RT&S May 2015

May 2015 | www.rtands.com

NRCory ct Dire side In

NRC Large Project of the Year:

POLA Berth 200 Rail Yard

PLUS NRC Small Project of the Year: Crawfordsville Bridge Repair State of the NRC and also AREMA News p.34

Contents May 2015

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Features

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Industry Today 5 Supplier News 9 People

Crawfordsville Bridge The NRC’s Small Project of the Year recognizes a bridge repair effort that embraced a neighborly attitude toward construction.

Columns Herzog Contracting Corp.

Joseph B. Fay Company

News

RAILWAY TRACK AND STRUCTURES

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POLA Berth 200 Rail Yard Keeping communication lines open while dealing with unknown elements was one reason this venture was awarded the NRC Large Project of the Year.

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The State of the NRC The association credits active member participation with its continued success.

16 Departments 11 TTCI R&D 34 Arema News 39 Calendar 40 Products 41 Advertisers Index

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An “after” view of the Berth 200 Rail Yard at the Port of Los Angeles. Story on page 19.

On Track Will stronger tank cars help?

NRC Chairman’s Column Shortline conference and rail equipment auction; spring is here folks

NRC Directory: Photo courtesy of RailWorks Corp. of its work on the Green Line/Central Corridor Project in Minneapolis, Minn.

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41 Sales Representatives 42 Classified Advertising 43 Professional Directory FOLLOW US on Twitter LIKE US on Facebook

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Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 1

On Track

RAILWAY TRACK AND STRUCTURES

Vol. 111, No. 5 Print ISSN # 0033-9016, Digital ISSN # 2160-2514 EDITORIAL OFFICES 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910 Chicago, Ill. 60603 Telephone (312) 683-0130 Fax (312) 683-0131 Website www.rtands.com Mischa Wanek-Libman/Editor, mischa@sbpub.com Jennifer Nunez/Assistant Editor, jnunez@sbpub.com CORPORATE OFFICES 55 Broad St 26th Fl. New York, N.Y. 10004 Telephone (212) 620-7200 Fax (212) 633-1165 Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr./ President and Chairman Jonathan Chalon/Publisher Mary Conyers/Production Director Wendy Williams/Creative Director Maureen Cooney/Circulation Director Michelle Zolkos/Conference Director

RT&S Railway Track & Structures (Print ISSN 0033-9016, Digital ISSN 2160-2514), (USPS 860-560), (Canada Post Cust. #7204654), (Bluechip Int’l, Po Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Agreement # 41094515) is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, 55 Broad St 26th Fl., New York, N.Y. 10004. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices. Pricing, Qualified individual in the railroad employees may request a free subscription. Non-qualified subscriptions printed or digital version: 1 year Railroad Employees (US/ Canada/Mexico) $16.00; all others $46.00; foreign $80.00; foreign, air mail $180.00. 2 years Railroad Employees US/Canada/Mexico $30.00; all others $85.00; foreign $140.00; foreign, air mail $340.00.

BOTH Print & Digital Versions: 1 year Railroad Employees US/Canada/Mexico $24.00; all others $69.00; foreign $120.00; foreign, air mail $220.00. 2 years Railroad Employees US/Canada/Mexico $45.00; all others $128.00; foreign $209.00; foreign, air mail $409.00. Single Copies are $10.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid for in U.S. funds only. COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2015.

All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information contact: PARS International Corp., 102 W 38th St., 6th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018 Phone (212) 221-9595 Fax (212) 221-9195. For Subscriptions & address changes, Please call (800) 895-4389, (402) 346-4740, Fax (402) 346-3670, e-mail rtands@halldata.com or write to: Railway Track & Structures, Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Railway Track & Structures, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172.

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Will stronger tank cars help?

T

he U.S. Department of Transportation published the final rule concerning enhanced tank car standards on May 1. While there is a collective sigh of relief that the industry finally has the delayed rule, as well as the news that the Canadian and U.S. tank car standards will mirror one another, it has not escaped criticism from just about every stakeholder.

The rule makes the toughest of the tougher tank car standards, the DOT117, the benchmark for all cars built after October 1, 2015. The schedule to retrofit older DOT-111 cars and CPC1232 cars, so-called “good faith” cars, varies with the earliest deadline being January 2018 for non-jacketed DOT111 cars in crude oil service.

The biggest controversy surrounding the rule involves the requirement for an electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking system. High-hazard flammable unit trains (HHFUT), which the rule defines as a single train with 70 or more tank cars loaded with Class 3 flammable liquids with at least one tank car with Packing Group I materials, are required to have ECP brakes by January 2021 or operate at a maximum of 30 mph and all other HHFUTs have until 2023 to install ECP brakes.

The government calls ECP technology reliable. However, railroads, which will need ECP-equipped locomotives to move cars with ECP brake systems, as well as shippers, which own most of the tank cars in need of ECP brakes, disagree.

So, why does all this matter to folks on the engineering side of the industry?

Regarding the ECP issue, as Ed Hamberger of the Association of the American Railroads points out, “The decision whether or not to equip tank cars moving crude oil belongs to freight rail customers or tank car owners, not the freight railroads. If tank car owners decide not to equip tank cars intended for crude oil service, railroads must decide whether or not to move trains carrying 69 or fewer crude oil tank cars

or travel no faster than 30 mph. Either scenario will decrease rail capacity and have negative consequences on both freight and passenger traffic.”

This means even tighter engineering-related work windows and, in a way, it also works against a rule that went into effect in March 2014 that requires railroads to perform at least one additional internal-rail inspection each year above those required by Federal Railroad Administration regulations on mainline routes over which trains moving 20 or more carloads of crude oil travel.

Further, for railroads, which may have seen a light at the end of the positive train control-mandate tunnel, another mandate now threatens the reallocation of their private capital.

Both of this points turn the industry away from the crux of the crudeby-rail safety issue: What is the core cause of a derailment and how does the industry prevent it in the future?

Nearly every story you read on this issue references the Lac-Mégantic tragedy, but the probable cause of that accident is listed as insufficient hand brakes and while the new tank car standards help to mitigate puncture in the event of a derailment, a strong argument could be made that even the toughest of tank cars wouldn’t have held up during the Québec disaster.

Enhanced tank car design isn’t the only option to increaseing crude-byrail safety. The issue requires a comprehensive approach. While stronger tank cars are a step to reduce risk in the event of an accident, addressing and working to prevent human error, as well as finding broken rails, fractured wheels and other defects are steps needed to prevent accidents.

Mischa Wanek-Libman, Editor Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 3

INDUSTRY TODAY Worrell joins Railway Age staff C a r o l i n a Wo r r e l l h a s joined Railway Age as manag ing editor. Worrell’s journalism career star ted as an inter n at McGraw Hill before she worked her way up to become editor of the company’s largest regional magazine.

Worrell is a graduate of City University of New York-Hunter College and has worked for Aviation Week & Space Technology; New York Construction Magazine, ENR New England, ENR Northwest and ENR New York. She will report directly to Railway Age Editor-in-Chief Bill Vantuono. “ C a r o l i n a Wo r r e l l brings extensive experience in trade publication jour nalism to Railway Age and the SimmonsBoardman Rail Group.

Her background at ENR will prove invaluable as she immerses herself in coverage of the complex technical and operational subjects for which Railway Age is wellknown in the industry,” said Vantuono.

4 Railway Track & Structures

Phase 1 of Nueces River Rail Yard opens at Port Corpus Christi Port Corpus Christi opened Phase 1 of the Nueces River Rail Yard (NRRY) April 10.

As rail traffic increased dramatically over recent years at Port Corpus Christi, the Nueces River Rail Yard was conceived in a realization of the critical impact efficient rail service provides for port operations, existing customers and future customers. As part of a Port Corpus Christi Rail Master Plan, a new main interchange yard at the west end of the Inner Harbor was identified as a number one priority.

“The expansion of the port’s capabilities is an important logistical project and a critical component to the port’s strategic diversification efforts. The Nueces River Rail Yard will support the unprecedented regional growth and expand our capabilities in moving goods for new and already established industries around the Port,” said Judy Hawley, port commission chair.

The Nueces River Rail Yard project includes a 9,920-foot long unit train siding capable of storing a full 160-car unit train siding adjacent to the Fulton Corridor Lead track that serves Port Industries. The yard will initially consist of four parallel ladder tracks for a total yard capacity of 15,300 feet and 253 rail cars. The new yard is expected to greatly improve efficiency of existing cargo movement at Port Corpus Christi’s multimodal facilities.

“This new facility will make the port more competitive and more environmentally friendly. This is a great public private partnership that will make rail operations more efficient between the Union Pacific and the Port of Corpus Christi. This is a long-term investment in the Nueces area for current and future business growth,” said Union Pacific’s Director of Gulf Ports Tyson Moeller.

Phase 1’s $17.8-million construction cost was funded through a federal grant, as well as contributions by UP, BNSF, Genesse and Wyoming and Port Corpus Christi. With a scheduled completion by first quarter 2017, phase 2 will increase the NRRY capacity to eight, 8,000-foot-long unit train sidings.

May 2015

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New U.S.-Mexico rail bridge to open in second half of 2015 The first railroad bridge to be built in more than a century connecting the U.S. and Mexico is expected to be operational by the second half of 2015.

The West Rail International Bridge will connect Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The bridge was developed as a partnership between the governments of the U.S. and Mexico and was designed to alleviate urban congestion by re-routing rail traffic out of the most populated areas in both border cities and to expand regional transportation capacity.

The bridge is part of the Cameron County West Railroad Relocation Project, which involves the installation of approximately seven miles of relocated track and subgrade.

Completion of the bridge has been identified as a high bilateral priority under the U.S.-Mexico High Level Eco-

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nomic Dialogue, because of the importance of efficient border crossings to bilateral trade.

“With more than one billion dollars in goods and services crossing the U.S.-Mexico border every day, rail crossings like this one are critical to economic growth and opportunity on both sides of our border,” said the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Anthony Wayne.

Kansas City Southern de Mexico gerente de relaciones institucionales Vladimir Robles, said, “This is a historic moment for the railroad industry in both the U.S. and Mexico and a demonstration of the U.S. and Mexican governments working together.”

Construction of the project began in 2010, following 10 years of planning. The bridge’s center span was placed in September 2012 and final inspection of the bridge took place in early April.

Supplier News The Fort Worth Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors approved a contract with Archer Western/Herzog Joint venture for pre-construction services on the TEX Rail and authorized an agreement with Stadler Bussnang AG for the purchase of eight diesel multiple unit rail vehicles.

Toronto Transit Commission entered into an agreement with Bechtel Canada Co. for project management

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INDUSTRY TODAY Supplier News of the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension for up to $80 million.

All Aboard Florida selected GE Transportation to design and manufacture signaling equipment for the entire length of the 235-mile rail corridor connecting Miami and Orlando.

Koppers Inc. agreed to contract extensions with each of its two largest railroad customers, BNSF and CSX. Lockwood Andrews & Newman, Inc., earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the

6 Railway Track & Structures

STB approves L&I upgrades; NCDOT selects P&N operator The U.S. Surface Transportation Board approved a joint proposal by Anacostia Rail Holdings’ (ARH) subsidiary, Louisville & Indiana Railroad (L&I) and CSX to upgrade a key freight corridor between Indianapolis, Ind., and Louisville, Ky. “These upgrades will benefit L&I and CSX customers in the Midwest and across the companies’ networks by improving operational efficiency, allowing more direct transit across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky and reducing congestion in those states,” said Oscar Munoz, president and chief operating officer, CSX. CSX said its total investment of approximately $100 million will not only benefit L&I’s local customers, but will connect the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville to enhanced rail access and provide more efficient rail service for freight shipments through the region.

“This project enhances critical rail infrastructure that connects local customers to America’s freight transportation network,

May 2015

supporting local manufacturing, economic development, jobs and competitiveness,” said Peter Gilbertson, chairman and chief executive officer, ARH. In North Carolina, Piedmont Railway, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC, was selected by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) as the best candidate to operate the state-owned Piedmont & Northern (P&N) rail line between Gastonia and Mt. Holly.

NCDOT and Iowa Pacific Holdings/Piedmont Railway have now agreed in principle to a lease agreement for rail service on NCDOT’s P&N rail corridor in Gaston County.

Execution of the agreement is dependent on NCDOT board approval at its May 7 meeting. Under the terms of the agreement, Iowa Pacific’s Piedmont Railway subsidiary will operate, maintain and market freight service on the line. In addition, the railroad will have the opportunity to provide passenger rail services including excursion, tourist, dinner trains and holiday season trains.

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INDUSTRY TODAY KCS plans $18 million in work on Beaumont Subdivision Kansas City Southern (KCS) will invest approximately $19 million in 2015 on construction and improvement projects on its Beaumont Subdivision line, which runs from Beaumont, Texas, to DeQuincy, La. The railroad says these projects will help grow capacity, as well as maintain and enhance safety on the KCS crossborder network.

This work is the final phase of a multiyear improvement program on the Beaumont Subdivision. The work will begin on April 21 and continue through the end of May. It will include the replacement of 20 miles of rail and 40,000 crossties, as well as improvements to 10 crossings in the communities of Mauriceville, Texas, and Starks and DeQuincy, La. “KCS, through its U.S. and Mexican subsidiaries, continues to invest an industry-leading percentage of its annual revenues to capital projects that expand our network’s capacity, keep our maintenance in a regular and healthy cycle and grow

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Supplier News

our ability to handle the economic growth that is occurring along our network,” said Chief Executive Officer David Starling.

“Our system-wide 2015 investment continues this trend and helps us be a growth partner for our customers and the communities we serve.”

In Texas, KCS owns and operates 578 miles of railroad and operates over an additional 349 miles of railroad via trackage rights. In addition, KCS provides service to three intermodal facilities; one automotive facility; the Gulf ports of Beaumont, Corpus Christi and Port Arthur, as well as 42 transload facilities in the state.

In Louisiana, KCS owns and operates 915 miles of rail infrastructure. KCS also serves the Louisiana river ports of Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and Natchitoches and the Gulf port of New Orleans, as well as 17 transload facilities in the state.

In March, KCS announced plans to invest $18 million in construction and improvement projects on its Laredo Subdivision.

American Council of Engineering Companies 49th annual Engineering Excellence Awards for its role in the DART Orange Line project.

JFK AirTrain in New York recently increased the number of third rail heaters that are remotely controlled using RailComm technology; RAILCOMM was also selected to provide and install a car tracking and inventory management solution at Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks.

RailPlan International landed a technical services contract with the

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INDUSTRY TODAY Supplier News Southern California Regional Rail Authority.

Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Company, LLC, was selected as a major subcontractor for a joint venture between Balfour Beatty and Graham Contracting on construction of the Skyway Bridge for North Metro Rail in Denver, Colo.

Ricardo signed a Share and Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire the business, operating assets and employees of Lloyd’s Register Rail for £42.5 million (US$63.5 million).

8 Railway Track & Structures

RRIF loan to help Metro-North, LIRR install PTC The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has approved a Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan of $967.1 million to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which will finance the installment of positive train control on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad (Metro-North).

MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Prendergast said, “We are delighted to have been able to work with the Federal Railroad Administration to make this historic and extremely important award possible. The most important thing we do each day is strive to ensure the safety of our passengers, our employees and the public at large. This award will help us enhance that effort in a very significant way.”

Metro-North and LIRR are in the process of implementing the technology, which includes the installation of on-board components for 1,455 rail cars and transponders alongside 588 route miles of track.

May 2015

In November 2013, the MTA awarded a contract to a joint venture of Bombardier Transportation and Siemens Rail Automation to act as a systems integrator that will provide the design, furnish equipment and ensure that the system functions as intended. LIRR and Metro-North forces and some third party contracts will support installations of wayside, office, communications and on-board equipment.

Installation of positive train control on Metro-North territory in the state of Connecticut will be funded by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The loan is subject to MTA Board approval on April 29 and final closing in May. MTA will issue its Transportation Revenue Bond directly to the FRA and will repay the obligation over twenty two and a half years at a fixed interest rate of 2.38 percent.

“This loan is a dramatic investment in the MTA – one that will make trains safer for all riders on Metro-North and the LIRR,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

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PEOPLE

AECOM appointed Chief Executive Officer Michael Burke to the additional position of chairman of the board.

American Short Line Regional Railroad Association hired Amy Krouse as director, strategic communications and Sabrina Waiss as vice president, education and business services.

California High-Speed Rail Authority named Scott Jarvis chief engineer, Kevin Thompson director of engineering, Bruce Armistead director of operations and maintenance, Alan Glen director of real property and William Robinson senior legislative analyst.

CSX appointed Rodney Oglesby to resident vice president of state government affairs for Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City.

Element Financial Corp. appointed Harry Zander to senior vice president sales in its Rail Finance Division.

Bruno Maestri and Robert Martínez will assume additional responsibilities for Norfolk Southern, following the retirement of F. Blair Wimbush, the railroad’s vice president real estate and corporate sustainability officer; Maestri, vice president government relations and corporate communications, was named vice president government relations, corporate communications and corporate sustainability officer; Martínez, vice president business development, was named vice president business development and real estate.

Parsons Brinckerhoff named Christopher Papazoglou a senior supervising engineer in its New York City office.

R e ad i n g , B lu e M o u nta i n & N ort h e rn Railroad appointed Thomas Cook as vice president transportation and safety.

Red River Valley & Western Railroad named Nate Asplund to succeed Andy Thompson as president and chief executive officer.

The Regional Transportation District of Denver Board of Directors named David Genova interim general manager.

STV promoted John Tomann, CQA, to vice president.

OBITUARY J. Reilly McCarren, majority owner and chairman of the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad Co., passed away April 26, 2015. www.rtands.com

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NRC CHAIRMAN’S COLUMN Shortline conference & rail equipment auction; spring is here folks

The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association, Inc. 500 New Jersey Ave., N. W. Suite 400 Washington D. C. 20009 Tel: 202-715-2920 Fax: 202-318-0867 www.nrcma.org info@nrcma.org

10 Railway Track & Structures

Two recently-held industry events, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) conference in Orlando, Fla., and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) Rail Construction and Maintenance Equipment Auction in Little Rock, Ark., both set attendance records. The rail industry continues to grow.

This year’s shortline conference, as most of them have over the past few years, focused heavily on safety. Safety is the most important part of what we do on the railroad every day. Tremendous efforts continue to be made to get all employees properly trained, with more attention than ever being paid to the details and processes required to get them thinking clearly when it comes to being safe on the job.

Better and more clearly explained job briefings are also getting more employees to more clearly understand their tasks for the day and the protections they do and don’t have in place to perform their work safely. These briefings are designed to get all employees engaged; it’s working and the employees have a better understanding than ever of how important this process is to keeping them safe on our job sites.

Everyone wins when we perform our work safely.

The 2014 safety award winners at the ASLRRA Conference were as follows: President’s Awards • Most hours of injury-free operation went to: Fort Worth & Western Railroad • Maintaining the best safety rate for: • 500,000 or more man-hours worked: Union Railroad Company • 250,000 to 500,000 man-hours worked: Portland & Western Railroad • 150,000 to 250,000 man-hours worked: Fort Worth & Western Railroad • 50,000 to 150,000 man-hours worked: Ohio Central Railroad • Less than 50,000 man-hours worked: Florida Central Railroad • Safety Person of the Year: Billie Johnson, general manager of OmniTRAX Inc.’s Newburgh & South Shore Railroad LLC and Northern Ohio & Western Railway LLC • Safety Professional of the Year: Mike Lundell, vice president of compliance and safety for Genesee & Wyoming • Most Improved Safety Record: Buckingham Branch Railroad Co. Congratulations to these individuals and companies for the well-deserved recognition they received at the ASLRRA Conference in Orlando regarding safety – great job by all.

The NRC Equipment Auction, hosted by Blackmon Auction at their facility in Little Rock, Ark., on May 2015

April 17, has now been over long enough that many of the pieces bought by contractors are already part of equipment consists working on projects out in the field. This event was well attended and everyone had a good time, as usual. I would like to thank the auction committee for another terrific effort. Danny Brown of V&H Trucks is the committee chairman and is supported by Mark Gaffney with Stacy & Witbeck, Jay Gowan with Harsco Rail, Paul Laurello with Delta Railroad Construction, Dean Mackey with Progress Rail Services and Greg Spilker with Encore Rail Systems. These guys work hard and are very passionate about this event. They contribute their time as needed to make this auction a success and the NRC, along with our members, greatly appreciate what they do for this yearly event that we hold each spring. I would also like to thank the folks at Blackmon Auctions for their participation, they are a class act. Thomas Blackmon led the auctioneering again and is a true professional.

A big thank you is in order for Balfour Beatty Rail, Delta Railroad Construction, Encore Rail Systems and Nordco for the pieces each company donated to this year’s auction; thank you to all four of these companies, the NRC greatly appreciates your generosity year in and year out. A special thank you to Eddie and Barbara Stokes of Railway Equipment Services, which donated 10 percent of the proceeds of the single biggest piece sold at the auction, a 2008 Fairmont TKO Tie Inserter/Remover.

These donations and the proceeds from the regular consignments, support the NRC’s Safety Training Program and the Education funds, primarily the Safety DVD initiative, which is used by most track contractors as part of their overall yearly training programs.

The auction continues to grow: • 2010: 200 pieces sold for $560,000 • 2011: 150 pieces sold for $630,000 • 2012: 200 pieces sold for $500,000 • 2013: 350 pieces sold for $800,000 • 2014: 250 pieces sold for $1,000,000 • In 2015, 380 pieces sold for close to $1,200,000!

Finally, please save the date of Thursday, June 4, 2015, for Railroad Day on The Hill. We look forward to a huge turnout in Washington, D.C., for this event. We are counting on everyone in the industry to get our message across. For more information and to register, go to https://member.aslrra.org/aslrra/ RRDay2015. I hope to see many of you in Washington D,C, - safe travels. For further information on all NRC planned events, please visit the new and improved www.nrcma.org. Have a safe day.

by Bill Dorris, NRC Chairman www.rtands.com

TTCI R&D Implementation of improved insulated rail joints in revenue service

by Jay Baillargeon, senior engineer, David Davis, senior scientist and Chris Pinney, senior economist, TTCI

Through a combined research effort, TTCI is working closely with railroads and suppliers to improve insulated joint performance in mainline track applications.

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T

ranspor tation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), under the Strategic Research Initiatives Program, continues to actively monitor the long-term performance of premium and next generation insulated

Figure 1: Metal flow developing over the end post.

joints (IJ) in order to (1) define common failure modes among these products through testing under heavy-axleloads (HAL) at the western mega site and (2) provide in-track service life for life expectancy estimations from observations made at multiple revenue service locations. Weibull survival analyses have been used to provide estimates for the various premium and next generation designs currently available, though additional data is required to improve the accuracy of these estimates.

Overall, continued improvements to individual components, as well as new designs are pushing the service life of IJs beyond 500 million gross tons, moving the dominant failure mode from individual component failure to metal flow and rail-end chipping for conventional butt-joint designs. Taper cut IJs, one of the more advanced designs currently available, on the other hand, are experiencing rolling contact fatigue (RCF) issues through the transition zone. Using the information gathered from the field, preliminary life expectancies for six design categories have given railroads and suppliers insight into the effectiveness of these designs to endure the har sh operating and environmental conditions associated with the revenue service environment.

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TTCI R&D Figure 2, top: 12-hole bar of the taper cut IJ. Table 1, middle: Breakdown of the selected IJ sample.

Table 2: Results of the Weibull/ Weibayes Analyses.

*Insufficient number of failures to conduct Weibull analysis; Weibayes analysis utilized instead.

*Logistic distribution

** Weibayes lower-bound estimate.

Premium IJ designs

The premium IJs currently available feature improvements in the strength of individual components by means of either larger components (e.g., longer bars) or components manufactured from new, more durable materials (e.g., ceramic end posts), thus increasing the load capacity of the IJs, as well as their resistance to fatigue and weathering.

Premium IJ designs installed (primarily supported) on standard concrete ties in the western mega site (up to 240 mgt/ year with speeds between 40 and 50 mph) include the following: • IJs with ceramic end posts (i.e., end posts featuring ceramic disks embedded in the electr ically insulating material).

• IJs with high modulus bars, which 12 Railway Track & Structures

May 2015

allow the vertical stiffness of the IJ to be more comparable to that of the adjacent rail.

• IJs with improved epoxy.

• Center-supported IJs, which feature a high-strength insulating material that increases the stiffness of the joint through mechanical wedging action between the bars and the rail.

• IJs with 48-inch, eight-hole bars.

To date, one IJ, featuring a 48-inch, eight-hole bar with Kevlar® insulation and fiberglass end post, was removed after 391 mgt due to epoxy failure and severe rail-end batter. Due to identical reasons, a 48-inch, eight-hole bar with a ceramic end post was removed after 443 mgt. The IJs remaining in service have accumulated more than 810 mgt and have performed acceptably.

If not properly addressed by joint slotting, metal flow can develop over the end post, as Figure 1 shows.

Aside from the obvious fact that this may lead to the electrical failure of the IJ, deflections under wheel loads will cause this metal flow to chip out or batter. As other componentand foundation-related issues have been resolved, metal flow issues are becoming the primary failure modes associated with the premium IJs in revenue service.

As the improvements associated with the premium IJ designs focus on strength of individual components and do not significantly alter the design of the IJ, the running surface still features a discontinuity that causes wheel impacts by passing traffic. These impacts can increase significantly when rail batter is present. In a previous study, TTCI has identified high-frequency wheel impacts as a significant root cause of IJ failures, resulting in increased stress on the IJ components.1 This is the likely reason for the failure of the two IJs that experienced epoxy failure and rail-end batter.

Next generation IJ designs

Advanced or next generation prototype IJ designs are also being monitored along with the premium IJs in the western mega site. These designs effectively improve upon the conventional IJ design by involving features that help reduce dynamic loads. The two designs currently being tested include: • Taper cut IJs, which provide for a smooth wheel transition between the two adjoining rails through the use of a long-angled cut, effectively reducing impacts resulting from running surface discontinuities.

• Keyed IJs that feature keys (partially embedded in the rail and joint bars) placed at the bolt locations and www.rtands.com

TTCI R&D

Figure 2, left: Spalling on the gauge side of the taper cut IJ. Figure 3: TTCI’s keyed IJ concept, featuring four Keys.

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allow longitudinal loads to be transferred through the keys rather than through the weaker epoxy bond.

A comparative study conducted to evaluate stresses in taper cut IJs and center-supported IJs with 48-inch, eighthole bars revealed a notable decrease in bending stresses for the supported situation and even larger decrease for taper cut IJs. 2 The larger 12-hole bars (Figure 2), combined with the angled transition zone, are effective in reducing bending stresses in this IJ design. To date,

Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 13

TTCI R&D Figure 4: Survival plot for the results of the Weibull Analysis.

however, three taper cut IJs have been removed from revenue service because of different failure modes, namely a fracture emanating from the bolt hole, a transverse rail defect and severe spalling on the gage corner (Figure 3). These failures occurred between 515 and 654 mgt.

The taper cut IJs remaining in service, with accumulated tonnages between 278 and 810 mgt, are performing acceptably. Although, RCF has been a common issue among most of the taper cut IJs being tested in revenue service. RCF is related to the wheel-rail interaction during the short transition between rails.

Keyed IJs, developed by TTCI, have adapted well to revenue service applications and continue to perform well under HAL traffic. Each key is capable of resisting 800-kip loads without failure and previous studies have shown that keys are not necessary at each bolt hole for the IJ to benefit from the improved strength this design provides compared to current designs relying on epoxy for load transfer (see Figure 4).2 Given this, the keyed IJs are very effective in resisting adverse longitudinal forces that would typically fatigue conventional epoxy IJs. There are six keyed IJs in service within the western mega site. To date, one was removed after 57 mgt for unknown reasons. The remaining keyed IJs have accumulated more than 300 mgt, with no potential failure modes present. Four additional keyed IJs have been installed on a major heavy-haul coal route within the eastern mega site, as well, where they are performing similarly well after more than 200 mgt to date. These IJs were installed in suspension over hardwood crossties.

This mainline track within the eastern mega site receives approximately 40–50 mgt/year of predominantly 286-kip gross rail loads operating at speeds between 20 and 30 mph.

Life expectancy estimates

In order to better compare the service lives of the various designs currently in use within revenue service, TTCI, with support from suppliers and host railroads, is actively monitoring premium and next generation designs in multiple sites around the United States for long-term performance. A sample of 100 premium and next generation IJs from revenue service, broken down between six different products, were

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selected to conduct an updated Weibull survival analysis. This analysis provides life expectancy estimates for the different products listed in Table 1.

In addition to the IJs currently being monitored in the western and eastern mega sites, identical designs being tested on a Class 1 railroad in the southwestern United States (80–100 mgt/year) were also included in this analysis. IJs that remain in service and those removed for reasons other than a failure (e.g., weld removal) are included in the analysis as censored data. Where applicable, the Weibull and logistic distribution were used to determine the survivability of the IJ designs and, in turn, provide a 95 percent confidence interval (CI) for the median tonnage to failure. In this case, there were insufficient samples for a proper Weibull analysis; therefore, a Weibayes analysis was used assuming a normal service life. Table 2 provides the results. Note that as more data is collected (both tonnage and failures), the median tonnage-to-failure estimates generally increase.

Figure 5 presents the survival plot, representing three designs that could be analyzed using the Weibull survival analysis. The plot shows the number of failures in service was sufficient enough for the center-supported IJs to provide a narrow CI, providing a more reasonable estimate of the service life for this design. Other IJ designs still require more failure to be recorded for a more accurate estimate of service life in revenue service. In the case of the taper cut IJs, a number of failures have already been observed, though the initial quality of this design has significantly improved with recent products, resulting in a much larger CI.

Future work

TTCI will continue to monitor the test IJs that are still in revenue service and will provide a more refined life expectancy estimate as more failures are recorded. With these improved estimates, a cost-benefit analysis will be competed based on the various designs of IJ currently available in the industry.

Acknowledgements

The authors especially thank Christopher Rewczuk (UP), Steve Lakata (NS) and Erik Frohberg and Marcos Lechuga (BNSF) for their contributions to this study and Koppers, L.B. Foster and voestalpine Nortrak for their continued support.

References 1. Akhtar, M. and Davis, D. May 2006. “Development of an Improved Performance Bonded Insulated Joint for HAL Service.”

Technology Digest TD-06-012, Association of American Railroads, Transportation Technology Center, Inc., Pueblo, Colo.

2. Akhtar, M. and Davis, D. March 2010. “Prototype Next Generation Insulated Joints.” Technology Digest TD-10-009, Association of American Railroads, Transportation Technology Center, Inc., Pueblo, Colo.

www.rtands.com

The Crawfordsville Bridge after six months of repair work.

NRC Small Project of the Year:

Crawfordsville bridge repair

by Jennifer Nunez, assistant editor

Joseph B. Fay Company utilized innovated thinking and “good neighbor” relations to repair the bridge during extreme weather conditions.

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tarting a construction project in the dead of winter created a number of obstacles for Joseph B. Fay Company, an i+iconUSA Company, when it launched the Crawfordsville Bridge Repair project in January 2014.

Mother Nature is a strict mistress and she put up a couple of good fights, but with innovative thinking and close collaboration with the railroad and the community, Fay won with flying colors and earned itself the title of 2014 NRC Small Railroad Construction Project of the Year.

CSX hired Joseph B. Fay Company to repair the bridge, which is in the Monon sub located in Crawfordsville, Ind. The line runs from Chicago, Ill., to Indianapolis, Ind., and is an Amtrak route. The bridge is a single track, open deck, four-span deck plate girder, built in 1915 that is 270 feet in length. The bridge crosses Sugar Creek, just north of Crawfordsville, Ind., and has an under clearance of 60 feet.

The scope of work included the installation of two, concrete-filled, sheet pile coffer cells at the base of the in-stream piers to protect from scour. The stone piers were encased in concrete up to and including the bearing seats.

The existing steel bent on Pier 2 was replaced with a new structural steel bent. Additionally, the work included the strengthening of the northern stone abutment wing walls 16 Railway Track & Structures

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with the installation of steel sheet piles tied through the abutment with drilled rods and grouted in place; existing bearings were removed and replaced. All work was completed by early July 2014, all while under live traffic with minimal, pre-planned track outages.

Right from the start, the project got behind due to the harsh winter of 2014, but once the weather started to break, the company made great strides.

“CSX Transportation and myself were very pleased with the final results; a huge improvement to what was in place before,” commended Rick Peery, ADE Structures, Chicago/Great Lakes, CSX. “Joseph B. Fay Company did an outstanding job on safety, quality, communication and overall performance; I definitely hope to see Fay on our future projects.”

Location and accessibility

“Perhaps the most challenging and unique aspects of this project were location and accessibility of the project, not the actual construction activity,” noted Brendan Lynam, PE, PMP, senior project manager. “The project is located just north of Crawfordsville, where there is no public access to either side of the bridge structure. Prior to the project start, www.rtands.com

nrc small project of the year Fay worked closely with CSX to negotiate access through the adjacent private lands to establish and maintain ‘good neighbor’ relations, ensuring success. In addition to project access, this gave CSX permanent access easement to this remote location.”

Joseph B. Fay Company utilized a combination of a short, temporary causeway and sectional barges to gain access to the in-stream piers and north abutment to perform the work.

Lynam says working from the water was challenging due to severe winter conditions, which caused significant icing and rendered Sugar Creek frozen, as well as the natural hydraulics of the stream. When spring came, the ice melted and rains caused flash flooding that, in some instances, saw the stream rise more than four feet in a couple of hours. From one extreme to the other, the challenges just kept coming.

“Fortunately, by utilizing the online river forecasting service, we were able to secure barges and equipment in advance, preventing any loss or damages due to the flash floods,” Lynam explained. “Despite the delays due to river and weather challenges, Fay was able to complete the project for the original contract amount.”

In order to stabilize the heavily-weathered stone abutment wing walls, CSX’s engineer proposed a unique solution utilizing a sheet pile fascia on either side of the railroad embankment tied through the embankment with drilled-in tie rods. The space between the stone wall and the

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new sheet pile fascia was filled with grout.

“Control of the tie-rod installation was critical to maintain the same elevations on either side of the embankment and allow a continuous whaler to hold the sheets in place,” said Lynam. “This was accomplished utilizing directional boring equipment. A custom platform built out of crane mats was required to allow a level and sound base from which to drill.”

Lynam says the replacement of the existing Pier 2 steel bent required the use of a modular jacking support frame developed by ECON systems. Two frames were installed on either side of the existing bent and were jacked up with hydraulic load cells to take the full load of the plate girders.

Once the old bent was replaced with the new one, the load was transferred back to the new bent; the bent was subsequently encased in concrete.

Fay sequenced the work activities to focus on Pier 2 first, as the project’s critical path ran through all of the Pier 2 work from the coffer cell through the bent replacement, pier encasement and replacement of the bearings.

“Since access to the north abutment was via the causeway and floating barges, it had to be completed prior to backing out of the stream,” explained Lynam. “The remaining Pier 3 work was the last sequence of work completed, prior to complete removal of the causeway and restoration of the stream embankment.”

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nrc small project of the year

Left, the sheet pile wall during construction. The deteriorated bridge before the project started.

Safety

Safety is first and foremost above anything in the construction and railroading industries and Fay put in 9,800 man hours without any lost time or recordable incident. Lynam says this record of success was attributed to daily safety briefings, training all employees in job-specific hazards, such as working from barges, having a job-specific safety plan and believing that “The Fay way is the safe way.”

Communication and cost

The company partnered with CSX before the project even began. Weekly meetings were held to assure that all of CSX’s project goals, including cost control and efficient delivery, were met.

Lynam says costs were tracked by a project engineer on a daily basis using Viewpoint software.

By utilizing its own fleet of barges and other Fay-owned equipment, the company was able to control the project costs associated with time lost due to the weather and river impacts. Additionally, by integrating the work crews with a combination of locally-hired craft and out-of-town company employees, who were there for the entire project, Fay was able to control costs of out-of-town expenses and nonproductive time due to the weather and river conditions. Other cost-control measures included just-in-time delivery of both the sheet pile and the new Pier 2 bent. This avoided site storage and staging, as well as double handling of the materials.

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Herzog Contracting Corp. dealt with a magnitude of challenges to deliver an on time and on budget project with zero reportable injuries.

by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor

NRC Large Project of the Year:

POLA Berth 200 Rail Yard

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here are common elements of success every large project shares including the use of innovation, remaining focused on the end goal and staying flexible enough to deal with unforeseen challenges. While those aspects were important to Herzog Contracting Corp. (Herzog), the key element to project success was communication. This played an important part in Herzog being awarded the 2014 National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) Rail Construction Project of the Year Award in the Large Project category for its work on the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) Berth 200 Rail Yard.

“Good, honest and transparent communication was key. There were so many agencies and people involved on this project: the city of Los Angeles, the www.rtands.com

Port of L.A., L.A. County Flood, Pacific Harbor Line (PHL), Valero, Exxon Mobil, Tidelands Oil, Vopak, LADWP local surrounding businesses, subcontractors and our own people. The utilities were so complicated on this project that it could have been really disastrous if there was any lack of communication or cooperation,” said Project Manager Deron Haptonstall. “As an agency, the Port of L.A. set a great example of establishing and maintaining excellent third party relationships, which helped mitigate numerous unforeseen conflicts and facilitate solutions. Lack of communication can lead to unsafe conditions, incorrect installations, schedule delays and shutdowns, costing the owner and contractor valuable time and money. The lesson we all learned was that good, strong partnering efforts

from all parties involved leads to successful projects that are delivered safely on budget and on time.”

The project in question required Herzog Contracting to relocate the Pier A Rail Yard at POLA to the Berth 200 site in order to accommodate an expansion of the TraPac terminal at POLA’s Berth 142-146. The scope of work included demolition of existing yard tracks, site preparation and construction of a switching and classification yard for use by Union Pacific, BNSF and Pacific Harbor Line (PHL).

The company installed 60,000 track feet of wood tie track, 6,500 track feet of concrete tie track adjacent to active PHL property, 1,500 track feet of embedded track, 250 track feet of shop track, 400 prestressed concrete pilings, 60 turnouts, construction of a locoRailway Track & Structures

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motive maintenance shop and PHL administration building, as well as the installation of a photovoltaic system, storm drain and sanitary sewer system and relocation of various utility lines.

To say the project challenges kept Herzog on its toes is an understatement as the team regularly encountered subsurface interferences, including unknown structures, unidentified utilities, contaminated soil and groundwater, underground tanks, foundations and other conflicts.

One example was the estimated 90,000 cubic yards of import fill material required for the job. In the application for the NRC award, Herzog wrote, “POLA provided dredge material for this fill, which upon delivery and inspection proved to be unsuitable, unstable and filled with debris. Instead of removing the provided dredge material from the site and replacing it all with new fill, we developed a way to use the unsuitable fill by mixing the dredge material with cement. We created a quality material that provided the needed subgrade stabilization, while providing a stronger barrier against the elements and characteristics of an operating rail yard. Working with POLA, we were able to test, process and use this innovation site wide, which led to considerable time, cost savings and a highquality end product.”

Haptonstall also points to the more than 20 million gallons of contaminated subsurface groundwater Herzog had to pump, store, treat and dispose of in accordance with federal, state and local environmental regulations. Haptonstall says detailed logs were required of quantities pumped and treated by both treatment systems, which was monitored daily and weekly. Groundwater was tested 20 Railway Track & Structures

May 2015

A “before” aerial view of the Berth 200 site.

prior to, during and after treatment before being introduced into agencyapproved storm drainage inlets.

In addition to the fill material and contaminated groundwater, grading and utility crews discovered or encountered approximately 25 unidentified/unknown utilities. All local utility agencies were contacted to identify each unknown utility, but those that could not be identified required certified personnel to drill and tap these unknown lines using a pre-approved method.

“The results of this procedure would be used to determine if the line could be removed, if it had to stay in place and how to continue construction activities in the area. The majority of these lines were old, abandoned oil and gas lines. These old pipelines are usually corroded and delicate, often still filled with fluids and sometimes already leaking, contaminating the soil around them,” said Haptonstall. “In addition to disposing of the old utility, we would also have to take proactive measures to clean up the affected soil around these utilities. We would mobilize specialized crews to remove the utility and affected soil while also ‘working around’ this area to maintain schedule. Sometimes this involved moving to a different location to maintain efficiency and overall project schedule. The management team on this project became very adept at finding solutions that allowed the safe, efficient progress.”

The project’s safety record could have been derailed by one of many factors – activity taking place close to active train lines, utility lines conwww.rtands.com

NRC Large Project of the year

taining known and unknown liquids and gases, magnitude of unknowns that revealed themselves daily – but of the more than 300,000 man hours worked on the project, there were zero lost time or recordable injuries.

“As managers/leaders, we believe that safety starts with us, at the highest levels of our organization. We also believe that for a project to be successful, safety must be the highest priority and that it takes every person on the project working towards the goal of zero injuries and incidents. One of the precepts we follow and continually remind ourselves of is that ‘we will not walk by an unsafe act or condition.’ Another is that every single employee is empowered, encouraged and required to stop any activity that appears unsafe. We conducted daily, weekly and monthly safety audits of all construction activities. Every member of our team was on the Safety Committee and encouraged to pro-

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vide input on how we could improve.

Each of these members attended daily, weekly and monthly meetings that were focused on safe work practices. These meetings focused on the changing work activities as the project developed through each phase. Each work activity was performed within

the strict guidelines of a Construction Work Plan that each crewmember reviewed and signed. These plans were living documents, referred to and revised continually throughout the construction process. We fostered a culture of safety through education, awareness and compliance with those

“The lesson we all learned was that good, strong partnering efforts from all parties involved leads to successful projects that are delivered safely on budget and on time.”

–Deron Haptonstall, Herzog Contracting Corp.

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standards that are proven effective to the health and welfare of every worker in the industry,” said Haptonstall.

The multitude of challenges also had the potential to negatively affect cost. However, the company says utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, as well as project management and controls software that allowed the team to monitor real-time project costs and components allowed for informed decisions to be made quickly.

“One instance that comes to mind was one of the buildings on the project. Due to changes in existing soil conditions, the original foundation design could not be utilized.

Naturally, we could not proceed with the original design without first coming up with a viable solution. Issues like these can immediately stop work and cost both the owner and the contractor money. The Building Task Force Committee was established and charged with efficiently resolving conflicts such as the foundation design problem. This Task Force, comprised of representatives from POLA, Herzog, designers and subcontractors, was proactive in engaging each other to provide valuable solutions that kept the project on track. We held meetings to brainstorm and went through all of our options, taking into consideration timelines, material procurement, equipment, time impacts and how we were going to move forward, remain on schedule and keep it cost effective. In the example of the foundation issue, no major design changes were needed; the piling on the foundation were reduced in length, reducing the project schedule and decreasing cost. Both of the buildings on that project had issues, but with a good, interactive approach, we were able to come up with cost-saving solutions and still deliver the project on time,” said Haptonstall.

Despite the intense pace of finding solutions for what seemed like an endless stream of issues, Haptonstall says he welcomed the challenge of and working with different personalities and agendas.

“While working on this project, we were working adjacent to PHL lines. Their agenda is to move freight, our goal was to get the job build, the port’s was to build the project and Exxon’s was to move product. It’s about time, safety and money, taking all the goals of the whole group and coming up with a solution that works for everyone. The challenge of making something work, taking into consideration something that is a problem and coming up with better solutions. It’s all about learning how to work with people, their wants, needs and goals; communicating ideas and working through them,” said Haptonstall. “At the end of the day, it’s about people and the relationships that you make. As with most relationships, it takes hard work and good communication. So the challenges, relationships and lasting friendships that you make with each project, that is a pretty cool part of my job.”

The community where the project was built will also benefit from the efforts of all stakeholders as Herzog wrote in its NRC award application, “We made a positive impact on the local economy, by building a rail yard with all the modern technology that will now facilitates more efficient, cleaner and safer operations within POLA and adjoining communities. The project will continue to contribute to the local community through sustained employment, increased commerce through the port and more environmental-friendly systems at the new Berth 200 Rail Yard.”

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state of the nrc:

Robust growth; successful legislative and safety efforts The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association continues to thrive through active member participation.

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ailway Track & Structures (RT&S) asked NRC Chairman Bill Dorris of RailWorks Track Services, NRC President Chuck Baker, NRC Vice President of Grassroots Advocacy and Events Ashley Bosch, NRC Vice President of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Matt Ginsberg and NRC Director of Operations Matt Bell about the past year and what they believe is in the future for the NRC. RT&S: Bill, you are in your second year as NRC Chairman. Are you making progress towards the goals you have established for your tenure?

Bill Dorris: With the strong support I’ve received from the NRC Board of Directors, I feel that my goals, along with those of the association in general, are being met.

Our legislative efforts and safety initiatives have and continue to serve our association well, our membership continues to grow and our efforts in Washington, D.C., are very focused on decisions and rulings that could affect the NRC and the rail industry as a whole in the coming years.

The NRC will continue to be a strong advocate of the rail industry in Washington, D.C., in 2015. There continues to be a lot of activity on the legislative front with some key decisions yet to be made during 2015. With the ongoing support I receive from the board, I will continue to push for positive results that help and support our membership in the coming year and beyond.

RT&S: You mention expanding the membership. What benefits does the NRC offer to its current members and potential new ones?

Dorris: The NRC Membership Committee continues to work hard and get positive results. The committee is chaired

by Stephanie Freeman of Coleman Industrial Construction.

Stephanie, along with her support team, has continued to grow our membership, they are doing a great job with their efforts the past year. The NRC’s sole purpose is to support rail contractors and suppliers within the rail industry. The main goal is to expand our membership’s business opportunities www.rtands.com

and protect them from unfair laws and regulations while promoting safe practices in the rail industry. The NRC is the only organization dedicated to this purpose and we will continue to stay on top of all legislative issues that could adversely affect our membership or the rail industry in general.

Matt Bell: We have a long list of specific benefits we provide to our members, which are detailed on our new and improved website at www.nrcma.org. Membership includes discounted registration at the annual NRC conference and exhibition and a full company listing in both the printed and online versions of the NRC Membership Directory, which is distributed to Class 1, shortline and regional railroads, as well as executives at rail transit and commuter rail agencies throughout the country. Membership also includes access to safety materials, the Contractor Safety Award contest, the Annual Rail Construction and Maintenance Equipment Auction and inclusion in the NRC grassroots program and on the NRC’s bulletin distribution list, which is full of useful information for rail contractors and suppliers.

At the moment, about 400 rail construction, supply and professional service companies are members of the NRC, which as Bill said, has more than doubled over the past seven years. We attribute most of that growth to word of mouth, the NRC Membership Committee and our board members who have been the NRC’s best evangelists. We have an impressive group on the board and they have the credibility with their colleagues to convince them to join the NRC and support our industry.

Chuck Baker: I’d like to specifically thank each of our board members. Other than Bill, they are Chris Daloisio of Railroad Constructors (NRC Vice Chairman), Mike Choat of Railroad Controls Limited, a Wabtec Company (NRC Secretary/Treasurer), Danny Brown of V&H Trucks, Joe Daloisio of Railroad Construction Co., Stephanie Freeman of Coleman Industrial Construction, Clayton Gilliland of Stacy & Witbeck, Scott Goehri of HDR Engineering, Jim Hansen of RailWorks Corp., Nathan Henderson of R.J. Corman Railroad Group, Norm Jester of Herzog Transit Services, Larry Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 23

State of the NRC Laurello of Delta Railroad Construction, Greg Lippard of L. B. Foster, Dave Minor of A&K Railroad Materials, Scott Norman of Herzog Contracting Corp, Marc Hackett of Loram Maintenance of Way, Jody Sims of Stacy and Witbeck, Mark Snailham of Balfour Beatty Rail and Daniel Stout of STX Railroad Construction Services. These ladies and gentlemen do an extraordinary amount of work to support the NRC and the rail construction industry.

Dorris: The NRC will continue using a variety of methods to stay in touch with our membership to get our messages out. Our website, www.nrcma.org, has recently been updated to better serve our membership and we will continue to communicate via email bulletins, as well. The NRC continues association and industry conversations online through tweeting. For those of you that utilize a Twitter account, I recommend following @theNRC on Twitter to keep up with the association and the day-to-day rail industry happenings.

Social media has become a big piece of how our messages are getting out to our membership these days.

RT&S: What is the NRC doing to promote safety?

Matt Ginsberg: We have a very active Safety Committee, which includes some highly-experienced safety professionals within our industry. Our most recent Safety Committee chairs have included Tammy Mathews of RailWorks, Ernesto Scarpitti of Delta Railroad Construction and Christian Jostlein, formerly of Holland Co. They have all been excellent representatives of the NRC Safety Committee.

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The Safety Committee oversees the Safety Training DVD program, the NRC’s participation in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) process, the Contractor Safety Award contest, the NRC’s Roadway Worker Protection training materials, the Pocket Safety Manual, our Tool Box Talks and all of the NRC’s other safety programs.

The continuing series of safety training DVDs is led by Safety Committee member and former Board Director John Zuspan of Track Guy Consultants. The two most recent DVDs in this series, #17 Safety Around Railroad Grade Crossings – Preparation and #18 Safety Around Railroad Grade Crossings - Construction, were unveiled at the conference in January 2015. The entire series has received excellent reviews and is available at no cost to NRC members. The previous sixteen DVDs, which are still available, are: Safety with Railroad Hand Tools, Safety with Railroad Power Tools, Safety on Freight and Industrial Track, Safety Around Railway Maintenance Equipment (Parts 1 and 2), Safety Around Transit Track, Safety while Unloading and Handling Material, Safety with Hot Work, Safety Around Thermal Adjusting of CWR, Safety Around Field Welds, Safety on a Rail Gang, Safety on a Tie Gang, Safety Around Flash Butt Welding, Fall Protection in the Rail Industry, Safety Around Building Turnouts and Safety Around Handling CWR. Safety Committee members, along with NRC staff, represent the NRC’s interests on the FRA’s RSAC. RSAC membership and participation enables the NRC to provide input

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State of the NRC to the FRA as they create regulations dealing with such key issues as minimum training standards for railroads and contractors performing maintenance-of-way work, drug and alcohol testing policies, medical standards for safety-critical workers, bridge safety, roadway worker protection regulation updates, roadway maintenance machine operating rules, rail integrity testing, rail safety technology in dark territory, Positive Train Control implementation, hours of service and track safety standards.

Bell: Safety Committee member and past Board Director David Armstrong of Commercial Insurance Associates takes the lead for the NRC on organizing the very competitive “NRC Safe Contractor of the Year� award contest. RT&S also sponsors this contest and helps to publicize the winners, which is much appreciated. Safety must, and does, come first for rail construction and maintenance contractors and this award is a valued acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication of the leadership and safety managers of our member companies.

There were a record number of entries in the 2014 contest and the winners were announced at the conference in January and are again published in this magazine.

The NRC also offers its members a Roadway Worker Protection (RWP) training program, which has been developed by railroad safety professionals with feedback from FRA staff.

The RWP training program, which is complimentary to NRC members and is available on the NRC website, includes a training presentation, complete with descriptions of the 49

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CFR Part 214 RWP regulations, a training examination, an answer key and training completion cards.

Additional safety resources offered by the NRC to our members include the newly updated tool box safety talk series and a pocket safety manual for workers to reference in the field.

RT&S: Your annual conference took place in early January in Hollywood, Fla., and set another NRC Conference attendance record. To what do you attribute the success of your conference?

Dorris: I believe that membership growth, the quality resorts we hold our conferences at and the favorable weather in January are all driving forces behind our continued success. And of course, the guest speakers we bring to our conferences, all rail industry leaders representing the Class 1s, shortlines and transit agencies, are the key draw. Our industry continues to hear firsthand the railroads and transit agencies discuss in detail their capital spending programs for the coming year to reinvest in and grow their rail systems. These spending programs afford our member companies more opportunities each and every year. As the railroads grow and expand, so will the opportunities for our membership. Our conferences are very informative - if you are a rail industry professional, you should plan on attending our annual conference in January.

Ashley Bosch: Also, several other industry associations and companies hold meetings in conjunction with our conference, such as the American Short Line and Regional Rail-

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State of the NRC road Association’s Legislative Policy Committee, Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association’s (REMSA) Board of Directors, AREMA Committee 10 - Structures, Maintenance & Construction, the Railway Tie Association’s Executive Committee, Plasser American Corp., RailWorks, Nordco, L.B. Foster and the Railroad Maintenance and Industrial Health and Welfare Fund.

And multiple seminars were offered at the conference, including an estimating seminar by Track Guy Consultants on “Estimating Track Projects & Putting Together Bid Packages;” a risk management seminar by the Hartford Financial Services Group on “Fleet Safety Management: An operational imperative for the railroad contractor;” a finance seminar by Strategic Rail Finance on “Financial Mastery for Business Growth” and an RWP Train-the-Trainer Seminar by Roadway Worker Training, LLC. Baker: These meetings and seminars bring a new group of executives to the NRC Conference, adding to the appeal for NRC members. It also allows many attendees to attend the conference and deal with other important business issues in a single trip, making the most effective use of people’s limited time. This has worked well, and we invite other rail associations, committees, railroads, transit agencies and state Departments of Transportation reading this interview to consider coordinating their meetings and seminars with the NRC Conference.

Bell: The NRC Special Awards have become a highlight at the conference, as well. These awards give NRC members an opportunity to recognize their colleagues for exemplary work in the industry. The 2014 Large Railroad Construction Project of the Year was presented to Port of Los Angeles Berth 200 Rail Yard by Herzog Contracting Corp.

Herzog managed the project, with unexpected subsurface interferences, while keeping the project on time, within budget and without safety incidents. The 2014 Small Railroad Construction Project of the Year went to Joseph B. Fay Company for the Crawfordsville Bridge Repair. The project location required access via a temporary causeway and sectional barges. Despite weather delays, Joseph B. Fay Company completed the project within budget. The 2014 Field Employee of Year was presented to Mike Spalding, a track superintendent for Stacy and Witbeck. Mike has significant experience working in an active railroad environment and has served as the track superintendent on many projects. Mike’s innovative skills and commitment to safety are exemplified by his role in the development of a hydraulic rail beam that moves rail more safely than traditional means. Mike’s performance, commitment to the industry and character make him the type of leader the NRC is trying to recognize with this award.

Bosch: Lastly, our conference would not be possible without the support of our valued sponsors. The NRC offers its members the opportunity to sponsor specific conference functions, such as sessions and receptions, as well as general gold and silver level sponsorships. An NRC Conference sponsorship is a unique marketing opportunity to showcase a company’s products and services in front of an audience of Class 1s, shortline railroads, rail contractors, rail suppliers and professional service firms. More information on 2016 conference sponsorships opportunities will be announced this summer in the NRC Bulletin.

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RT&S: Your conferences are generally held in warm locales, which provide a nice break for those of us coming in from the frozen north.

Dorris: The location and the time of year make attending our annual conference an easy decision, without a doubt. We hold our conferences in south Florida or southern California in alternating years, in early January. This time of year is typically the slowest part of the construction and maintenance season, which makes it easier for the majority of us to schedule such a trip. It’s the perfect time of year for many of us to get away, have some fun with colleagues and friends in the industry and still get some work done, it’s all good.

Baker: The weather was very nice this year as it was close to 70 degrees in Hollywood while the rest of the country was getting its first taste of what became a record winter for the Northeast. I encouraged conference attendees to be grateful for their good fortune and to not send pictures home.

“Our legislative efforts and safety initiatives have and continue to serve our association well, our membership continues to grow and our efforts in Washington, D.C., are very focused on decisions and rulings that could affect the NRC and the rail industry as a whole in the coming years.”

–Bill Dorris, NRC chairman RT&S: Where will the next NRC Conference be in January 2016?

Baker: We’re all set for January 6-9, 2016, at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, Calif. We’ll notify members this summer via email when conference and exhibit booth registrations are available and also when the hotel room block opens and, of course, we’ll advertise the event right here in RT&S. For more information, visit: www.nrcma.org/conference_exhibition.

RT&S: Aside from the annual conference, are there other NRC-sponsored activities during the year?

Dorris: Yes, the NRC equipment auction and Railroad Day on Capitol Hill are the other two major events each year. The NRC Railroad Construction and Maintenance Equipment Auction is held in early spring. This year’s auction was hosted www.rtands.com

State of the NRC

by Blackmon Auctions in Little Rock, Ark., on April 17 and also included equipment for sale by Union Pacific, which means more to pick from and more buyers on site, both positives. Railroad Day on Capitol Hill is June 4 this year.

Bosch: A portion of the proceeds from the consigned equipment at the auction goes to the NRC Safety, Training, and Education Fund. The fund benefits our membership and the industry as a whole and is the main source of funding for the Safety Training DVD program. In addition, some of the equipment is actually donated to the NRC, with 100 percent of those proceeds going to the safety program. We are extremely grateful to our Class 1, shortline, contractor and supplier partners who have donated pieces to the NRC Auction over the years. Donations this year came from Delta Railroad Construction, Encore Rail Systems, Nordco and Railway Equipment Services.

Baker: The auction committee has been doing great work on this event and at the previous auctions. The key committee members are Danny Brown of V&H Trucks, Mark Gaffney of Stacy & Witbeck, Jay Gowan of Harsco Rail, Paul Laurello of Delta Railroad Construction, Dean Mackey of Progress Rail Services, Dan Samford of Herzog Contracting Corp., and Greg Spilker of Encore Rail Systems.

Blackmon Auctions is our auctioneer every year and they do a great job, too. The equipment at the auction typically includes air compressors, brush cutters, spikers, pickup trucks, hi-rail trucks, cranes, rail threaders, spike pullers, tie inserters and removers, tampers, crib consolidators, log loaders, adzers, pre-gaugers, speedswings, anchor and clip applicators, rollers, cribbers, swing loaders, etc.

Dorris: The NRC is a major sponsor and organizer of Railroad Day on Capitol Hill. NRC members, along with representatives from the AAR, ASLRRA, REMSA, RSI, RSSI and RTA all converge on D.C. to get our message out and be heard by our elected officials. Each year, dozens of our member companies are represented at meetings with members of Congress and their staff in order to present our concerns on major issues affecting the railroad industry. There are many issues in Washington, D.C., that can directly affect our businesses. It’s extremely important that the NRC have the representation provided by Chuck Baker and the NRC’s government affairs staff, but it’s equally important for each of our contractor and supply member companies to keep up on the issues, as well.

Please contact your representatives and senators and let them know that their constituents care and are deeply concerned about legislative issues that could adversely affect our industry and business opportunities. Attending this event provides our membership with an excellent opportunity to spend time with their railroad customers while supporting their needs, as well as our own. I encourage everyone to visit our website or to contact the NRC’s office to learn how to participate at the next Railroad Day on the Hill, June 4 this year.

Baker: Please plan to join us in D.C. You can register online at https://member.aslrra.org/aslrra/RRDay2015/.

RT&S: Speaking of Congress, tell us more about the NRC’s Grassroots Program and why a railroad contractor or supplier would want to host their Member of Congress for a visit?

Bosch: Because it’s more effective to “show and tell” than simply “tell,” the NRC’s Grassroots Program was created to 30 Railway Track & Structures

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invite United States members of Congress to visit NRC member facilities and construction project sites. These visits give the members of Congress firsthand knowledge of the rail industry and demonstrate how rail contractors and suppliers are positively affecting the rail industry and the local and national economy. NRC member companies gain positive publicity, foster good relationships with their congressional members and build strong contacts for the NRC to utilize when advocating for rail industry issues on Capitol Hill. It’s a win-win-win. These congressional visits are coordinated and executed by the NRC staff with little work required by the host company. If your company is interested in hosting your member of Congress for a visit, please contact me at abosch@nrcma.org or 202-715-1247.

RT&S:What are the NRC’s current legislative priorities?

Baker: We have been working hard to try to get an extension of the 45G shortline railroad rehabilitation tax credit.

The credit was extended on December 19, 2014, and then promptly expired on December 31, 2014. Two bills have been introduced in Congress, H.R.721 and S.637, which would extend the credit through 2016 to provide the long-term planning certainty necessary to maximize private-sector transportation infrastructure investment. This is a crucial piece of legislation to help maximize rehabilitation spending in the shortline industry. The credit provides a 50-percent tax credit to shortline railroads for investing in their infrastructure, capped at $3,500 per mile owned. This results in [more than] $300 million per year of additional capital investment by shortline railroads, much of which is contracted out to NRC members or spent on materials and equipment from NRC suppliers.

The NRC’s contractor and supplier members have been crucial in helping the shortline railroads build up record cosponsorship numbers among representatives and senators. In the 113th Congress, more than half of both the House (251 representatives) and the Senate (51 senators) co-sponsored the legislation, which is extraordinary. So far this year, we’re at 151 representatives and 18 senators as co-sponsors and counting.

The NRC also continues to make the case to Congress against an increase in the size and weight of trucks that are allowed on the highways. We were pleased that the MAP-21 surface transportation reauthorization bill passed in 2012 directed the U.S. Department of Transportation to study the issue before making any changes to these limits. Heavy trucks are already subsidized and increasing their weight and length would increase that subsidy and allow them to compete unfairly against the privately-funded freight railroads. Bigger and heavier trucks are unsafe and unwise – they’re bad for the roads and bad for the rail industry. The American public is solidly against them and Congress was wise to not support bigger and heavier trucks.

We are also actively supporting efforts by the freight railroads to maintain the existing reasonable and balanced economic regulation of their business and we will argue forcefully against legislation or regulation that would needlessly complicate rail service or cap rates. Reregulating the railroads is a sure-fire way to reduce much needed capital investment in the national railroad network.

RT&S: How does the NRC attempt to accomplish its legislative goals on Capitol Hill?

Baker: As Bill mentioned earlier, the key to the NRC’s legwww.rtands.com

State of the NRC islative success in D.C. is the active participation of our membership. Congressmen only care what I have to say because I am representing their constituents. Hearing frequently and forcefully from those constituents directly is by far the most effective way to get our messages across.

Also, in addition to our own direct legislative efforts, the NRC is a member of the OneRail Coalition, with APTA, the AAR, ASLRRA, Amtrak, NARP, RSI, the States for Passenger Rail Coalition and other key rail industry groups. When all of those groups can agree and go to Congress with a coordinated message, we’re a powerful force, representing hundreds of thousands of workers and tens of billions of dollars of economic activity.

RT&S: Beyond the immediate priorities of tax credits and guarding against increased truck size and weights and increased regulation of the freight railroads, what are the NRC’s other legislative and policy priorities?

Baker: We are supportive of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. Of the $4.2 billion in funding that has been distributed in TIGERs 1-6, almost $2 billion has gone to rail-related projects, including Class 1 projects, shortline system upgrades, port rail infrastructure projects, commuter rail extensions, light-rail lines, streetcar projects, transit stations and intermodal hubs. In the 2014 TIGER 6 program, 17 rail-related projects received [more than] $130 million out of the $584 million of available funding. The TIGER 7 program was funded at $500 million in the FY15 appropriations bill and the application window is open right now. The NRC will continue to aggressively back funding for these types of multi-modal merit-based discretionary grant programs, whether in the form of TIGER 8 or potentially a program of Projects of National and Regional Significance or an Infrastructure Bank in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.

The NRC is also advocating for improvements to the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan program by subsidizing the interest rate and allowing payment deferrals similar to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program. Other improvements can be made by making the collateral rules more reasonable, enforcing the intent of the 90-day clock rules and allowing railroads to use the program for refinancing purposes as provided by law. RRIF is a $35-billion infrastructure loan program that is underutilized by the railroads, but we are seeing a recent pick-up in activity, at least on the application side. RRIF

www.rtands.com

provides low interest (around 2.5 percent currently), 35-year loan money for railroad rehabilitation and construction. Since 2002, the FRA has approved 33 RRIF loans for a combined total of approximately $1.7 billion.

The NRC will work with our railroad customers to protect and expand the Section 130 Grade Crossing Program, which has a long record of success in improving public safety, but only funds a small fraction of the documented needs.

The NRC will work with APTA and other rail transit advocacy support groups to make sure that Congress continues the meaningful rail transit investments of the past decade. More and more U.S. cities are realizing the economic and environmental benefits provided by constructing and expanding light rail and metro systems and we are seeing a shift in travel patterns across the country. However, this momentum is at risk as the funding for the mass transit account of the highway trust fund is no longer sufficient to expand and maintain the system. Simply put, more funding needs to be dedicated to rail transit investments and the NRC will work hard in D.C. every day to get that message across to Congress.

The NRC will continue work with passenger rail advocacy groups to aggressively support and fund a meaningful investment into the national intercity passenger rail network.

RT&S: Do you have any closing thoughts?

Dorris: I would like to thank all the NRC member companies and my fellow board members for supporting me in my position as chairman of the board during my first year. We have continued to grow our membership, set new conference attendance records and get a greater participation in our “Safe Contractor of the Year” contest along with our equipment auction and Railroad Day on Capitol Hill. These are all positive signs of a healthy and growing organization. Our committee members and directors of the board will remain active and engaged. All continue to get a high level of support from their respective employers, as well. I would like to thank the NRC member companies that support those who serve on the board and on the committees for allowing us to dedicate some of our time to this great organization.

The state of the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association is stronger than ever. God bless the United States of America, the men and women that serve in our military and the NRC. Have a safe day.

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AREMA NEWS Professional Development Seminars

Introduction to Practical Railway Engineering July 2015 Vancouver, BC, Canada

Message from the President

Research & development

Nine AREMA Seminars will be held in conjunction with the AREMA 2015 Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN, October 4 – 7, 2015.

Introduction to

Practical Railway Engineering October 2 - 4, 2015

Randy Bowman AREMA President 2014-2015

Rail Bulk terminal design October 3, 2015 building the steel interstate October 3, 2015 FRA 214: roadway worker on-track safety October 3, 2015 environmental permitting issues in railroad construction projects October 4, 2015 practical track measurements techniques & tools October 4, 2015 intermodal terminal engineering October 7 - 8, 2015 track alignmnet design October 7 - 9, 2015 FRA 213: track safety standards October 7 - 9, 2015 Please visit www.arema.org to register and to find out more information about these seminars or contact DesirĂŠe Knight at dknight@arema.org.

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The railroad industry continues to move forward with technology and innovation to meet the challenges of operating trains safely, economically and efficiently throughout North America. All railroads are continually pressing forward with in-house research and field testing of some new product or procedure, either on their own or in conjunction with suppliers, consultants or other railroads. One of the great things about our industry is that the information gained from this research and testing is shared with the industry for the betterment of all. One of the major collaborative efforts is through the Association of American Railroads funded research.

I had the opportunity to attend the 20th Annual AAR Research Review in Colorado Springs, Colo., on March 31 and the FAST Track Walk in Pueblo, Colo., on April 1. This event, like our industry, has shown tremendous growth over the past 20 years. I was at the first review 19 years ago and I have missed no more than two since then. This was the second year the Research Review was held in Colorado Springs because the event outgrew the facilities available in Pueblo.

The staff at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), did an excellent job with the technical presentations again, giving updates on the various research initiatives underway at TTCI and at selected in-service test sites on Class 1 railroads. The Track Walk and additional presentations at TTCI afforded everyone the opportunity to view first-hand the research being conducted and the results being produced. Attendance by the railroads was once again strong, confirming the importance of the research underway and the need to expose our railroad engineers to the latest technology and innovations.

Another great forum for sharing information and technology within our industry is the Wheel/Rail Interaction Conference that I will be attending this month in Atlanta, Ga. As the name implies, this conference focuses on what goes on at the interface between the wheel and the rail and how things above (cars and locomotives) and below (track structure) that interface affect that relationship.

I was at the first conference held in Chicago, Ill., 20 years ago where 100 railroaders and service providers gathered to discuss issues and share information about rail maintenance. It has since grown to an attendance of 250 and has become an important forum in our industry for sharing information, introducing technology and educating railroaders and consultants alike.

Outside of the technical presentations at the AREMA Annual Conference, AREMA also offers a wide variety of educational opportunities with seminars, both on-location and web-based, spanning many disciplines in the railway engineering industry. Many of these seminars serve the educational needs of our railway engineering community with PDH/CEU accredited courses. You can find a full description of seminars currently being offered on the AREMA website (https://www.arema.org/Seminars/index.aspx), as well as dates and locations they are available. This is a great educational resource provided by AREMA for your railway engineers, both young and more experienced.

Research, testing and technology advances are vital to the safe, efficient and economical operation of our rail systems. Sharing the knowledge gained from those endeavors to educate the individuals responsible for engineering and maintaining the infrastructure we operate is of highest importance. We are fortunate to have various resources from which to draw, but the important thing is that the knowledge is made available and that we take advantage of it. We will continue to improve the railroad industry with research and testing for as long as the results are put into practical use. Be safe and make a positive difference. www.rtands.com

Negotiated airline discount information for AREMA Committee Meetings can be found online at http://www.arema.org/meetings/airlines.aspx.

2015 Upcoming Committee Meetings May 14-15 Committee 8 - Concrete Structures & Foundations May 19

Committee 9 - Seismic Design for Railway Structures

May 19-20 Committee 15 - Steel Structures

Chicago, IL Kansas City, MO Cleveland, OH

June 12-13 Committee 24 - Education & Training June 16

Committee 10 - Structures, Maintenance & Foundations

October 3

Committee 24 - Education & Training

Seattle, WA Buffalo, NY Minneapolis, MN

To see a list of all committee meetings being held at the AREMA 2015 Annual Conference please visit www.arema.org/meetings/2015.

Committees 6, 11 and 17 hold meetings in Toronto On April 14, members of Committee 6 - Buildings and Support Facilities; Committee 11 - Commuter and Intercity Rail Systems and Committee 17 - High Speed Rail Systems, held concurrent meetings in Toronto, ON, Canada, concluding with a joint meeting of all three groups. Hosting the meetings was Metrolinx, the parent company of the GO Transit commuter rail system. While Committees 11 and 17 have historically held joint meetings, the addition of Committee 6 provided an opportunity to share information about Manual requirements in Chapter 6 that support passenger services.

On April 15, Metrolinx organized a tour of its multiple projects in the Toronto Union Station area. Union Station is currently undergoing a transformation to increase its passenger handling capacity, as well as introduce new retail and exiting concourses to improve passenger flow into the central business district. Members were shown the new west concourse that has recently opened (see photo), the new glass train shed, new station tracks and platforms and the 1970s era east concourse that will close in July for reconstruction to be a copy of the west concourse. Notable in this work is the requirement to deepen the area under the station tracks by temporarily supporting the columns with a steel framework, removing the existing column footings and constructing new footings and extending columns to create the two levels of space required. All of this activity is done under continuous rail traffic. The group was also shown the new Union Pearson Express downtown terminal for the UP Express airport train that will commence revenue service on June 6 in advance of the Pan American games.

Put your career on the right track with AREMA’s Railway Careers Network. Services are FREE and include confidential resume posting, job search and e-mail notification when jobs match your criteria. Visit www.arema.org/careers today to get started!

Call for Mentors As the years pass, it becomes more vital to introduce and educate the next generation about the railroad industry. To aid in this cause, AREMA has developed a mentoring program to benefit the AREMA student members.

We would like to extend an invitation to industry professionals to influence the next generation. As part of the mentoring program, you will be paired with a mentee that is an AREMA student member. The pairing will try to match student members with someone with experience in the areas of the railroad industry they are interested in. Please visit the AREMA website under Education & Training to become a mentor today.

Not an AREMA Member? Join today at www.arema.org www.rtands.com

FYI‌

Register now to take advantage of the discounted rates for the AREMA 2015 Annual Conference in conjunction with Railway Interchange 2015, October 4-7, 2015 in Minneapolis, MN. Visit www.arema.org to register today. For more information on Railway Interchange 2015, please visit www.railwayinterchange.org.

Call for entries for the 2015 Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence. The selection process for the seventeenth W. W. Hay Award has begun. Entries must be submitted by May 29, 2015. Please visit www.arema.org for more information.

I n t e re s t e d i n g a i n i n g c o m p a ny recognition and building awareness?

Think about sponsorship for the AREMA 2015 Annual Conference held in conjunction with Railway Interchange 2015. Contact Lindsay Hamilton at 301.459.3200, ext. 705, or lhamilton@arema.org to discuss the many sponsorship opportunities available.

Now available: 2015 Manual for Railway Engineering. Please visit www.arema. org or contact Beth Caruso at 301-4593200, ext. 701, or bcaruso@arema.org to place an order.

AREMA Website Advertising. Want to be listed on the AREMA website to gain exposure from the over 6,800 AREMA members? Contact Lindsay Hamilton at 301.459.3200, ext. 705, or lhamilton@arema.org now to get advertising rates.

AREMA on Social Media. Stay up-to-date on the most recent AREMA information through all official social media outlets.

Become a fan of the AREMA Facebook Page, join the AREMA LinkedIn Group and now tweet, retweet and hashtag @AREMArail on Twitter.

Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 35

AREMA NEWS

Getting to know Michael Loehr Each month, AREMA features one of our committee chairs. We are pleased to announce that the May featured chair is Michael Loehr, PE, chair of Committee 11 - Commuter & Intercity Rail Systems.

AREMA: Why did you decide to choose a career in railway engineering?

Loehr: I was always interested in the railroad. Growing up, I remember my parents taking the family down to Adams Junction on the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad to watch the yard switching operations and mainline trains running through town.

My grandfather worked for the New York Central Railroad and my great uncle was a conductor on the New Haven, so like so many other railroaders there was a family connection.

AREMA: How did you get started?

Loehr: I was looking for interesting companies to interview for my first job after college and Conrail was on campus interviewing for their Management Training Program. I interviewed and really liked what Conrail was doing and how they were training graduate engineers. When the offer letter came through, I jumped at the chance. I was initially assigned to the Fort Wayne Division for training and came east to Philadelphia at the end of the training program.

Michael J. Loehr, PE Transit & Rail Practice Leader - Americas Civil Engineering CH2M Hill

AREMA: How did you get involved in AREMA and your committee?

Loehr: I was working for Mike Hoey in the area engineer’s office in Selkirk, N.Y., and Mike suggested that joining AREMA was important.

I joined, but didn’t apply for a committee for several years. Being a track guy at heart, when I applied, I tried to get on Committee 5, but was steered to the Commuter Rail committee because it needed more members to assist in writing the [manual]chapter. I was welcomed to the committee and put to work immediately.

fused glass artist and the proud owner of Second Wind Studio. We have two children; Matthew is a computer programmer in Silver Spring, Md., and Samantha is an animation student at Savannah College of Art and Design, specializing in rigging for 3D animation.

AREMA: Outside of your job and the hard work you put into AREMA, what are your hobbies?

Loehr: I enjoy teaching others about the railroad industry and railroad engineering through on the job field training, custom courses I have developed for my employers, external continuing education courses and the new p-REES course being offered jointly

by AREMA and American Public Transportation Association in July.

Loehr: I enjoy tinkering with electronics and I am currently rebuilding a music synthesizer that a group of us built as a college project. I also work on several open source programming projects, where I contribute source code and adaptations to allow the code to be compiled to run on Microsoft platforms.

AREMA: Tell us about your family.

Loehr: My wife, Susan, and I will be celebrating our 35th anniversary in June. Susan first pursued a career as a materials engineer and research and development scientist. She is now a

AREMA: If you could share one interesting fact about yourself with the readers of RT&S, what would it be?

AREMA: What is your biggest achievement?

Loehr: After raising two great kids with my lovely wife, my biggest achievement is being the design project manager on the Heartland Corridor project for Norfolk Southern and winning the W. W. Hay Award in 2010.

AREMA: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to pursue a career in the railway industry?

Loehr: My advice would be to spend time working in the field early in your career. Working with the different departments and learning the complex inter-relationships between operations, maintenance, the various engineering areas and equipment lays a ground work of understanding that will serve you throughout your career.

36 Railway Track & Structures

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DR. WILLIAM W. HAY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE 2015 CALL FOR ENTRIES

AREMA Publications 2015 Manual for Railway Engineering ©

Now available There have been numerous updates to more than 5,000 pages of the Manual for Railway Engineering. The chapters are grouped into four general categories: • Track • Structures • Infrastructure & Passenger • Systems Management. The Manual is an annual publication, released every April. It is available in a multi-volume loose-leaf format, CD-ROM, revision set (looseleaf only) and individual chapters (downloadable format).

Downloadable Chapters Available Online.

2015 Communications & Signals Manual of Recommended Practices

©

The Communications & Signals Manual is a manual of recommended practices written

by AREMA technical committees in the interest of establishing uniformity, promoting safety or efficiency and economy. The Communications & Signals Manual of Recommended Practices is an annual publication.

Downloadable Sections Available Online.

Reflections on a Half Century of Railway Engineering and Some Related Subjects ©

Railway Memoirs by William G. Byers, PE

To order any of the AREMA publications, please visit www.arema.org or contact Beth Caruso at +1.301.459.3200, ext. 701, or bcaruso@arema.org.

www.rtands.com

2014 Portfolio of Trackwork Plans ©

The Portfolio of Trackwork Plans consists of plans and specifications that relate to the design, details, materials and workmanship for switches, frogs, turnouts and crossovers, crossings, rails and other special trackwork. This is a companion volume to the Manual for Railway Engineering.

AREMA Bridge Inspection Handbook ©

The AREMA Bridge Inspection Handbook provides a comprehensive source of information and criteria for bridge inspections for engineers engaged in the assessment of railway bridges. This handbook is published as a guide to establishing policies and practices relative to bridge inspection. It covers such topics as confined spaces, site conditions, loads & forces, nomenclature, bridge decks, timber, concrete & steel bridges, movable bridges, tunnel and culvert inspections, and emergency & postearthquake inspections. Also included are many color photographed examples in several chapters, as well as a glossary in the back of the book.

Practical Guide to Railway Engineering ©

This guide provides a comprehensive overview and understanding of the railway system. Whether you are new to the rail industry or a long-time contributor wanting to learn more, this bound book and CD-ROM offer in-depth coverage of railway fundamentals and serve as an excellent reference. (Also available in a CD-ROM version only.)

The selection process for the Seventeenth Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence has begun and this year’s chair, Michael W. Franke, a former student of Dr. Hay, has issued a call for entries.

The 2014 Hay Award went to Union Pacific Railroad for their Santa Teresa Terminal project.

The purpose of the award is to honor innovative railway engineering procedures, projects and products and the individual(s) who have created and successfully applied them to the railroad industry.

Criteria for winning the award are: • Innovation • Safety • Service Performance and Reliability Consideration is also given to the project’s objective, stated goals, costs and benefit achievement and the general advancement of the base of railway engineering knowledge.

Deadline for Entries: MAY 29, 2015 Please contact

Stacy Spaulding at sspaulding@arema.org or +1.301.459.3200, ext. 706, or visit www.arema.org for more information.

Railway Track & Structures

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38 Railway Track & Structures

May 2015

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CALENDAR MAY 27-29. Timber and Steel Railroad Bridges. University of Tennessee Knoxville. Knoxville, Tenn. Contact: Diana Webb. Phone: 865-974-5255. Fax: 865-974-3889.

Website: http://ctr.utk.edu/ttap/.

JUNE 4. Railroad Day on Capitol Hill. Renaissance Washington. Washington, D.C. Contact: Kathy Cassidy E-mail: kcassidy@aslrra.org. Website: www.aslrra.org.

15-17. 123rd Annual AAR Damage Prevention & Freight Claim Conference. Westin Westminster Hotel.

Westminster, Colo. Website: https://www.regonline. com/DPFC2015.

17-18. Railway Age Rail Insights Conference.

Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel. Chicago, Ill. Phone: 212-620-7205. E-mail: conferences@sbpub.com.

Website: www.railwayage.com/railinsights.

21-24. APTA Rail Conference. The Grand America Hotel. Salt Lake City, Utah. Contact: Marcus Eng. Phone: 202-496-4874. E-mail: meng@apta.com.

Website: www.apta.com JULY 21-23. 2015 RTA Crosstie Grading Seminar.

Birmingham Marriott. Birmingham, Al. Website: http:// www.rta.org/grading-seminar.

26-AUGUST 1. Rail and Intermodal Transportation Summer Youth Program. Classroom and field trip experiences in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Contact: David Nelson. Phone: 906-487-1734. E-mail: dannelso@mtu.edu. Website: http://www.rail.mtu.edu/ summer_youth.html.

AUGUST 19-20. 3rd Annual Michigan Rail Conference.

Eberhard Center, Grand Valley State University. Grand Rapids, Mich. Contact: David Nelson. Phone: 906487-1734. E-mail: dannelso@mtu.edu. Website: http:// www.rail.mtu.edu/mi-rail-conf/index.php.

SEPTEMBER 28-29. Basic Railroad Track Maintenance. University of Tennessee - Knoxville. Knoxville, Tenn. Contact: Diana Webb. Phone: 865-974-5255. Fax: 865 974-3889.

30-Oct. 2. Railroad Track Design. University of Tennessee - Knoxville. Knoxville, Tenn. Contact: Diana Webb. Phone: 865-974-5255. Fax: 865 974-3889.

OCTOBER 4-7. Railway Interchange 2015. Minneapolis Convention Center. Minneapolis, Minn. Website: http:// railwayinterchange.org/. www.rtands.com

Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 39

PRODUCTS

Composite beam

HCB Inc. introduced the Hillman Composite Beam (HCB) for railway bridge construction and replacement. The company says HCB is a revolutionary and long-lasting structural technology that combines the strength and sturdiness of concrete and steel with the lightweight and corrosion-resistance and resiliency features of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP). The FRP outer shell encapsulates the tension and compression elements, providing protection from the elements for the steel and concrete encased within, which extendeds service life and creates minimal maintenance. HCB is designed to allow construction professionals to build bridges and structures that can be lower cost and stronger without requiring additional training for crews. HCBs designed and manufactured for railroad loading have additional strength capacity up to 60 percent more than required by code. As of 2014, railroad bridges with HCBs have been exposed to 500 million gross tons of Class 1 rail traffic. Phone: (847) 722-4072.

LED work light

ProBuilt Professional Lighting, LLC offers its Hang-ALight 200 watt LED temporary area work light. The bright temporary jobsite bay light produces 15,000 lumens and has a lighting range of 75 - 100 feet. It can replace a 400-watt metal halide work light with 50 percent less energy consumption and draws 1.6 amps. Modifiable to 100/120/208 or 277 volts, this light can be used in many environments as a temporary work light or hard-wired as a permanent fixture. Users can link up to six lights together in a series for maximum light output. With no setup required, a sturdy metal hook and easy carry handle, the company says the Hang-A-Light 200 watt LED is easy to use. Phone: (877) 707-0800.

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Ad Index Company

Phone #

Fax#

Amtrac Railroad Contractors of Maryland, Inc.

301-797-3730

AREMA Marketing Department

301-459-3200

e-mail address

Page #

cchaney@amtracmd.com

301-459-8077

NRC 43

marketing@arema.org

Cover 3

Aspen Equipment Co.

952-656-7132

952-656-7157

bmarini@aspeneq.com

Atlantic Track & Turnout Co.

973-748-5885

973-784-4520

stacyw@atlantictrack.com

NRC Cover 2

Balfour Beatty Rail, Inc.

888-250-5746

info@bbri.com

NRC 56

904-378-7298

NRC 15

Clearway Industries LLC

845-258-3343

marlene@clearwayindustries.com

5

Commercial Insurance Associates LLC

615-515-6048

darmstrong@com-ins.com

NRC 13

pbarents@danella.com

9

info@deltarr.com

20

fbrown142@aol.com

NRC 43

gehr@escoequipment.com

NRC 14

Danella Rental Systems, Inc.

Delta Railroad Construction Inc. Dixie PreCast

610-828-6200

610-828-2260

440-994-2997

440-992-1311

770-944-1930

770-944-9136

ESCO Equipment Service Co.

847-758-9860

GENSCO America, Inc.

416-465-7521

Georgetown Rail Equipment Co.

512-869-1542 ext.228

Hamilton Construction Company Herzog Railroad Services, Inc.

416-465-4489

info@genscoequip.com

18

512-863-0405

karen@georgetownrail.com

Cover 2

bhirte@hamil.com

NRC 12

541-746-2426

HiRAIL Corp.

Hougen Manufacturing, Inc.

816-233-9002

816-233-7757

tfrancis@hrsi.com

NRC 13

800-274-7245

319-455-2914

info@hirail.com

22

800-309-3299

info@trak-star.com

21

rrdiv@koppers.com

13

866-245-3745

Koppers Inc.

800-356-5952

Lanier Steel Products Inc.

608-221-0618

706-335-7200

L.B. Foster Co.

412-928-3506

National Compressor Exchange, Inc.

718-417-9100

Neel Company, The

703-913-7858

NMC Railway Systems

866-662-7799

OMNI Products, Inc.

815-344-3100

jlewis@neelco.com

402-891-7745

info@nmcrail.com

815-344-5086

bcigrang@omnirail.com

814-949-5105 757-543-3526

757-494-7186

218-236-0223

218-233-5281

Ragnar Benson Construction LLC

814-949-5007

866-724-5238

217-522-6588

NRC 43 26 NRC 12

973-763-4320

973-763-2585

rails@railsco.com

Railway Educational Bureau, The

402-346-4300

402-346-1783

Railway Equipment Services, Inc.

318-995-7006 770-460-5553 866-905-7245

Schenck Process

Stella-Jones Corporation

Tensar/North American Green Willamette Valley Company

770-460-5573

262-473-4384

800-272-8437

412-894-2846

404-214-5374

404-250-9185

541-484-9621

bbrundige@sb-reb.com

9

NRC 53, 39, 40

barbarastokes@railwayequipmentservices.net NRC 14

952-469-1926

262-473-2441

27 31

grif1020@yahoo.com

Rails Company

7

dave.bergstrom@rbic.com dluvara@railnj.com

4 24

info@portaco.com

856-423-9385

RailWorks Corporation

plasseramerican@plausa.com

Railroad Construction Co. of South Jersey, Inc.

Railway Tie Association

NRC 26 6

Srg21@psu.edu

847-698-4900

RAILCET

NRC Cover 4

rlsnational@aol.com

Plasser American Corporation

NRC 15

glippard@lbfosterco.com

703-913-7859

Penn State Altoona PortaCo, Inc.

rlgillespie@windstream.net

412-928-3512

541-284-2096

ties@rta.org

2

jrhansen@railworks.com

25

mktg@schenckprocess.com

17

kdulski@stella-jones.com

29

cmgovern@tensarcorp.com

8

03alishab@wilvaco.com

Cover 4

Reader Referral Service This section has been created solely for the convenience of our readers to facilitate immediate contact with the RAILWAY TRACK & STRUCTURES advertisers in this issue.

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

Advertising Sales Jonathan Chalon, Publisher, jchalon@sbpub.com; Emily Guill, eguill@sbpub.com; Mark Connolly, mconnolly@sbpub.com; Heather Disabato, hdisabato@sbpub.com; Louise Cooper, lc@railjournal.co.uk; Julie Richardson, jr@railjournal.co.uk; Dr. Fabio Potesta, info@mediapointsrl.it; Katsuhiro Ishii, amkatsu@dream.com; Jeanine Acquart, jaquart@sbpub.com (classified) www.rtands.com

Railway Track & Structures

May 2015 41

Professional Directory

NEW & USED EQUIPMENT

Some things never change.

Quality, Service, and Dependability. Since 1910.

Rotary Dump

Grapple Truck

Hauls MarkIV

LEASE or BUY Hirail Gradall w/opt. Brush Cutter

Hirail Service/Maintainers Truck

Custom Build New or Used Chassies.

Also: Hirail Boom Dump Trucks Hirail Mechanics Trucks Hirail Section Trucks Hytracker for moving equipment Hudson Ballast Cars DMF & Harsco parts, service and installation

RAILROAD SERVICES

Est. 1910

Ph: 315-455-0100 • Fax: 315-455-6008 • Syracuse, NY • www.franktartaglia.com

Ph: (913) 764-1315 Kansas City, KS www.colliscw.com

NEW & USED EQUIPMENT

NEW Hi-Rail Ford F-350 Super Duty NEW Hi-Rail Freighliner 108SD Rotary Dump

NEW Hi-Rail Western Star 4700SB with Rotobec Elite MT26

Purchase - Lease - Parts - Service 42 Railway Track & Structures

May 2015

www.rtands.com

NEW & USED EQUIPMENT

R. E. L. A. M., INC.

E-Mail: RelamCFE@aol.com Tel: 440-439-7088 Fax: 440-439-9399

EQUIPMENT FOR SHORT OR LONG TERM LEASE HARSCO AND NORDCO TAMPERS 6700S, SJ, SJ2, Mark IV Switch and Production Tampers 3300 and HST Chase Tampers 3000 Tampers w/Raise & Line or Chase Tampers 2400 Tampers w/Raise & Line TIE INSERTERS/EXTRACTORS Nordco TRIPPs 925 S/Ss, Standards, KTR-400s KNOX KERSHAW REGULATORS, KRIBBER/ADZERS, TIE CRANES, PLATE BROOMS, BRUSH CUTTERS, & SNOW FIGHTERS KBR-850-925-940 Ballast Regulators & Snow Fighters KBR-940 Dual Head Brush Cutters KTC-1200 Tie Cranes KKA-1050 Kribber/Adzers KPB-200 Plate Brooms NORDCO ANCHOR APPLICATORS, SPIKERS & GRABBERS Model F Anchor Machines and BAAMs Models CX and SS Spikers Model SP2R Dual Grabbers RACINE RAILROAD PRODUCTS Dual Anchor Spreaders, Squeezers, Knockers (Anchor Removers), Anchor Applicators, DAACs (Dual Anchor Adjuster Cribber), Dual e-Clip Applicators, Ride-on Regauge Adzers, TPIs, Tie Straighteners, OTM Reclaimers, SAFELOK IIIs (SAR IIIs) HI-RAIL CRANES, SPEEDSWINGS & RAIL HEATERS Pettibone Model 445E Speedswings w/Multiple Attachments Geismar 360/360-Tronic Hi-Rail Excavators, (Cold Air Blower, Brush Cutter, Grapple, Heel Boom, Train Air & Knuckle available) Badger 30 Ton Cranes w/Hi-Rails Rail Heaters - Single Sided, Dual Sided, Self-propelled w/Vibrators HI-RAIL TRUCKS, EXCAVATORS, & CARTS Hi-Rail Gradalls, XL3300 Series III w/Digging Buckets & Brush Cutters Hi-Rail Rotary Dumps, Various Hi-Rail Pickups Hi-Rail Grapple Trucks (available w/Magnet, Rail Racks & Creep Drive) 25-ton Hudson Ballast Cars 25-ton Rail and OTM Carts, 5-ton Tie Carts

    

Hi-Rail trucks engineered for your applications with nationwide deliveries and warranties...

Grapple Trucks Magnets & Self Propelled

Section Trucks Telescoping & Articulating Cranes

ALSO AVAILABLE Hi-Rail Pickup Trucks Hi-Rail Mechanics Trucks Hi-Rail Aerial Devices Hi-Rail Welder Trucks

and many more truck configurations...

Track Maintenance Trucks

877-888-9370

ASPENEQUIPMENT.COM/RAIL www.rtands.com

Railway Track & Structures RT&S2013revAd.indd 1

May 2015 43 2/12/13 2:57 PM

NEW & USED EQUIPMENT PARTS • SALES • SERVICE

We specialize in all types of Hirail Vehicles including Grapple Trucks, Roto Dumps, Mechanics Trucks and Pickups.

Call Rob Wiskerchen at 715-897-2619.

Toll Free: 888-405-0110 e-mail: rob@wisktrucks.com • www.wisktrucks.com

RAILWAY EQUIPMENT SERVICES, INC. www.railwayequipmentservices.net MOW Equipment – Lease & Sale Track Surfacing – Tamp & Reg Brushcutting – Dual side Kershaw Specialized Hauling – Low Boys with Rail 318-995-7006 or 318-469-7133 “A full service company with over 20 yrs exp!”

Available for Lease 4650 cu ft Covered Hopper Cars 3600 cu ft Open Top Hopper Cars 100 ton Automated/Manual Ballast Cars 4480 cu ft Aluminum Rotary Open Top Gons Contact: Tom Monroe: 415-616-3472 Email: tmonroe@atel.com

Products and services

REESE WHAT CAN WE DO FOR YOU?

• Track construction and maintenance • On-track ditching and rotary dump service • On-track tree trimming and brushcutting • Storm and flood cleanup and debris removal • Tie distribution, removal and disposal

AUCTIONS

Wed., May 20 at 9AM Held at Metro Industries (MEI) 3800 Missouri Ave. Alorton, IL

63+ retired locomotives available at public auction. Along with these locomotives will be some locomotive parts & materials.

Visit our website for list of locomotives and pictures. Can’t Make It To The Auction?

Bid Live Online at

www.adamsauctions.com

ADAM’S AUCTIONS 618-234-8751 IL Lic #044000169

K. W. Reese, Inc.

Box 298 • Mercersburg, PA 17236

(717) 328-5211 •

fax

(717) 328-9541 • www.kwreese.com

2013, 2014 NRC SAFETY AWARD GOLD MEDAL WINNER 44 Railway Track & Structures

May 2015

MARKETPLACE SALES Contact: Jeanine Acquart Ph: 212/620-7211 • Fax: 212/633-1165 Email: jacquart@sbpub.com www.rtands.com