Committee 24 Meets in St. Louis

By Ashley Pate (Committee 24 Past Chair) and Matt Chrapek (Committee 24 Vice Chair of Education and Training)

Metro Transit in St. Louis, in conjunction with its parent organization Bi-State Development, hosted a group of AREMA Committee 24 (Education and Training) members in June for a tour of the historic Eads Bridge in St. Louis, Mo. Originally completed in 1874, it was one of the first bridges in the United States to utilize steel for construction. It is the oldest bridge structure still in use over the Mississippi River and connects Illinois and Missouri. Early in the construction phase in the 1870’s, the contractor utilized new technology at the time in the form of pneumatic caissons to seat the foundation on bedrock more than 100’ below the surface water elevation. This historic bridge has two decks. The upper deck carries vehicles, pedestrian, and cycling traffic and MetroLink light rail trains operate on the lower deck. A $48 million full-scale rehabilitation project was completed in 2016, restoring the steel truss and superstructure of the bridge.

During the June site visit, industry professionals saw the steel arch ribs, track, rail interlocking, as well as the overhead conductor rail for the MetroLink trains. The site visit was part of an overall Committee 24 meeting, which also included two days of in-office work on progressing tasks including: completing the new Advanced Track Alignment Design Seminar (TADS II), preparing for Student Activities for the Annual Conference, and debriefing from the Railway Engineering Education Symposium (REES) held in June 2022, among other things.

Coordinating a site tour like the Eads Bridge takes months of coordination to ensure a safe site visit. Special thanks to Matt Chrapek (Transit Asset QAQC PM – Civil/Structural for Metro Transit and Committee 24 Vice Chair – Education and Training), Joni Korte (Director of Engineering – Maintenance of Way for Metro Transit), K. Faith Long (Structural Engineer – Maintenance of Way for Metro Transit), and Greg Millender (Superintendent of Light Rail Operations for MetroLink).

Committee 24 meets in person three times a year and met in Denver, Colo. at the AREMA 2022 Annual Conference. If you’re interested in being a guest at that Committee meeting, please contact John Green at johngreen@mail.fresnostate.edu.

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