5/11/2017
Rail News: Norfolk Southern Railway
Rail News Home Norfolk Southern Railway 5/11/2017 Rail News: Norfolk Southern Railway
James SquiresPhoto – nscorp.com
Railroad News
May
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May
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Norfolk Southern Corp. is improving its corporate performance through "successful execution" of the company's five-year strategic plan, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer James Squires announced today at the company's annual meeting.
Last year was the first full year of the company's strategic plan to operate a faster, lower-cost and more profitable railroad. The Class I's achievements last year included an "all-time best" operating ratio of 68.9 percent, productivity savings of $250 million, near record levels of network service performance and record locomotive fuel efficiency, according to an NS press release.
May
11
Dymax Rail hosted a tour and policy discussion along with Watco Companies, LLC, for Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS) at its Wamego, Kan., facility.
May
11
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff is undergoing a name change. The firm will now operation as WSP worldwide and WSP USA in the United States.
"We have shaped the transportation infrastructure and skylines of American cities with some of the nation's tallest buildings and the public transit systems of New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Now, we're moving forward as WSP USA, offering our clients the expertise to conceive and deliver the infrastructure communities need to prosper," said Gregory A. Kelly, president and chief executive officer. "Although our name has changed, our commitment to technical excellence and client service will never change."
May
11
Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) were jointly recognized with the first Railroad Achievement Award by the Association of American Railroads in partnership with GoRail.
May
11
Experts in both structural health monitoring and railroad infrastructure management took part in a first-ever technical session, "Structural Health and Performance Monitoring of Railroad Infrastructure," at the 2017 Structures Congress.
May
11
Rail News Home MOW May 2017 Rail News: MOW
Progress Rail offers a range of special trackwork, including flange-bearing crossing diamonds.Photo – Progress Rail By Michael PopkeRailroads continue to ask suppliers of special trackwork components to make their offerings easier and safer to install, and to last longer — be they turnouts, switch point guards, insulated joints, frogs or other products.“The main emphasis has been on reducing the impact put on trackwork that leads to degradation of components,” says Scot Campbell, director of Class I sales in the Engineering and Track Services Division of Progress Rail, which is field testing what the company believes is a more efficient rail-welding technique.“Railroads need us to keep getting better,” adds Ken Ouelette, vice president of marketing for special trackwork supplier voestalpine Nortrak, which has made improvements to products and facilities over the past year. “They want to see products that last longer and are easier to install.”And freight railroads likely will want more of them this year, some suppliers say.“We anticipate things will pick up from last year, when there was a bit of a downturn in the freight market,” Ouelette says.Progressive Railroading recently contacted suppliers of special trackwork to learn about their latest product offerings and the trends that impact that market sector. Five special trackwork suppliers responded, either by phone or email. Their edited responses follow.Turnout geometry and flange-bearing technologyThe expansion of Atlantic Track’s facilities in recent years — including ones in Memphis, Tenn., and St. Clair, Pa. — indicate a commitment to infrastructure technology and capacity, said Jeff Grissom, the company’s vice president of engineering and operations, in an email.In Memphis, Atlantic Track now provides more dedicated, product-specific manufacturing work centers for compromise rails, guard rails and plate work.In St. Clair, the installation of an enhanced electric third rail machining, processing and assembly work center better positions the company to serve the industry, Grissom said.Budgets for special trackwork materials appear steady at most freight railroads, Grissom said, adding that he has detected a slight uptick in Class I activity when it comes to overall maintenance. At the forefront of the special trackwork discussions are issues of turnout geometry at the point of switch entry and mainline speeds through turnouts, Grissom said.The industry also is working to better define the parameters for full-flange bearing crossings and their ideal usage as it pertains to crossing angle and signalization within heavy-haul applications, he added.“Flange-bearing technology has been around for decades in transit to eliminate that ‘ticka-tacka, ticka-tacka’ pounding of the train against the ties,” he said. “Now it’s evolving in heavy-haul applications, too.”Wanted: highly reliable insulated rail jointsMeanwhile, L.B. Foster Co. notes a “continuing drive by the rail industry for long-lasting, highly reliable insulated rail joints as a key requirement for their special trackwork, as well as for mainline track,” said Sid Shue, general manager of the Allegheny Rail Products division of L.B. Foster, in an email.Shown: a premium Class I design turnoutAtlantic Track
Progress Rail offers a range of special trackwork, including flange-bearing crossing diamonds.Photo – Progress Rail By Michael PopkeRailroads continue to ask suppliers of special trackwork components to make their offerings easier and safer to install, and to last longer — be they turnouts, switch point guards, insulated joints, frogs or other products.“The main emphasis has been on reducing the impact put on trackwork that leads to degradation of components,” says Scot Campbell, director of Class I sales in the Engineering and Track Services Division of Progress Rail, which is field testing what the company believes is a more efficient rail-welding technique.“Railroads need us to keep getting better,” adds Ken Ouelette, vice president of marketing for special trackwork supplier voestalpine Nortrak, which has made improvements to products and facilities over the past year. “They want to see products that last longer and are easier to install.”And freight railroads likely will want more of them this year, some suppliers say.“We anticipate things will pick up from last year, when there was a bit of a downturn in the freight market,” Ouelette says.Progressive Railroading recently contacted suppliers of special trackwork to learn about their latest product offerings and the trends that impact that market sector. Five special trackwork suppliers responded, either by phone or email. Their edited responses follow.Turnout geometry and flange-bearing technologyThe expansion of Atlantic Track’s facilities in recent years — including ones in Memphis, Tenn., and St. Clair, Pa. — indicate a commitment to infrastructure technology and capacity, said Jeff Grissom, the company’s vice president of engineering and operations, in an email.In Memphis, Atlantic Track now provides more dedicated, product-specific manufacturing work centers for compromise rails, guard rails and plate work.In St. Clair, the installation of an enhanced electric third rail machining, processing and assembly work center better positions the company to serve the industry, Grissom said.Budgets for special trackwork materials appear steady at most freight railroads, Grissom said, adding that he has detected a slight uptick in Class I activity when it comes to overall maintenance. At the forefront of the special trackwork discussions are issues of turnout geometry at the point of switch entry and mainline speeds through turnouts, Grissom said.The industry also is working to better define the parameters for full-flange bearing crossings and their ideal usage as it pertains to crossing angle and signalization within heavy-haul applications, he added.“Flange-bearing technology has been around for decades in transit to eliminate that ‘ticka-tacka, ticka-tacka’ pounding of the train against the ties,” he said. “Now it’s evolving in heavy-haul applications, too.”Wanted: highly reliable insulated rail jointsMeanwhile, L.B. Foster Co. notes a “continuing drive by the rail industry for long-lasting, highly reliable insulated rail joints as a key requirement for their special trackwork, as well as for mainline track,” said Sid Shue, general manager of the Allegheny Rail Products division of L.B. Foster, in an email.Shown: a premium Class I design turnoutAtlantic Track
L.B. Foster, which designs and manufactures high-performance insulated rail joints for use in special trackwork, collaborates with heavy-haul railroads and transit agencies to design the company’s insulated rail joints according to their needs, Shue added.
The company’s products include double rail joints for turnouts and crossing diamonds, insulated joints for girder rail profiles, U69/U33 guardrails and transition insulated joints. L.B. Foster’s special trackwork insulated rail joints can be furnished in bonded or poly kit form, plug form, or preassembled to customer-furnished prefabricated or machined rails.
May
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5/10/2017
Rail News: High-Speed Rail
May
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5/10/2017
Rail News: Passenger Rail
May
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Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) will be performing major upgrades to the Astoria's N Line equipment, including the replacement of switches and other track work.
MTA says replacing the switches will reduce noise along the 31st Street corridor and the track work will result in increased reliability and reduced delays. The $12.4-million project will require eight non-consecutive weekend closures between May and September. On these weekends, from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday, free shuttle buses will replace N service between Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. and Queensboro Plaza in both directions, making stops at all affected N stations.
May
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5/10/2017
Rail News: Intermodal
May
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The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (SCVTA) is raising awareness about the energized third rail on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley Extension.
SCVTA says the contact rail will be energized along the entire 10-mile alignment for testing purposes, and any part of the rail corridor should be considered electrified at any time. The transportation authority says the traction power network will carry 1000 volts of direct current to the contact rails.
May
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The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) will begin work this fall on a piece of track that will be used for testing new Red Line cars in 2019.
The track will be adjacent to Haul Road and known as Track 61. MBTA says every element of the cars' systems will be rigorously tested to ensure that the new trains operate safely and reliably upon introduction to passenger service. After the cars are fully tested and approved by an MBTA engineering team, the new Red Line trains will start serving customers on the T's busiest subway line.
May
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The area near the border of the United States and Canada will see a new transload facility and rail siding built.
May
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Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Rutherford Station project, which is part of an ongoing effort to support expanded GO Regional Express Rail (GO RER).
May
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The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending May 6, 2017.
May
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5/10/2017
Rail News: Passenger Rail