is processed to provide shippers, manufacturers, and retailers with reliable, cost-effective, highqualityTheretransportation.arelayersofgovernance around processes, but data governance is relatively new. How should data be structured? How can we share it with confidence? How can we collaborate with better tools across the organization? How can we move forward in digitalization?
Globehopper Crossmodal is a zero-maintenance IoT hardware device deployed onto railcars and tank containers. Installed in under two minutes, it provides updates of location, utilization and sensor readings in real time. The data captured by the Crossmodal is processed in the Connect Intelligent Cloud—a platform empowering operators with insights and unmatched visibility into cargo conditions.
Locomotive blowers typically provide cooling air to critical elec trical components, including traction motors, electrical lockers, main generators and other various equipment. Fans are used for dynamic braking systems, electrical room filtration/dust control, and loading/off loading bay dust collection systems. Fans can be customized, with heavy gauge construction, corro sion resistant materials and compact designs based on the application requirements. In addition, innovations in technol ogy allow for easy remote monitoring devices to be installed to measure airflow, vibration, temperature, and/or airstream particulate. There are numerous benefits of incorporating fan sensor systems, including the ability to minimize power usage/ energy costs, avoid unpredictable downtime, increase longev ity of the machinery, and reduce operating expenses. NYB-manufactured locomotive fans are designed by experienced engineers and undergo rigorous testing, which can involve finite element analysis (FEA) and computational flow dynamics (CFD) modeling, over speed testing, seismic analysis/testing, modal analysis and/or air, sound and performance testing in our AMCA accredited laboratory. Both testing before installation and remote monitoring after help to ensure a longer service life while fans endure constant vibration, cycling, temperature fluctuations and elevation changes. NYB fans carry the AAR M-1003 Certificate, which is earned by satisfying the strict requirements put forth by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) quality assurance program. To speak with an expert on specific application requirements or to request more information, visit www.nyb.com or call 800.208.7918.
LOCOMOTIVE BLOWERS AND FANS
NEXXIOT
Nexxiot, a TradeTech pioneer in sensing, connectivity and data analytics, creates game-changing capabilities for operators to optimize their fleet. With ATEX / Hazloc certified maintenance-free devices that meet all AAR (Association of American Rail roads) requirements, clients manage operations, maintenance, service availability, fleet utilization, and extend product life.
OF RAILCARS AND TANK CONTAINERS
Rail operators are shifting to see data as a core asset, and clients require experienced innovation partners who understand the business’s tough physical reality. Nexxiot delivers meaningful data for easier, safer, cleaner global transportation. Visit us at: www.Nexxiot.com
QNAP®
SPECIALIZED MACHIUNE, MEASUREMENT AND AUTOMATION EQUIPMENT
CORPORATION
Longer lifespan, cleaner handling characteristics, lower environmental impact, increased cost-efficiency—these are the fruits of innovation. QNAP® copper naphthenate is not only a non-restricted use preservative, but it is also the fastest growing preservative in the U.S. for pressure treating crossties, bridge ties and utility poles. More than a dozen treatment plants across the country have recon figured their production to handle the increased demand for QNAP-treated ties. Testing by the USDA Forest Product Laboratory demonstrated an estimated service life of over 65 years. The cleaner handling characteristics of QNAP mean that crews have less risk of skin irritation and burns when handling treated ties. Plus, QNAP-treated ties aren’t slippery when wet. A non-conductive and non-corrosive formula, QNAP has a superior environmental profile compared to other oil-borne preservatives. It also results in less drippage and bleeding in use, a particularly important aspect for bridges over pedestrian walkways, roads and rivers. QNAP®2 brings the advantages of copper-based, oil-borne preserva tives to the field. Available in a convenient ready-to-use formula, QNAP2 can be applied with a brush on end-cuts, dap cuts and drill holes, and can be used both above and below ground. These factors combined mean that you’re investing in ties less often and that you will be reaping the fruits of innovation for decades to come. Innovation in wood preservation from Nisus Corporation—Better Science for a Better World. www.nisuscorp.com
NSH USA
NSH USA Corporation (formerly Simmons Machine Tool) manufactures specialized machine tools, measurement machines, and automation systems for railway and other industrial manufacturers worldwide. Founded in 1910, based in Albany, New York, NSH USA is a member of the NSH Group (Niles-Simmons-Hegenscheidt), an international leader in machine tool technology.
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NSH USA is exhibiting at this year’s RSI Conference, Booth 323. Stop by to discuss upcoming projects and learn about our product updates, including the Stanray® M-Series Wheel Truing Machine product line. For decades, Stanray® has been the standard for freight and transit wheel reprofiling throughout North America. The new M-Series machines, while still employing robust milling machining technology, now features integrated measurement for more efficient machining with better access to asset data. The system’s automated machining and measuring cycles mean less opportunity for operator error and increased safety. With the new patent-pending centerless wheel set clamping, less time is spent accessing wheel set axle centers—in fact, wheel truing can take place on fully mounted wheel sets and vehicles that were not accessible before. The new machines can be installed on the facility’s floor (Above-Floor M1) or in a pit (Underfloor M2 or M3).
For a deeper dive on wheel truing, Brandon Teal, NSH USA’s Product Manager – Railway Machine Systems, is presenting on “Wheel Truing Technology: Development and Innovation” as part of the LMOA Tech nical/Education Program on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 2:00 PM CST. CORPORATION AND QNAP®2 COPPER NAPHTHENATE OIL-BORNE PRESERVATIVE
NISUS
POWER DRIVES, INC.
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POWER DRIVES INC.
DIESEL DEHYDRATOR™
COMPRESSED AIR WATER SEPARATOR
The Diesel Dehydrator™ from Power Drives, Inc. is a patented engi neered system that removes water and filters particulate matter from diesel fuel. Designed to be the main fuel filtration system and tested to filter down to 5 microns, it removes 99.5% of water from the fuel. This, in turn with its extended life filter, removes particulate matter from fuel, increases fuel injector lifespan and overall performance of the locomotive. 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. “Our fuel injector lifespan has already increased more than four times thanks to the Diesel Dehydrator,” says Richard Elgin, Director of International Maintenance, National Railway Equipment Company. “In removing 99.5% of water from the fuel, it has solved one of our biggest headaches and significantly decreased the amount of wear and tear that we were experiencing in our locomotives. Not only that, but the overall performance has also increased, all of which has allowed us to retain a client who had otherwise been ready to terminate their lease. The team at Power Drives provided us with a perfect solution to one of our most press ing problems.” www.powerdrives.com
Originally designed for GE locomotives, the Compressed Air Water Separator is a drop-in solution that packs a punch by tack ling 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 the air requirements, specifically the brake lines. In the winter, that water can freeze and cause the braking system to malfunction, which is obviously a big problem. The Compressed Air Water Separator helps operators avoid this dilemma, and is installed after the air compressor, right off the intercooler. www.powerdrives.com
POWERHOUSE™ HYBRID – IDLE REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY
The PowerHouse™ Hybrid version was developed based on customer needs. Railroads do not want to maintain another engine on the locomotive; eliminating the engine as part of the APU was a message PDI heard loud and clear. That’s why PDI developed the PowerHouse™ Hybrid. The newest in the PowerHouse™ line-up, the hybrid completely eliminates the engine as part of the APU and powers itself directly from the locomotive battery bank. The Hybrid can run off the locomo tive batteries for up to seven days without starting the engine, and when plugged into an external 120 VAC power source, the Hybrid charges the locomotive batteries. The Power House™ Idle reduction system heats the engine oil and circu lates heated coolant through the locomotive engine block and cooling system to maintain a fluid temperature of above 100F, even in the coldest of temperatures, via a diesel fired heating unit. The system requires, on average, less than 5 amps. The Power House™ Hybrid will monitor the “health” of the locomotive coolant system as well as battery life and will send warnings via text messaging to railroad personnel if there are any concerns. More Class I’s and short lines alike realize how this one-time purchase saves them money and maintenance time over the long haul, with typical usage saving over 10,000 gallons of fuel in just one season.
30 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com 2022 Product & Innovations showcase
Another of PowerRail Engine Systems’ popular product lines is the Power Assembly. Their complete line of premium new and remanu factured Power Assemblies, HLP’s, Cylinder Heads and other related parts are machined and assembled in the United States. All raw materials undergo extensive testing to ensure they meet or exceed current OEM specifications. Each Power Assembly undergoes a 39-point inspection and documentation to ensure quality conformance. All water jackets are thoroughly inspected via bore scope to ensure no debris or casting sand remains. State of the art casting techniques are used to reduce porosity and maintain adequate coolant flow. For more information, visit us online at www.ePowerRail.com
PowerRail Engine Systems, the newest member of the PowerRail Family of Companies, is a full-service engine company offering a complete line of rebuilt engines, as well as new and remanufactured power assemblies, governors, turbochargers, pumps and other enginerelated components. PowerRail Engine Systems provides products that provide true reliability and quality for all demanding applications, supporting both EMD and GE engines, including Tier 0+ Emission Kits.
One of PowerRail Engine Systems’ key product lines is their Woodward-certified governors. With PowerRail Engine Systems’ Woodward governors, the highest-quality standards and requirements are factory-audited, ensuring strict compliance. Only genuine Woodward parts and certified, calibrated tools and test stands are used. A complete disassembly, bench inspection, compre hensive cleaning, reassembly, and testing to OEM specifications occurs with each governor to ensure Woodward requirements are met.
Actual customer savings have surpassed the investment in as few as three months. Not only that, but it helps railroads comply with U.S and global emissions standards and operates in the harshest conditions with proven dependability. www.powerdrives.com
POWER DRIVES, INC.
POWERRAIL POWERRAIL ENGINE SYSTEMS
Nitro is constantly learning and continually using technology to improve operating ratios. Using a combination of artificial intel ligence and modern software engineering, this suite of products ensures railroads are becoming more efficient every day.
Conductor Training: PST training can be specific to your indus trial or switch yard location and operations. All performance is recorded and logged to the Learning Management System (LMS) of your choice. Multiple, pre-existing scenarios available for immediate use and customization with available Trainer Station. Either full-size locomotive or portable desktop simulators can be used for the type of environment you have. Radio dialogue can be modified to your standardRCO/OCUprocesses.Training: Remote Control Operator training includes actual OCU control hardware along with desktop simulator. Training can be expanded to full-size monitors for a more realistic experience. Pre-existing scenarios including RCO initialization and setup or training specified by your operation can be used and logged to LMS services.
Most training is self-proctored meaning one-on-one trainer to student is not required, freeing up personnel for other work. Visit www.pstechnology.com/YardSimulation
Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company, is at the fore front of railroad automation and decision support initiatives, helping customers optimize their opera tions and create efficiencies.
The Nitro Decision Support System from Progress Rail augments the capacity of humans to objectively find the best course of action, every time. Helping significantly reduce delays, the Nitro suite of products save time, money, and improve efficiencies across the entire railway network. NitroYard plans and optimizes yard movements considering train arrivals, scout locomotives, loading/ unloading and train formation, and can be integrated with other railroad systems.
PST IMPROVE YARD SAFETY, REDUCE DAMAGE WITH YARD SIMULATION TRAINING
When NitroYard is coupled with the Nitro Movement Planner (MP) product, even greater benefits can accrue, such as up to 13% average velocity increase, from 7% to 30% reduction in meet and pass time, and from 85% to 95% planning acceptance automation.
PROGRESS RAIL NITRO DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM
September 2022 // Railway Age 31railwayage.com 2022 Product & innovations showcase
NitroMP uses cutting-edge machine learning and optimization tools to improve railroad network operations. Current customer deploy ments are experiencing more than 10% improvement in network capacity with zero additional assets or infrastructure investments.
Distributed Power: Have yard personnel practice linking/unlinking, set-out, suspend modes, and various trouble shooting practices.
Educate yard personnel in best practices without slowing yard opera tions or damaging equipment. PST Yard simulation tools provide significant operational gains by eliminating fuel/locomotive expenses from OJT; reducing/eliminating broken knuckles; establishing best radio communication practices; teaching/re-enforcing best safety practices; and standardizing on-demand training across the company.
As well, thanks to the Deep Neural network, the LRAIL’s capabilities are constantly expanding and improving.
• Restoration of the track compliant to standards.
• Extension of asset life between 5-10 years. Since the introduction of the SLS Rhomerg Sersa’s Second Life System® the technology has extended the operational life and performance of thousands of switch points, longitudinal bridge timbers and ties throughout the world saving customers millions of dollars in materials and maintenance costs. For further information please contact us Email: info.rsna@rsrg.com, Tel.: 904-378-7100
• Gauge recovery.
• Correction of horizontal alignment.
All of which leads to poor track and ride quality. SLS has been developed to provide customers with several commercial and operational benefits and efficiencies over other solutions which include,
2D images and 3D scans are automatically motion-compen sated using inertial sensor data and automatically analyzed for feature recognition and evaluation.
INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE PRODUCTS
RAILMETRICS
LRAIL™ Railmetrics’ LRAIL™ technology is a compact multifunctional inspection system that combines high-speed 3D lasers and precision optics to capture high-resolution 2D images and 3D profiles simultaneously day or night, at speeds up to 120km/h.
With just a single pass, the LRAIL is capable of automati cally measuring and reporting on a wide range of railway aspects, including: track geometry, tie plates, clips, rail surface defects, rail head wear, joint bolting and gap, tie skew and grading, ballast level and surface fouling, turnouts and crossings, and spikes and anchors.
• Track remains open for train traffic during rehabilitation process.
RHOMBERG SERSA
• Restoring the connection of the ribbed plate to the wooden tie.
32 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com 2022 Product & Innovations showcase
• Restoration of the screw hole integrity.
As a result of its multifunctional aspect, the LRAIL provides a much more comprehensive inspection compared to tradi tional, single-purpose technologies such as linescan imaging and geometry measurement systems.
For more details, including links to FRA publications on the LRAIL, please visit www.railmetrics.com or get in touch with us at: info@railmetrics.com
Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group is a globe leader in the supply of infrastructure maintenance products. Our SLS Second Life System is a cost-efficient life extension measure for wooden ties. It is suitable for ties on all switches, tracks and bridges. The SLS system can be installed at any time during the life cycle of the infrastructure, depending on the conditions of the installation and the operational requirements. Tracks with high axle loads and high volumes of traffic are subjected to ever increasing vertical and horizontal forces. These forces can result in the deterioration of the infra structure components, especially in areas of curved track, and switch and crossing layouts. Eventual component failure may include: elongation of screw holes; indentation of the sleeper; plate cut.
• Correction of rail cant.
For more information about RailPod: com/stanley-industrial/stanley-infrastructure-railpod/p/1www.stanleyindustrial.
The all-new STANLEY RD60 Battery Rail Drill is a power ful cordless rail drill that maximizes efficiency and reduces the cost of operation in railroad maintenance. Powered by the DEWALT FLEXVOLT® 60V Battery System that drives over 250+ DEWALT power tools, the RD60 offers an ergo nomic and lightweight design, cordless performance, and a brushless heavy-duty motor to boost productivity without compromising precision and quality. Take productivity to the next level with RD60’s patented auto-feed drill cycle for quick and consistent drilling, easy to use push-button controls, and quick-adjust rail clamp. Plus, with 20% weight savings, the RD60 is easy to carry, offers all-season weather protection, and toolless bit exchange. With no extra hoses or wires, the battery powered RD60 ensures safer and easier railroad oper ations. Combined with the biodegradable cutting fluid used, the rail drill is an eco-friendly solution.
STANLEY INDUSTRIAL RD60 BATTERY RAIL DRILL
For more information about the RD60: stanleyinfrastructure-rd60-battery-rail-drill/1/p/1www.stanleyindustrial.com/stanley-industrial/
RAILPOD DO MORE IN ONE PASS
September 2022 // Railway Age 33railwayage.com 2022 Product & innovations showcase
RailPod is the ultimate engineering solution for effective rightof-way (ROW) management of railroads. An advanced rail track inspection system, RailPod is revolutionizing the industry with technology and expertise to make your inspections faster, safer, more precise, and more informative than ever before. In one pass, RailPod enables your team to inspect track geometry and collect high-resolution imagery, LiDAR, rail profiles, GPS coordinates, and more, which ultimately helps you maximize your operational efficiency and reduce costs. The RailPod is a solution for rail inspection and management, and features: detailed track geometry, rail wear and profile analysis for preventive maintenance, clearance measurements for effective ROW management, high-resolution imaging, survey-grade GIS mapping and documentation of ROW assets, and Mobile 3D LiDAR. But that’s not all: With its user-friendly software, porta bility, and easy deployment, RailPod allows for multiple inspec tion services in one pass. Boost your operational efficiency with one platform, one pass and multiple solutions.
TekTracking’s Grade Crossing Operation Reporting System (GCORS) detects and notifies the railroad, via the Emergency Notification System (ENS), of four critical failure modes undetected by crossing event recorders. GCORS contains multiple sensors positioned to capture, analyze, and report specific grade crossing failure modes observed by motorists, including trapped vehicle detection.
SWIFT NAVIGATION
GCORS measures the time from the moment the crossing is activated until the train reaches the grade crossing location, ensuring the active grade crossing system provides at least 20 seconds of warning time to approaching motorists. If a time of less than 20 seconds of warning is detected, alerts are immediately sent to the railroad safetyGCORSoffice.also detects the angular position of the gate, ensuring it is fully deployed when activated. It utilizes a machine learning algorithm to count and time the flash rate of the crossing warning lights. If there is a light not flashing properly an immedi ate alert is communicated to the railroad safety office.
GRADE
The system can determine when a crossing is falsely activated by detecting all cross ing activations and timing the crossing events. If no train or other track-bound vehicle appears at the crossing during the activation period, a failure is declared and immedi ately communicated to the railroads ENS.
TEK TRACKING CROSSING OPERATION REPORTING SYSTEM (GCORS)
Swift Navigation’s precise positioning delivers highly accurate localization for digital twin data, improves operational efficiency and makes it easy to implement safety requirements. Precise positioning utilizes Swift’s Skylark™ wide area, cloud-based GNSS corrections service that delivers real-time, high-precision positioning to rail applications in conjunction with Swift’s hardware—including the ruggedized Duro® Inertial RTK GNSS receiver—and GNSS fusion software solutions. Skylark delivers a continuous stream of multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS corrections for a high-availability service that combines decimeter-level accuracy and world-class performance at a continental scale—available across the contiguous United States, Europe and a growing number of geographies worldwide. Swift’s highly-accurate and affordable RTK GNSS receivers are ideal to implement positive train control (PTC). With integrated IMU tech nologies, Swift’s solution is more robust to anomalies and provides positioning with higher availability and smoother trajectory for your rail assets. Swift’s solution is easy to implement by combining dual-frequency, highly accurate RTK ruggedized receivers onto rail cars and connecting to the cloud-based Skylark service that delivers real-time corrections that are fused in a special ized Positioning Engine (PE), making it possible to achieve track determination. Swift offers an affordable and easily implemented alternative to traditional solutions, making it ideal for fleet positioning. When GNSS hardware is paired with Swift’s Skylark precise positioning service, conver gence times are reduced due to the seamless corrections that deliver accurate positioning to rail cars in real-time, allowing PTC functions to operate as required in critical situations. Learn more at www.swiftnav.com/rail.
34 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com 2022 Product & Innovations showcase
REAL-TIME, HIGH-PRECISION POSITIONING
Finally, if a vehicle becomes disabled on the crossing, GCORS edge image processor determines when the vehicle is in imminent danger of being struck by the train, and a warning alert is immediately communicated to the railroad ENS.
Trinsight is an end-to-end supply chain platform that combines real-time track ing with powerful data and analytics to optimize supply chain performance. With cloud-enabled data, insights, and analytics, you can make informed decisions to improve operations and reduce costs making your supply chain more fluid, reli able, and Trinsightefficient.creates a digital twin of your supply chain using timely, accurate, and configurable data. It captures all aspects of your supply chain, from origin to desti nation, including shipment status and cost. The data can simulate your network enabling you to change supply chain parameters and model opportunities for network optimization.TheShipment Management application allows real-time tracking of railcars letting users know location and status. With numerous sensor options, unique configurations, and built with our unique rail industry expertise, Trin sight delivers actionable insights through tailored reports and real-time critical alerts.
FLEXIBLE SWITCH CONTROL PANEL FOR PROCESSING PLANTS AND NX SYSTEMS
September 2022 // Railway Age 35railwayage.com 2022 Product & innovations showcase
TRINITYRAIL® TRINSIGHT®, POWERED BY TRINITYRAIL®
The Yard Management application monitors railcars from the time they enter the yard until the time they leave. Data monitored for each car can include Arrived, Inspected, Cleaned, Repaired, Loaded, Billed and Departed status changes. The data is then used to analyze operational efficiency, yard cycle times and bottlenecks, and can be used to review/audit demurrage calculations and other fees (switching, cleaning, etc.).
TRAINYARD TECH, LLC
Trainyard Tech, LLC introduces a new switch control panel that controls any switch and interfaces seamlessly with any track circuit on the market or in the railyard today. This highly flexible approach offers many advantages to small and large processing plants, flatyard systems and NX systems using Trainyard Tech’s ROUTEMASTER™ Process Control System. Utilizing the existing switch machines and track circuits already in the yard results in significant savings on new purchases and parts and in a much quicker installation. Customer support is improved, with the experienced engineers at Trainyard Tech providing one point of contact for not just the hump side of the facility but for the receiving yard and forwarding yard as well. This Flexible Switch Control Panel is versatile enough to be inserted into either our sturdy, weatherproof box or modified to fit in existing Switch Control Boxes for ease of installation. The newest method of installation is to consolidate many panels into one High Double case that offers the ability to run fiber if available. Coupled with the use of our ROUTEMASTER™ Process Control System, the innovative Flexible Switch Control Panel offers increased dimensions in notifica tions, reporting and customizable controls. Customers will experience increased efficiency and throughput in the railyard, be it hump or flat yards, large or small. Please visit us at www.trainyardtech.com for more information
With additional applications, and more coming, Trinsight is the future of supply chain management. For more information, please go to www.trinityrail.com
The customer profile application captures yard, fleet, geofence, commodity, cost, and status information. This data helps build detailed profiles unique to a customer’s operation using internal fleet designations and unique (customer defined) commodity types.
36 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com 2022 Product & Innovations showcase
VSP TECHNOLOGIES ELIMINATE FILL PORT LEAKS WITH ENCASE™ GASKET
The rail industry is on the cusp of technological advancements required to power locomotive fleets with alternative green energy sources, such as batteries. These technologies have the potential to greatly reduce emissions and operational costs. For each diesel-powered locomotive converted to alternative energy sources up to 3,000 tons of CO2 per year can be eliminated, which will be imperative to achieving a sustainable transportation network. Wabtec launched the FLXdrive Battery-Electric Locomotive in 2021. It is the world’s first 100% battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive. The FLXdrive demonstrated its capabilities to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in revenue service last year with BNSF as part of a California Air Resource Board pilot. Wabtec has sold a 7-megawatt hour version of the FLXdrive and will be expanding the locomotive to more than 8 megawatt hours. The next generation energy-management software system will determine the optimal times to discharge and recharge the batteries along to route ensuring the most fuel-efficient operation of the entire locomotive consist during the trip. The FLXdrive replaces one of the tradi tional diesel locomotives pulling a train to form a hybrid consist. This enables the railroad to reduce consist-level fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30%.
For the first time in a collaborative effort between VSP Technologies and WL GORE®, the performance, longevity, and reliability of GORE® Universal Pipe Gasket Technol ogy are now available for an expanded range of Usingapplications.ENCASE gaskets on sulfuric acid tank car fill ports eliminates the pitfalls asso ciated with fluoroelastomer (FKM) gaskets bringing you a more reliable seal. ENCASE ‘torque holding’ fill port gaskets support multiple uses and provide a much longer service life than elastomer gaskets used for this application. Learn More about ENCASE Gaskets Today: VSP Technologies | 800.334.6613 | sales@ vsptechnologies.ocm | products/our-product-innovations/encasevsptechnologies.com/
WABTEC FLXDRIVE BATTERY-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
The FLXdrive is part of Wabtec’s vision for the rail industry to play a key role in building a clean energy economy and will enable the reduction of up to 300 million tons of global carbon emissions. To learn more about the FLXdrive and Wabtec’s other sustainable solutions, visit www.wabteccorp.com
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September 2022 // Railway Age 37railwayage.com 2022 Product & innovations showcase WE SIFT THROUGH THE NEWS SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO
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WAGO SELF-SACRIFICING SURGE PROTECTORS
The geographic location of railroads plays a big role in what type of protec tion each needs to run their applications reliably and at peak performance. Railroad tracks are lightning rods, and with new train control systems and monitoring applications directly connected to railroad tracks, surge protec tion is critical to minimize failures, mitigate equipment damage and keep trains running. WAGO has been providing the railway industry high-qual ity surge protection for wayside signal and communication equipment with overvoltage protection from events such as lightning strikes and transients. Our track circuit arrestor (TCA) and signal line arrestor (SLA) are self-sacri ficing modules that provide consistent and repeatable protection. They can be replaced in the field without interrupting the circuit and no tools needed to replace the module. WAGO’s CAGE CLAMP® connections are AREMA approved and give railroads the ability to terminate cable/wires up to and including 6 AWG wire without using AAR terminals while meeting the harsh demands of the railroad industry. These devices have recently been installed at three different locations in Southeast Florida to protect primarily against the more-than 225 (average lightning) strikes per year. Since their placement in the bungalows and junction boxes, these locations have reported no light ning damage or loose wires. In other words … ZERO FAILURES! More information at https://bit.ly/3QNMtto
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Chicago and the region present a variety of rail experiences and useful mobility for residents and visitors alike. Since its founding almost 200 years ago, Chicago has exhibited a gritty, “get-itdone” character. More than a century ago, poet Carl Sandburg described it as the “Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler” and the “Hog Butcher for the World.” Chicagoans do pretty well with cattle, too. Italian beef is the city’s signature sandwich. It’s not just freight. People go to Chicago and get around there by rail, too. The city is known for its museums and other cultural institutions, as well. It is also famous for its classic downtown buildings
PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO HUB OF MIDWESTTHE
38 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
hicagoland is the nation’s freight rail hub, a status that also holds true for passenger rail. Amtrak, Metra, NICTD and the CTA have a symbiotic relationship in a complex network of lines and services that provides mobility to hundreds of thou sands of people every day. Emanating from Chicago are intercity corridor services to Midwest points such as St. Louis, Detroit and Milwaukee, and long-distance trains to and from New York, New Orleans, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Commuter rail lines stretch north, west and south (east is Lake Michigan, can’t go there!) through out the region. NICTD, known to locals as the South Shore, connects Chicago with South Bend, Ind. And the CTA, with its famous elevated Loop, serves the inner city as well as both major airports, O’Hare and Midway. — William C. Vantuono, Railway Age Editor-in-Chief For this overview of rail in the Windy City, I could not have thought of a better lead-in to describe the variety of trains and rail transit in the Hub of the Midwest. With the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and its eight-line local rail system, Metra trains throughout Chicagoland, the Northern Indiana Commuter Trans portation District South Shore Line to Indiana, and more than a dozen Amtrak corridor-length and long-distance routes,
AuthorityTransitChicago
There is much less passenger rail activity now than there was then, but Metra keeps local service going, while Amtrak runs six corridor-length routes and eight longdistance routes, six of which run daily at this writing. Chicago still has more passenger rail activity than most cities, and you can still take Amtrak there from 262 other places. To get around the city, visitors and Chicagoans alike use the CTA. The agency is celebrating its 75th anniversary on Oct. 1. Transit in Chicago goes back much further, though. Chicago’s famous elevated (or “L”) lines were built in the 1890s, and the South Side Elevated Rail road took visitors to the Columbian Expo sition in 1893, one year late to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage. Today’s system has eight lines, reaching as far north as Evanston (home of Northwestern Univer sity), as far west as Oak Grove (famous for buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) and as far south as 95th Street, with an extension planned that would take the Red Line to 130th Street, as part of the CTA’s “Red Ahead” program. Chicago is the only city in the nation with elevated lines running downtown. Nowhere else can a “local” or visitor sit on the train and watch buildings go by from the level of the third floor. Lake Street, Wells Street, Van Buren Street and Wabash Avenue are the streets under the Loop, where trains first ran in 1897, and which forms part of most of the CTA’s lines. The Loop is a tourist attraction in its own right, and has been a part of Chicago’s cultural history and lore ever since. Legendary jazz cornet player Bix Beiderbecke formed a band with Frankie “Tram” Trumbauer and some of his other friends in 1927, and called it the Chicago Loopers, even though they were playing in New York at the time. In the Windy City itself, Bix was known to have jammed with Louis Armstrong and other New Orleans greats, even though they were not in a position to play gigs together due to the segregated nature of much of the music business at the time.
Chicago also has a neighborhood called Pilsen, but the heritage of its inhabitants is that of Mexico, not the Czech Repub lic. Put it all together, and Chicago is an interesting place to visit, while millions choose to live there.
The CTA extends beyond the Chicago city limits in places like Evanston and Skokie to the north and Oak Park to the west. There is much more to Chicagoland, as the locals call it, and Metra trains go to those towns. Metra is a large system, the result of consolidating local services that were once operated by eight differ ent railroads. Metra operates trains on several different railroads today, by contract. They include BNSF (historic Burlington Route) and Union Pacific (historic C&NW). Other Metra lines run on former railroads (historic Milwaukee Road and Rock Island). Metra stays within the State of Illinois, except for a few trains on the UP North Line that venture up to Kenosha, Wisc. Only the three lines to the South Side that were historically operated by the Illinois Central are electrified.
During the period of the Great Migration, African American Southerners escaped the misery they were enduring in that region and gave Chicago’s South Side some additional Southern flavor. If they came from New Orleans, Jackson or Memphis, they might have made the one-way trip on the Illinois Central, the route of Amtrak’s City of New Orleans today.
I first visited Chicago in 1969. I wanted to experience the rail scene, and I took Penn Central’s old Lakeshore Limited, which had temporarily lost its official name at the time. I got off at the old South Bend Union Station and walked a few blocks to catch the South Shore Line on its street-running track on LaSalle Street. Less than a year later, the downtown track was gone. When I arrived in the Windy City, I caught a train of 1920s-vintage 4000-series cars on the CTA’s Evanston Express. At that time, there were no stops between the Loop and Howard Avenue on the North Side, and the conductor came around to collect an extra fare. We dropped coins into a device he held in his hand, and it rang a bell.
PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO
September 2022 // Railway Age 39railwayage.com and other historic neighborhoods.
BY DAVID PETER ALAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
There was a lot more passenger rail activity at the time, run by a large number of railroads. According to an Official Guide from that time, there were nine railroads running commuter or other regional service (now Metra on the Illinois side), 10 running corridor-length routes, and another 11 running long-distance trains, with several routes running more than one daily frequency. Some longdistance trains ran over track on several railroads during the pre-Amtrak era, too.
Schedules vary greatly between lines, and most of the service reductions that were implemented in the wake of the decreases in ridership caused by COVID19 are still in effect. Three lines run during commuting-peak hours only. The smallest amount of service runs on the Heritage Corridor to Joliet, historically part of the Alton Road and running near the route of
It’s not just people who came from Europe who give Chicago its diversity.
The State of Illinois, through the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), remains a leader in running intrastate corridors through Amtrak. There are currently three routes in operation.
Indiana has not been a hotbed of passenger rail activity since the demise of the old interurbans decades ago. There is one line between Chicago and the Hoosier State: the NICTD South Shore Line, with a nickname that has survived since it was the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. The line is electrified, using the part of Metra’s electric (historically the Illinois Central Electric) line between downtown and Kensington, at 115th Street on the South Side. There is not much service, trains only run every two hours or less to and from Michigan City outside peakcommuting hours, although there are a few that only run between Chicago and Gary. There is now a construction project to double-track part of the line as far east as Michigan City, so there might be more service there in the future. A casualty of that is the historic street-running portion of the line in Michigan City. There are only five daily trains to South Bend, and none of them go near down town. Instead, they go to the airport. Many of those trains have no local bus connection to downtown South Bend, a problem that we noted when reporting on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s policy when he was South Bend’s mayor.
Brand new Siemens Charger locomotives, powered with Cummins QSK-95 prime-movers, are hauling many Amtrak state-supported Midwestern corridor trains.
Advocates at the Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance (IPRA) hope to see a “Hoosier Corridor” with more-frequent service to Indianapolis, while avoiding the Amtrak route to Union Station. They also hope that trains will someday run to Cincin nati, Louisville and even Nashville.
The headline was Complete Streets, Incom plete Transit , and the situation has not changedIndiana’smuch.only recent state-supported train, Amtrak’s four-day-a-week Hoosier State, was discontinued in 2019, when the state killed its funding. It ran between Chicago and Indianapolis on the four days a week that the Cardinal , running through West Virginia and Virginia mostly on the historic Chesapeake & Ohio route, did not. The South Shore Line is planning to build a new branch from Hammond to Dyer, which is on the Cardinal route.
The one exception: the Big Noise from Winnetka (on the UP North Line) is that there are now two trains per hour between there and Chicago during the mid-day on weekdays. That appears to be an experiment to determine whether increased service will bring commen surately increased ridership. Otherwise, Metra has not followed the lead of the MBTA in Boston of increasing mid-day and evening service while running fewer trains during historic peak-commuting hours. On weekends, the standard is every two hours, similar to Boston and now Philadelphia, but less than the hourly service typical of the New York area.
40 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The line hosts only three commuter trains into Chicago in the morning and back to Joliet in the late afternoon, although Amtrak uses the route for the Texas Eagle and Lincoln Service trains to St. Louis. This summer, Metra is running three round trips on the line on Saturdays, which gives Chicagoans a rare opportunity to take a day trip to visit the historic towns along theTheline.typical service patterns outside peak-commuting hours call for either hourly service or a train every two hours on weekdays, depending on the line.
GrossLarry
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42 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO www. PowerRail.Com
Lincoln Service trains run four times a day between Chicago and St. Louis, on UP (the historic Alton Route) through Springfield and Lincoln (a town that was named after Abraham Lincoln before he became President). The Texas Eagle also runs on that route. At this writing, Amtrak has suspended one round trip between Chicago and St. Louis. On the normal schedule, there are also two round trips between Chicago and Carbondale on CN (historic Illinois Central route), along with the City of New Orleans. At this writing, one of those round trips is suspended. The line serves Southern Illinois University in Carbon dale and the University of Illinois at Urbana via a local bus from Champaign. The third Illinois operation runs between Chicago and Quincy, on the Mississippi River. There are two round trips per day on that Illinoisroute.and Wisconsin combine to run service to Milwaukee, seven times a day (six on weekends). There is an additional train from Chicago on Friday nights that returns from Milwaukee early on Satur day mornings. There are efforts to add three daily frequencies to the sched ule, but local opposition along the part of the line in Illinois is holding up the increase. Other trains go from Chicago to Michigan. There are three daily round trips on the Wolverine route to Pontiac, through Detroit on the historic Michigan Central route. Another train, the Blue Water, splits from the Detroit service at Kalamazoo and goes to Port Huron on the historic Grand Trunk Western route, part of CN. There was once a through train between Chicago and Toronto, using CN in Canada, but there is no longer any connection between the Amtrak side and the VIA Rail side in Ontario. The other train is the Pere Marquette to Grand Rapids, a single daily frequency, named for the railroad that was named for the French explorer. The roster of Amtrak’s long-distance trains serving Chicago has not changed in years, but frequencies have. The Empire Builder to Portland and Seattle, the California Zephyr to the Bay Area, the Southwest Chief to Los Angeles, the Texas Eagle to San Antonio, the Capitol Limited to Washington, D.C. (via Pitts burgh), and the Lake Shore Limited to New York and Boston have all returned to daily operation, at least for now. The Cardinal to Washington and New York (through Cincinnati and West Virginia) still runs on the tri-weekly schedule, as it has for more than 40 years. The City of New Orleans still runs only five days per week, although Amtrak claims that it will return to daily operation on Oct. 2. On the whole, it was not been a good summer for Amtrak’s long-distance trains. Consists are shorter, either because certain cars (like lounge cars) have been removed on a regular basis, or because of other equipment shortages. Advocates have complained that equipment is piling up in the Beech Grove shops in Indiana, while Amtrak asserts that it is short of
Keeping YOUR Locomotive
September 2022 // Railway Age 43railwayage.com PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO crews and other employees. The advocacy community seems to hope that better times are coming for Amtrak, while also fearing that we are witnessing the begin ning of the end. That doesn’t mean that now is not a good time to visit Chicago. The winters are cold there, and there is a lot to do in the summer and fall. Exactly 100 years ago, Fred Fisher wrote the song Chicago, which became the city’s unofficial anthem for a while. He called it “that toddlin’ town” and advised, “Bet your bottom dollar you’ll lose the blues in Chicago, the town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down!” Maybe the famed evangelist of the era couldn’t shut down the speakeasies or the city’s legendary jazz scene at the time, but the Windy City seems more sedate today, even more than it was when I first visited there a bit more than 50 years ago. Still, Chicago is interesting, historic and full of museums and neighborhoods worth visiting. You can still get there by train from a lot of other places around the country, and there is plenty of transit to get you around the city and Chicagoland on the CTA and Metra. The rail scene may not be quite as interesting as it was a halfcentury ago, but the Loop with its down town “L” trains is still unique. Metra
archiveCarlsonNorman
PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO
I n his on line article Happy 75th, CTA, Contributing Editor David Peter Alan makes reference to CTA’s Skokie Swift, now known as the Yellow Line, as the last remnant of the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad. Also, there were the South Shore Line, now owned and oper ated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), and the Chicago Aurora & Elgin. Collectively they were known as Chicago’s Big Three electric interurban railways. For those who remember the North Shore, it is hard to accept that it has been 60 years since the last trains pulled into their terminals around 3:00 a.m. on Jan. 21, 1963. Marketing itself as The Road of Service, the North Shore operating culture was speed and efficiency. The balancing speed of the trains operating as Milwau kee Limiteds was between 80 and 83 mph. Unlike any other interurban, dining service was offered from shortly after Milwaukee service began in 1908 until abandonment in Their1963. trainmen’s philosophy was “get
RAIL TRANSIT A RICH HISTORY
44 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
September 2022 // Railway Age 45railwayage.com them off, get them on, get out of town.”
The 5:00 p.m. Electroliner flying past the Briergate station in Highland Park, Ill., at 80-plus mph on its non-stop 48-mile run from Howard Street, Chicago, to Kenosha, Wisc., July 26, 1960.
Over the decades, there was consider able commonality between the Big Three and the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) and later CTA. All three interurbans reached downtown Chicago on trackage rights, North Shore and CA&E on CRT, later CTA, while the South Shore used Illinois Central and now Metra Electric. At one time, the Big Three and CRT along with electric and gas utilities in North ern Illinois and throughout Indiana were entities within a corporate conglomerate controlled by Samuel Insull. Incredibly, CRT was a subsidiary of Commonwealth Edison (CE), the electric utility serving most of the Chicago region. Chicago’s local transit systems, includ ing the street railways, were financially
PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO
Coming into a station was a combination of smells and sounds: ozone from the trac tion motors, hot lubricating oil, squealing brake shoes on steel wheels, thumping air compressors, grinding gears on the traction motors, step traps slammed against the doors and the exhausts of the air brakes. Passengers got off and on quickly. Then it was two bells and the slamming of the traps hitting the floor as the train accelerated. Station stops were a matter of seconds. On the North Shore, there were no speed limits, only speed restrictions. Motormen ran trains with the controller “on the brass” (full parallel), with heavy service applica tions for braking. When asked how can you run 85 mph with trolley poles, reportedly, the railroad responded no one told us we couldn’t do it. Adding to North Shore’s legend were the literally millions of Navy and Army recruits that rode the railroad. The railway served Naval Station Great Lakes and Fort Sheridan. And then there were the Electro liners, which entered service early in 1941. These two four-unit articulated stream lined trainsets made five of the 17 daily limited train trips in each direction between Milwaukee and Chicago. They were famous for their Electroburgers, a well-seasoned beef patty marinated in Worcestershire sauce, grilled on an induc tion plate that gave them a distinctive taste. Served with chips and an adult beverage, they were a delightful Friday dinner along with a train ride to Milwaukee. Of course, on the return trip the bar was open. Speak ing of the bar being open, in North Shore’s final days, the drinking age in Illinois was 21 while in Wisconsin it was 18. As far as the bartender was concerned, the train was in Wisconsin for its entire trip. For the military, there were weekend specials from the military bases on Satur days and Sundays. Fleets of trains would make morning departures to Chicago with a smaller number of trains to Milwaukee in addition to the regular service. The extra trains would return in the late afternoon and well into the evenings. While known as military specials on the railroad, their more common name for the Great Lakes trains was Swabby Specials. This in part explains why North Shore’s legend extended far beyond its service territory.
Your Guide to Railway Signals is an excellent guide for training signal personnel especially railway cross-function managers, supervisors, and support personnel. High-quality graphics and diagrams have been used throughout. Complies with all standards and commonly used practices.
Understanding the Railway Labor Act
archiveCarlsonNorman of Insull’s companies electric generating capacity in Illinois and Indiana. To protect this investment, Insull became involved in the attempts to financially organize Chica go’s rapid transit and interurban companies as early as 1901. Insull’s Empire collapsed in the Great Depression. North Shore did not emerge from bankruptcy until 1946. The Post-World War II expansion of auto mobile ownership and limited access high ways was the mortal blow for the CA&E and North Shore. Neither of these railways recov ered their cost of capital. New rolling stock and infrastructure investments were out of the question. The South Shore Line survived as one of the last interurbans in America due to its significant freight traffic and being located in the heavily industrialized area of Northwest Indiana. CA&E’s passenger service was abruptly suspended shortly after noon on July 3, 1957, stranding passengers at their destination. As noted, the North Shore Line was abandoned in 1963. Recognition of the commuter rail roads’ financial crisis began in the 1950s
The fifth edition of The Railroad: What It Is, What it Does is even more valuable than before. Inside you’ll find a comprehensive look at how today’s railroads function—from equipment to procedures and marketing to maintenance.
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PASSENGER FOCUS: CHICAGO
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Understanding the Railway Labor Act is a book that is both scholarly and readable, a book that goes to the roots of legislation governing railroad labor-management relations and the parties that intertwine with the RLA.
46 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com challenged during most of their existence. This was of great concern to Sam Insull. The so-called “traction load,” the electrical demand of electrified railways, was the base load that provided economic justification for the investment in significant expansion
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The Steam Locomotive Energy Story This book goes on to the next level, discussing control center management functions, once the domain of the chief dispatcher. An understanding of train dynamics fundamentals. (the interaction among grades, curves, tonnage, tractive effort, and horsepower) is essential.
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On weekdays from 5:00 to 5:15 p.m., there was a departure every three minutes from down-town Chicago. This is a Mundelein express train that ran 15 minutes ahead of the 5:00 p.m. Electroliner. The principal task of this train was to get out of the Electronliner’s way!
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InWashington.1963,the
CHICAGO with the Long Island Rail Road and quickly spread throughout the East Coast. CA&E’s abandonment caught the atten tion of a few people in Washington, D.C. Perhaps because of its relationship with the military, North Shore’s abandonment caught the attention of many more people in Chicago Transit Authority proposed a plan to provide nonstop highspeed shuttle service between the main line rapid transit station at Howard Street at the north city limit of Chicago and Dempster Street in Skokie, a distance of five miles. CTA, working with the Village of Skokie, applied for a federal grant to pay twothirds of the cost for a two-year demonstra tion project. CTA and the Village split the remaining one-third of the cost. Service began in April 1964 and was a resounding success. Originally named Skokie Swift, it is now CTA’s Yellow Line. The late George Krambles (1915-1999), who retired as CTA’s Executive Director, was the project direc tor. The North Shore operated this segment of railroad for 37 years, while CTA has run it for 58 years and counting. In George’s words; “Although it remains one of the world’s smallest rapid transit routes, Skokie Swift’s success encouraged the creation of local, state and federal programs to assist transit capital projects elsewhere. It helped set the pattern for the many new-start rail systems, becoming really the first of the modern light rail transit lines without ever knowing the name!” Norman Carlson was appointed to the Metra Board of Directors in April 2013 by the Chairman of the Lake County Board, was elected Chair in October 2016, and Vice Chair in September 2020. He spent 34 years with Arthur Andersen Co. as the North American Rail Industry Head in 1985 and the Worldwide Managing Partner of the Transportation Practice in 1990. In 2000 he formed Carlson Consulting International. He is member of the Business Advisory Committee to the Transportation Center at Northwestern University, advisor to the City of Lake Forest on transportation matters, and managing editor of First & Fastest, a publication on the history and current operations of rail passenger service in Chicago.
PASSENGER FOCUS:
Norman Carlson
September 2022 // Railway Age 47railwayage.com
For many freight railroads, upgrading their existing locomotive fleets to current standards of improved fuel efficiency and emissions reductions is far more cost-effective than acquiring new power. Technology—AC traction, Tier 3 or 4 prime-movers, updated control systems, real-time health moni toring—makes it all possible. OEMs like Wabtec and Progress Rail (EMD/Caterpil lar) now identify rebuilding locomotives to better-than-new status as their primary line of business. Companies such as NRE, Knoxville Locomotive Works, Brookville Equipment, Cummins, Republic Locomo tive and Railserve LEAF also supply this market. And Class I railroad Norfolk South ern (NS), sometimes working in concert with Wabtec or Progress Rail but often independently, rebuilds and repowers loco motives through its TMS (Thoroughbred Mechanical Services) division, located in Altoona, Pa., in the facilities of the former Pennsylvania Railroad’s legendary Juniata LocomotiveLocomotivesWorks.are a little like classic cars. Take good care of them, and they’ll last many years, decades, even. But at some point, they will need to be rebuilt, if they are to continue in regular service. “Restored” is not the correct term here, because restora tion is meant for locomotives designated for occasional service on special excur sions, or static display as cosmetically accurate museum pieces. “Resto-mod” is a more accurate analogy. For a classic car, it could be a 1969 Pontiac GTO rebuilt with a modern LS-series V-8, electronic fuel injec tion, disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, Cummins
REPOWERREBUILD,RENEW,
48 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
New systems,upgradedprime-movers,tractionstate-of-the-artmicroprocessorcontrols,remotehealthmonitoringandotheradvancescanturnatiredoldironhorseintoanimble,fuel-efficientnewmachine.BYWILLIAMC.VANTUONO,EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
five- or six-speed Tremec transmission with overdrive, Hotchkis suspension, electric radiator fans, 17-inch wheels, etc., etc.— something that’s better than as-built new, looks fabulous and can be driven anywhere without worry. For diesel-electric locomotives, restomods are best exemplified by what rail roads like Union Pacific (UP), NS and Canadian Pacific are doing, in place of investing in new power that can cost upward of $3 million each. For roughly half that investment, they can obtain rebuilt, upgraded units that deliver reli ability, fuel efficiency, environmental benefits and longevity.
UP in late July selected Wabtec to modernize 600 locomotives in a deal worth more than $1 billion. This is Wabtec’s third major power-upgrade order from UP since 2018, covering more than 1,030 locomotives upon completion in 2025. Wabtec will upgrade 525 of UP’s AC4400 and AC6000s, as well as 75 Dash-9s in what it called “the largest investment in modern ized locomotives in rail industry history.” They will feature the FDL Advantage engine upgrade and Modular Control Architec ture, a next-generation controls technol ogy that is said to be applicable throughout Wabtec’s locomotive installed base. The modernizations will not only extend loco motive life, but also provide such benefits as a fuel efficiency improvement of up to 18%; a more-than 80% increase in reliabil ity; and a haulage ability increase of more than 55%, according to Wabtec. In addi tion, Wabtec said, each upgraded unit will eliminate approximately 350 tons of carbon per year, and UP will realize approximately 210,000 tons in annual emission reductions from the total modernization.
For Wabtec, the order is a bonanza. “We estimate that the agreement with UP could mean $360 million of revenue per year for Wabtec for the next three years,” said Cowen and Company Transporta tion Analyst Matt Elkott. “At least 60% of that could be incremental to expectations, resulting in incremental annual revenues of at least $216 million for 2023-2025 and annual incremental EPS accretion percent age in the high single digits to low teens. We note that modernizations are about half the September 2022 // Railway Age 49railwayage.com
TECH FOCUS — MECHANICAL
This GP38CC switcher is EPA Tier 3-certified and delivers 2,130 hp at 1800 rpm. Its Cummins QSK50 Tier 3 Power Module is designed for ease of installation into multiple locomotive models. Cummins pre-built the entire unit, including the engine, alternator, airintake, exhaust and air compressor drive, on a base skid. New cooling cores were installed in the existing cooling hatch.
The Power Module is equipped with a Kato dualbearing traction alternator rated at 1600 kW of traction power and 288 kW of 120v/3-phase companion power. If required, the alternator can be configured to meet the needs of a specific locomotive application.
The work will take place at Wabtec’s U.S. plants, with deliveries expected to begin in 2023. The manufacturer said 70,000 tons of steel would be reused and recycled, “which is the equivalent of more than 51,000 passenger cars.”
50 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com TECH FOCUS — MECHANICAL revenue of a new locomotive for Wabtec, but at much higher margins. As the North American new-build market is likely to continue to be anemic, we expect modifica tions strength to continue, with more Class I’s possibly signing new agreements. Wabtec is the largest freight locomotive builder, followed by Caterpillar (Progress Rail/ EMD). The two form an effective duopoly in North America.” Like Wabtec, Progress Rail has entered the repower market full-force, offering four units: the EMD® 24B Repower T-4, 30C, 20B, and 710ECO™. They all “can be tailored for customer installation,” or deliv ered as “complete, turnkey solutions, using the latest generation of EMD® or Cat® engines and a choice of control systems.” Progress Rail describes the 24B as “an EMD® GP-style locomotive powered by a Cat® 3512C HD 12-cylinder engine and Kato alternator. Designed with flexibil ity in mind, this unit allows customers to choose options without extensive engi neering. It utilizes rebuilt GP-style trucks with rebuilt D78 traction motors and has been constructed with a new crashworthy underframe, cab and fuel tank.” SCR and DPF exhaust aftertreatment provide Tier 4 emisions compliance. The six-axle 30C features a 3,005-hp Cat® 3516C-HD 16-cylinder engine and rebuilt D77 traction motors. Built on an EPA Tier 2 emis sions basis, optional exhaust aftertreatment bumps up compliance to Tier 3, with Tier 4 NOx. Progress Rail claims 5%-15%-plus fuel savings vs. comparable originally equipped locomotives. The four-axle 20B, like the 24B, is a GP-style locomotive. It’s equipped with Work is under way at several Wabtec plants, Fort Worth, Tex. (pictured) among them, to modernize 600 Union Pacific locomotives. Wabtec RAIL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU AT HIGH SPEED RAIL GROUP NEWS brings you a daily round-up of news stories from Railway Age, RT&S, and IRJ. This email newsletter offers North American and global news and analysis of the freight and passenger markets. From developments in rail technology, operations, and strategic planning to legislative issues and engineering news, we’ve got you covered. ROUND-UP of NEWS R AILWAYNEWSGROUPRAILFrom Railway Age, RT&S and IRJ https://railwayage.com/newsletters RA_RailGroupNews_Half_HighSpeed_2022.indd 1 1/10/22 12:50 PM
UNRIVALED
CRISI GRANTS POWER REBUILDS
significant
NEWS STORIES FROM: Y AGE, RT&S and IRJ
FOCUS — MECHANICAL
RailProgress
TECH a Cat® 3512C HD engine, Kato alternator, rebuilt D78 traction motor, and EM2000™ including AESS™ (Automatic Engine Start Stop). It’s rated at 2,100 hp. The 710ECO™ Repowers “extend loco motive life for up to 40 years and lower life cycle costs by equipping older models with EMD® 710 engines,” Progress Rail notes. Available with Tier 3-compliant 8-710G3AT3 (8-cylinder) or 12-710G3A-T3 (12-cylin der) engines, they feature a separate loop aftercooling system, EM2000™ Micropro cessor Control System and AESS™.
September 2022 // Railway Age 51railwayage.com
UNIQUECAPABILITIESMETALFORYOURPRODUCTNEEDSVISITBOOTH#405ATTHERSITECHNICALCONFERENCEANDEXPOANDPUTUSTOTHETEST
The Federal Railroad Administration CRISI (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements) Grant Program has much wider applicability than infrastructure projects. Among several new eligible project categories is “rehabilitating, remanufactur ing, procuring, or overhauling locomotives, provided that such activities result in a reduction of emissions.” Eligible applicants now include “States, a group of States, an Interstate Compact, a public agency or publicly chartered authority established by one or more States, a politi cal subdivision of a State, Amtrak and other rail carriers providing intercity rail passen ger transportation, Class II/III railroads and associations that represent a Class II/III railroads (new), and rail carriers and equip ment manufacturers, in partnership with at least one of these entities.” For short lines, regionals and S&T (switching and termi nal) railroads, expanded CRISI availability means that modern motive power is not out of reach.
The EMD® 710ECO™ Repower locomotive series is equipped with an EM2000™ Microprocessor Control System and an 8- or 12-cylinder EMD® 710 prime-mover.
FORFITNESSSERVICE: ASSESSMENT ANDSAFETY—HEALTH
Figure 1 (above) is offered in response to the idea that assessing the safe use of an engineered system has analogies to assess ing the health of a person. Let’s get started. In a routine physical exam, various tests are performed, and the results are compared against predefined ranges of values considered “healthy.” The tests that are performed during the exam, and the value ranges for each test, are usually selected statistically to limit the probabil ity that an important risk factor for serious disease is not detected. Note, however, that this probability can never be identi cally zero—in theory or in practice. The predefined “healthy” value ranges for each test, and the target risk-factor detection probabilities, are the results of compre hensive studies, expert discussion and expert decision-making. The results could be all “healthy,” and I wish that for all of
Fitness-for-service assessments of an engineered system are designed to address a basic question: Is the system acceptably safe to use for its intended purpose at a given point in time?
elcome to “Timeout for Tech.” Each month, we examine a technology topic that professionals in the railway industry have asked to learn more about. This month, we are focusing on fitnessfor-service assessments of engineered systems. Many fitness-for-service procedures are somewhat analogous to a person having a routine physical examination from a doctor. In fact, much of the underlying
AN
Figure 1. Fitness-for-service assessments of engineered systems often have analogies to assessing human health. (Courtesy of Gary T. Fry.)
mathematics is essentially identical when assessing an engineered system for safe use or a person’s risk factors for serious disease.
OF
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TIMEOUT FOR TECH
52 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
By Gary T. Fry, Ph.D., P.E., Vice President, Fry Technical Services, Inc.
• Wheel profile measurement systems.
• Electromagnetic field imaging systems (for surface cracks and spalls).
• Rail defect detection systems.
• Acoustic bearing detectors.
• Light detection and ranging (LIDAR).
• Electromagnetic field imaging systems (for surface cracks and spalls).
• Optical systems.
• Optical systems (for partially failed rims).
• Thermal wheel detectors.
• Tie inspection systems.
• Rail profile measurement systems.
• Ultrasonic systems (for subsurface cracks).
• Ballast inspection systems.
• Thermal bearing detectors.
• Ultrasonic systems (for subsurface fatigue cracks).
• Ground penetrating radar (GPR).
• Automated cracked/broken wheel detectors.
Cutting-edge technology helps us make more accurate and precise assessments of real-time system condition, notably when it is in use and under load.
TIMEOUT FOR TECH
my readers! Some results could come back indicating a concern that needs attention. Some results could come back indicating a serious health issue that needs immediate intervention. Now what about engineered systemFitness-for-servicesafety? assessments of an engineered system are designed to address a basic question: Is the system acceptably safe to use for its intended purpose at a given point in time? Continuing with our analogy, we are asking, “Is the system healthy?” To answer these questions, we examine the system and the condi tion of its components and compare our observations and measurements against predefined tolerances. The measure ments that are performed, and the predefined tolerances for each measure ment, are usually selected statistically to limit the probability that the system’s components will fail before the next assessment cycle begins. Note, however, that this probability can never be identi cally zero—in theory or in practice. The predefined measurement tolerances and target failure probabilities are the results of comprehensive studies, expert discus sion and expert decision-making. At the end of the process, we decide as to the system’s safety for its intended purpose, and clear the system for normal opera tion, flag it for reduced operation and further evaluation, or take it offline for repair or replacement. With that introduction, and continuing with our analogy, let’s look at the process of examining the performance of an engineered system. There exists a field of engineering consulting, technology devel opment, and research called Structural Health Monitoring or SHM. The common application of SHM involves deploying a strategic inventory of electronic sensors on an engineered system along with data processing algorithms, which often incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) approaches. Most often, SHM is optimized to measure the dynamic performance of a system in use, and alert when unusual or extreme events occur that could lead to system failure. Some experts refer to SHM as giving an engineered system an ability to register “pain.” A student of mine once described SHM as “teaching a silent child to cry” so that his parents can better respond to his needs. Anyone who has purchased a car in recent years has observed something similar to these concepts. For the past 20 years, our automo biles have come complete with dozens of electronic sensors, onboard computers, software systems and data visualization systems. For example, as seen in Figure 2 ( p. 54 ), indicator lights sometimes appear on my dashboard that are simple and intu itive. With some of these indicators, such as “Check Engine” or the ominous red exclamation point warning that my brake system is somehow under the weather, I am going to set up an appointment with a repairWhenshop.Ileave my car at the shop, one of the first things a mechanic will do is connect a computer to the car’s On-Board Diagnostic or OBD port. Though coming from the exact same data sources that resulted in my simple indicator light being activated, data presented to the mechanic will be far more detailed and designed specifically to help the mechanic sort out the issues my car is having. Essentially, the car is partici pating “actively” in its own fitnessfor-service assessment—like a patient answering questions from a doctor. There are quite a few applications of “intelligent sensing” systems in the railway industry that provide data streams that aid in fitness-for-service assessments. And more are under development every year. For example, on the track side we have:
There are also several wayside systems available to monitor passing rolling stock:
September 2022 // Railway Age 53railwayage.com
• Track measurementgeometrysystems.
• Truck performance detectors.
Certainly, cutting-edge technology helps us make more accurate and precise assess ments of real-time system condition— notably when it is in use and under load. But there will always be fundamental ques tions related to establishing the threshold limits of allowable system performance and degradation. And this brings us to the most difficult and uncomfortable part of every fitness-for-service discussion: deter mining a target for acceptable probability of failure. It is most sensitive in scenarios where human life is at risk. So, I pose the question: What is an acceptable probabil ity of failure when lives are at stake? Many of us are prone to say, “Zero! Failure is not an option!”
• Wheel impact load detectors.
54 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com TIMEOUT FOR TECH
Failure of essentially zero engineered systems is not possible, certainly not today. Our imperfect scientific and engi neering knowledge, our imperfect manu facturing abilities, our nearly complete inability to control Mother Nature, our imperfect decision-making para digms, the reality of human error, and other inherent imperfections combine in complex ways and prevent the total elimi nation of failure risk.
Dr. Fry is the Vice President of Fry Technical Services, Inc. (https://www. frytechservices.com/). He has 30 years of experience in research and consulting on the fatigue and frac ture behavior of structural metals and weldments. His research results have been incorporated into international codes of practice used in the design of structural components and systems, including structural welds, railway and highway bridges, and high-rise commercial buildings in seismic risk zones. He has extensive experience performing in situ testing of railway bridges under live loading of trains, including high-speed passenger trains and heavy-axle-load freight trains. His research, publications and consulting
Figure 2. Automated “system health” warning lights in a modern automobile. (Courtesy of Gary T. Fry.) have advanced the state of the art in structural health monitoring and structural impairment detection.
To mitigate the most serious conse quences of failure, we have nothing avail able above our best possible efforts. We must commit them to all tasks at all times, model carefully what that means in terms of failure risk, and report the result in good faith as our acceptable probability of failure. We can’t do better than that, and no one deserves less when life-safety is at stake.
END
The end hose connections on cars with EOCC must accommodate large longitu dinal coupler movements and, in some cases, substantial lateral coupler swings. Flexible end arrangements have been developed to facilitate the movement of end hoses to maintain gladhand connec tions while the couplers are in motion relative to the cars.
types, data compiled by Railinc Corpo ration have suggested that cars equipped with end-of-car cushioning (EOCC) are significantly overrepresented relative to the fleet size.
To provide better insight into these issues, MxV Rail (formerly TTCI) conducted end hose separation experiments using a test rig that simulated the end-of-car hose arrange ment installations (end arrangements). This work was performed as part of the Associa tion of American Railroads (AAR) Strategic Research Initiatives (SRI) program. Although AHS and AHF can occur regardless of car and end arrangement
September 2022 // Railway Age 55railwayage.com A ir hose separation (AHS) and air hose failure (AHF) are major causes for undesired emer gency brake applications (UDE) on trains, and both can result in considerable service interruptions and reduced average train velocity.
PRINCIPAL
BY SCOTT
RailMxV Figure
AVP
MxV Rail constructed end arranged test rigs (Figure 1, above) to facilitate the testing of different end arrangement installations. An initial test matrix was designed to explore the end arrangement performance when similar and dissimi lar coupled cars were subjected to eight common car position scenarios, includ ing buff and draft strokes on tangent and curved track. During the initial tests, the end arrangements and accessories were installed according to their respec tive design specifications. As a result, no AHS or AHF have been observed during the initial testing. In general, the configurations have performed well with no substantial gladhand peaking or hose kinking. No excessive forces at the gladhands or air hose supports have been measured.Subsequently, a test matrix was devel oped to incorporate potential application 1: End arrangement test rigs configured with a blocked trolley rod and a misapplied standard end hose. CUMMINGS, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION; WANG, INVESTIGATOR I, RAIL INTERRUPTIONS HOSE ARRANGEMENT-CAUSED
AND YI
MXV
SERVICE
• Improperly rotated angle cock and intermediate hose position.
• Worn standard gaskets and Thegladhands.overall failure rate for the nonoptimal tests is 35% in the laboratory environment.Considerable differences exist between the lightweight semi-stationary test rigs and freight cars in motion. The rela tive force and impact exerted by end arrangement components are most likely significantly lower on the test rigs. Also, laboratory testing did not provide an environment with vibration or vertical displacements, both of which would be expected in revenue service.
Finally, test results showed the two most important mitigations for end-arrange ment-related AHS and AHF include:
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR STAY IN GEAR WITH RAIL GROUP NEWS RAIL GROUP NEWS brings you a daily round-up of news stories from Railway Age, RT&S, and IRJ. This email newsletter offers North American and global news and analysis of the freight and passenger markets. From developments in rail technology, operations, and strategic planning to legislative issues and engineering news, we’ve got you covered. ROUND-UP of NEWS STORIES FROM: R AILWAY AGE, RT&S and IRJNEWSGROUPRAIL From Railway Age, RT&S and IRJ https://railwayage.com/newsletters RA_RailGroupNews_Half_InGear_2022.indd 1 1/10/22 12:50 PM End connectionshose on cars with EOCC must accommodate large couplerlongitudinalmovements.
Several key findings can be drawn from this work. First, end arrangements in the as-built condition, regardless of style, perform sufficiently in the lab environment and do not cause hose sepa ration or brake pipe leakage. Next, tests conducted in non-optimal conditions while mimicking common dysfunctionalities suggest that end hose arrangements equipped with trolleys are more prone to hose separations.
BY DAVID PETER ALAN,
• Performing correct repairs.
56 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
• Short hose straps or intentionally peaked end hoses.
• Choosing an end arrangement design that maintains a high level of function ality over the service life of the car and minimizes the opportunities for incor rect field application or repair.
• Incorrect end hoses with standard gladhands.
MxV RAIL R&D problems into the end arrangements. These non-optimal end arrangement configurations focused on representing pairs of vehicular flatcars that account for many of the AHS and AHF events. AAR S-427 and AAR S-4003-05, the two end arrangement styles most commonly found on vehicular flatcars, were selected forThetesting.defect conditions and the posi tioning of the test rigs were intended to cause restricted trolley movements, peaked end hose connections, and weak ened end hose connections. A total of 48 test scenarios were developed by intro ducing the following variables to as-built end arrangement conditions: • Blocked trolley in the full buff or draft position.
John Wozniak, P.E., has joined WAGO as Product Manager for Automation Digital Products. He will primarily focus on Human Machine Interface (HMI), Edge Devices and wireless Ethernet products while assisting with the development of the manufacturing company’s automation products. Prior to joining WAGO, Wozniak, as a registered Pro fessional Engineer, worked as a Control Systems and Industrial Communications Engineer, as well as an Engineering Manager. “I am eager to get back to working with cutting edge technology and help WAGO lead the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) revolution,” said Wozniak.
FRANK WHITE Kansas City Area Transportation Authority HIGH PROFILE: Frank White III has been named In terim President and CEO of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) until a permanent replacement can be found following the departure of Robbie Makinen, who resigned recently. KCATA is gov erned by a 10-person board in which Jackson County has one representative appointed by the county execu tive. The county’s current representative is David Bow er, who along with the rest of the board, voted unanimously for the interim appoint ment. Jackson County is also KCATA’s partner in the financing agreement that led to the purchase of a former Rock Island railroad corridor on which the county built a hiking/ biking trail. KCATA is responsible for any commercial development along the corridor and pays half the debt service. White, who was Vice President of RideKC Development Corp., the KCATA real estate development subsidiary, was initially hired as Senior Man ager of Marketing. He is the son of Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. and has been working at KCATA since 2016. Trimet last month announced two new internal promotions that will help keep the agency on “solid financial footing while expanding its equity and inclusion efforts.”
also has been responsible for TriMet’s debt management, performance reporting and analysis, fare revenue analysis and grants administration.Publicsafety executive Charles Cato, who has almost 33 years of law enforce ment and leadership experience, has been selected as Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s (DART) new Chief of Police, effective Sept. 6, 2022. He will direct and oversee the DART Police Department, including sworn officers, emergency preparedness, security services and related functions to carry out DART’s safety, security and emergency preparedness initiatives. As the DART Chief of Police, Cato will lead a team of more than 250 licensed peace offi cers, as well as 110 fare enforcement offi cers and 67 support staff. Cato joins DART from the City of Mesquite, where he served as the Chief of Police responsible for leading, planning and directing a staff of 331 employees, including 243 sworn and 88 non-sworn personnel. Prior to his role in Mesquite, he served as the first Assistant Chief of Police at the Dallas Police Depart ment. As second in command of the police department, he was responsible for plan ning, implementing and directing the dayto-day operations of 3,500 sworn and 500 non-sworn personnel.
TNW Corp., a privately held operator of short line railroads and logistics centers in Texas, promoted Bobby M. Franklin to Vice President of Transportation, effective immediately. His role includes “leading TNW’s strategic performance of the compa ny’s suite of railroad holdings, as well as leading corporate safety.” Franklin’s 18 years of rail industry experience includes Director of Railway Operations for TNW Corpora tion, General Manager at TNW Corpora tion-owned TXNW Railway, Vice President of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB), Chief Transportations Officer at the NOPB, and Superintendent and Termi nal Manager at CSX Transportation. Addi tionally, TNW appointed Joey Evans Director of Business Support and Develop ment. His responsibilities include “building corporate relationships that support cus tomers, communities and economic devel opment initiatives.” He will also provide internal support through customer data analysis and technology liaison. Prior to his appointment, Evans served as Director of Customer Success for TNW since 2017. His 19 years of rail industry experience includes various roles at Norfolk Southern, GE Trans portation and Genesee and Wyoming.
John Gardner has been selected to be the agency’s first Chief Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Officer, and Nancy Young-Oliver has been promoted to Executive Director of Finance and Admin istrative Services/CFO. Gardner, who has been with TriMet since 2015, previously served as Director of Transit Equity, Inclu sion and Community Affairs. He will “focus and advance agency policies and initiatives to support a transit system that is safe, acces sible and welcoming to all,” TriMet said. He will also oversee expanding management of TriMet’s civil rights, disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) and workforce equity pro grams. Nancy Young-Oliver, who had previ ously served as TriMet’s interim Executive Director of Finance and Administrative Ser vices/CFO from May through July, was pro moted in August to officially take over the position. She has been with TriMet for more than seven years, serving as the Director of Budgets and Grants. She has overseen Tri Met’s annual financial planning and budget development, including developing TriMet’s $1.9 billion fiscal year 2023 budget, which went into effect July 1, 2022. Under her lead ership, TriMet says its budget team rede signed the budget format to add communication about agency priorities, planning and achievements. Young-Oliver
J. Roy Nunn has joined the law firm of Burns White as Counsel in the firm’s Rail road Law practice group. He joins Burns White from CSX Transportation, where he served as Assistant General Counsel for nearly 20 years. He will be associated with the firm’s New York office. “Nunn is an accomplished legal counselor, advocate and change agent, providing thought leadership, subject matter expertise, and oversight for process-driven systems and case manage ment, to optimize litigation results and effi ciencies, and mitigate enterprise risk,” Burns White said. Prior to CSX, Nunn served as Resident Managing Partner for Anspach, Meeks & Nunn in Buffalo, N.Y.
September 2022 // Railway Age 57railwayage.com PEOPLE
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aside, considering the tenuous political landscape right now and the importance of the mid-term elections, government is likely to err on the side of the majority and do everything they can to prevent a strike (apologies to the unions). That’s a good thing being done for the wrong reasons. Politicians are like caged animals when one tries to take their cushy government jobs away.
Considering the list of grievances labor has willthatmanagement,againstitseemsunlikelytheunionsagreetotakelessthanwhatisrecommendedbythePEB.”
Bah humbug!
Even Santa Isn’t Immune from the Contagion A
While cancellations in 2020 and 2021 were defensible due to pandemic-related disruptions (after all, who wants to hobnob with a Santa that celebrates the holidays by giving gifts and transmitting COVID-19 to families (“Merry Christ mas to all, and to all Covid blight!”)), the cancelation in 2022 is related to “current supply chain and ongoing staffing chal lenges across our network.”
The five years is from 2020 to 2024, as the time frame for the review is retroactive to 2020, when the contract first expired. Calm in the eye of the hurricane. Considering the list of grievances labor has against railroad management, it seems unlikely that the unions will agree to take less than what is recommended by the PEB. At this juncture, what do they have to Therelose?may be plenty of downside for the railroads. Recent pronouncements by the DOT on airline flight-related delays suggest that the government has an inter est in taking the side of the passenger (it is mid-term election season after all), and it wouldn’t seem unreasonable to see a similar bend toward Specifically,shippers.DOT is creating a dash board to identify proper compensation for delays or cancellations within the airlines’ control. Imagine Transportation Secretary Buttigieg setting up a similar circumstance for companies that ship by rail. And the government thinks airline passengers are an ornery bunch! Before closing out that issue, and while practicing deep breathing to de-stress on labor and service issues, another item flew across the vista on the rail-related news wire. As occasionally noted in this space, public relations is not always the railroad industry’s best ally/strong suit.
In other words, CSX has effectively canceled Santa and is using the current issues it has with labor and hiring as the reason for the cancellation.
It could be the world’s largest complaint window.Kidding
DAVID NAHASS President Railroad Financial Corp.
Financial Edge 60 Railway Age // September 2022 railwayage.com
The DOT is showing that it is not buying the idea that hiring problems remain a relevant excuse for service-related airline passenger disruptions. Even floating the idea that airlines could be categorically required to provide monetary refunds to passengers for cancelations or delays potentially viewed as avoidable crosses a milestone.Perhapsthe STB might take a page out of the DOT playbook and create a similar dash board for rail service disruptions. Hits on that server might make the HBOMax server crash for the opening episode of House of Dragons look amateur by comparison.
n industry patiently waits to find out who will blink first in the complicated chess match between labor, railroad and government. The 30-day period for which there is a stay on strike or lockout while Presidential Emergency Board 250 has been working on its proposal is almost coming to a tension-filled close.
Recently, CSX announced that, for the third year in a row, it was canceling the 80-year-old Santa Train tradition and instead pivoting to local distribution of 5,000 gift backpacks full of toys and winter accessories this holiday season.
Maybe this is where the DOT idea really comes to bear. In addition to providing a forum for shippers to make damage claims for shipment delays and cost increases, the DOT website could provide a forum for consumer related complaints. It could cover inflation, higher residential energy prices and unavailability of items (toys, clothing, French champagne) that are not currently available in their traditionally overabundant numbers due to shipping delays. It could even stretch out to handling emotional stress resulting from Santa’s inability to deliver gift packs.
The PEB has issued a proposal that repre sents a 22% nominal wage increase during a five-year period, saying it aimed “to act as honest brokers and to recommend terms for an agreement that are fair and reasonable.”
One can only imagine what will be included in the gift bags being handed at locations along the traditional train route. Perhaps they will have an IOU for items missing due to congestion on the Eastern Seaboard threatening to cause another round of supply chain disruptions just in time for the holiday season.
Questions, comments, complaints? dnahass@railfin.com.
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