This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
August 2023
Compiled by Grace Renderman, Associate Editor
Since 1992, Progress Rail’s signal engineering team has been designing wayside and grade crossing systems for railroads. The company’s services currently include planning and surveys; wayside, transit and crossing design; application software creation and testing; project management and testing; and commissioning services.
The company demonstrates experience with a broad range of signaling platforms and application software testing, Progress Rail officials said in an email.
Progress Rail’s wire shops — which are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and Hudson, Wisconsin — wire hundreds of signal houses per year for short-line and transit customers. Wiring work ranges from small cases and pre-wired racks to 12-foot by 40-foot transit houses, company officials said.
Progress Rail provides signal structures such as MLPs, cantilevers, signal bridges and platforms. The company’s engineers work closely with customers to ensure their specifications are incorporated into designs or provide customers with design options to meet their requirements.
Siemens Mobility’s Airlink Radio Systems — a wireless communication system featuring a software-defined base station and remote radios — provides private wireless networking. That enables railroads to build the next-generation of internet protocol (IP)-based communication systems for the future, Siemens Mobility officials said.
Based on the standard for broadband, wireless and fixed/mobile access systems (IEEE 802.16s), the radio system provides wide-area standard IP connectivity. Railroads then can transition from multiple single-purpose networks to a commonly managed multi-purpose/multi-band network, which helps reduce infrastructure and operating costs, Siemens officials said.
Airlink MC-IoT also complies with IEEE 802.16-2017 to deliver secure, wide-area, broadband and end-to-end IP connectivity for mission-critical rail operations. Moreover, it allows railroads to cut down the spectrum required to enable current and future applications.
The Airlink product family includes dual-mode base station and wayside radios that are over-the-air compatible with Siemens’ legacy ATCS base station and wayside radios, offering a cost-effective migration path to a standard IP-based communication network, Siemens officials said.
Semaphore Software offers Signal Scout is troubleshooting software designed to help signalmen determine the underlying cause of a problem faster. It combines logged or live status information and displays it in one straightforward and easy-to-use screen with an interactive display, Semaphore officials said.
Signal Scout can simplify the learning process so new signalmen can start learning to perform signal trouble log reviews on their own. It also can help with understanding signal system nomenclature and draw attention to changing events.
Signal houses can be remotely accessed via LiveView. The program also can also be used during cutovers to greatly reduce the time window needed since it shows the status of all equations, inputs and outputs for a signal location, Semaphore officials said.
The company’s clients include the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Regional Transportation District in Denver.
XINGTM is a 24/7 crossing safety system featuring Onyx Rail Safety Solutions’ proprietary rail-specific artificial intelligence sensors designed to identify hazardous conditions such as trespassers, obstructions and collisions.
The system also can identify sparks, fire and smoke, which are sometimes associated with bearing failures, company officials said. XINGTM identifies crossing warning system breakage or malfunctioning gates or warning lights to ensure compliance with Federal Railroad Administration regulations.
When it detects a hazard, XINGTM automatically contacts all pre-programmed stakeholders and provides them with the FRA crossing number, date/time and nature of the problem. Those messages are distributed through real-time alerts via text, email and automated phone calls.
In addition, XINGTM continuously compiles information from all crossings and can interface with dispatch and surveillance systems.
For more than a decade, R. J. Corman Railroad Group’s signaling division has been developing innovative signaling solutions for Class Is, regionals and short lines, company officials said.
R. J. Corman’s state-of-the-art wiring and assembly shop in Nicholasville, Kentucky, serves as the company’s operations center with multiple construction crews strategically stationed throughout the eastern United States.
The wiring shop has undergone recent renovations involving the addition of larger and redesigned housing, wiring and storage areas that have boosted throughput capacity, enabling the company to handle a higher production volume, R. J. Corman officials said.
Additionally, creating a dedicated gate mechanism assembly area has further strengthened the company’s capability to address growing customer demands, they said.
Railroad tracks can act as lightning rods, and with new train control systems and monitoring applications directly connected to tracks, surge protection is critical to minimize failures, mitigate equipment damage and keep trains running, WAGO Corp. officials said.
The company provides railroads with high-quality surge protection for wayside signal and communication equipment with overvoltage protection from events such as lightning strikes and transients.
WAGO’s track circuit arrestor and signal line arrestor are designed as self-sacrificing modules that provide consistent and repeatable protection. They can be replaced in the field without interrupting the circuit, and no tools are needed to replace the module, company officials said.
In addition, WAGO’s CAGE CLAMP® AREMA-approved connections provide railroads the ability to terminate cable/wires up to and including 6 AWG wire without using American Association of Railroads terminals while meeting the rail industry’s harsh demands, they said.
The devices recently were installed at three different locations in southeast Florida to primarily offer protection against the more than 225 lightning strikes the area averages per year.
Email questions or comments to prograil@tradepress.com.
Related Topics: