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May 2024
Compiled by Julie Sneider, Senior Editor
Last year, the United States experienced a record-breaking 28 separate extreme weather and climate disaster events that each caused more than $1 billion in damage, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
The total cost of the damage caused by those events added up to a whopping $92.9 billion. Even worse, the year was a deadly one: Those events caused at least 492 direct or indirect fatalities, making the year the eighth most disastrous in the contiguous United States since 1980.
The cost of such disasters is further compounded when damage to critical rail infrastructure prevents freight trains from delivering goods and passenger-train riders from traveling to work, school, home — or wherever they need to be.
Progressive Railroading recently reached out to rail contractors and service providers that help railroads recover from natural disasters and extreme weather events to learn about their latest offerings. Following are emailed responses from three of them.
Genesis Rail Services offers mechanical, engineering, transportation and equipment services. The company is dedicated to designing and constructing reliable railroad infrastructure, supporting maintenance projects and responding to emergencies when necessary, said Tom Hayden, Genesis Rail Services' executive vice president of rail services.
Annually, Genesis handles about 150 derailments for various customers, including derailments caused by weather-related events. Response times vary depending on the destination, but Genesis' crews typically arrive within an hour of the emergency call and immediately dispatch upon arriving at the respective location, Hayden said. Crews can set up the company's large equipment at a site in as little as 30 minutes, he added.
Recent derailments that Genesis responded to include one in North Carolina. When they arrived, Genesis crews found nine loaded auto racks had derailed, with one on its side. The mainline and two siding tracks were blocked and significantly damaged due to the derailment.
"We mobilized emergency crews/equipment from Salisbury, North Carolina, and Roanoke, Virginia," Hayden said. "Our employees had the mainline cleared within one hour of arriving onsite and rerailed all nine loaded cars within 12 hours."
After the damaged cars were pulled into the facility, Genesis' load adjustment personnel unloaded the vehicles from all nine cars while the company's track crews responded and repaired all track to resume service, Hayden added.
Meanwhile, when a washout caused by severe flooding from torrential rains occurred in Ada, West Virginia, Genesis crews responded to the emergency call and then worked to repair tracks and remove mud, debris and a house that slid onto the track.
R. J. Corman Railroad Group's Storm Team's comprehensive response services include complete track reconstruction, from clearing debris and rebuilding damaged sections to reinforcing and resurfacing the entire lines. The company also can set up temporary base camps to provide all the infrastructure customers need, R. J. Corman officials said.
With an equipment inventory that includes hi-rail excavators, rotary dumps, grapple trucks, loaders, bulldozers, dump trucks, tampers and regulators, the company can respond quickly and effectively, they said.
R. J. Corman also understands the importance of keeping freight moving, even during power outages. As a result, the firm's storm team can deploy and maintain generators at signaled crossings, ensuring uninterrupted traffic flow.
"As a vertically integrated company, R. J. Corman offers a one-stop solution for all railroad recovery needs. Our customers benefit from decades of expertise and all the equipment and infrastructure required to resume safe and efficient operations," company officials said.
For example, in July 2023 in Vermont — when heavy rains caused widespread flooding that damaged rail infrastructure — the storm team responded quickly, deploying over 80 team members from across the country and a wide variety of heavy equipment to tackle diverse recovery projects and a widespread geographical area, they said.
Teams worked on such tasks as sand removal, structural reinforcement, undercutting to remove sand dragged by the flood, rebuilding washed-out sections and other rehabilitation duties.
One of the most impressive effects of the natural disaster was a washout caused by an overflowing creek that was located on mountainous terrain, adding extra complexity to the repairs, R. J. Corman officials said. The company's teams needed to haul riprap and other material from a distance and through a very steep landscape.
After many days of strenuous work and coordination among R. J. Corman teams and customers, the response ended on Aug. 21, 2023, when the railroad could resume operations, company officials said.
Natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods and earthquakes all affect the power grid. And when that happens, the grid can become a source of high-voltage spikes affecting the AC power feeds to signal bungalows, said Ronald Capan, president and principal consultant for Site-Specific Solutions Inc.
There's often a need for portable power generators when the power grid is down. But some of those generators can and do produce "dirty" power, which can have devastating effects on signaling electronics, Capan said. Depending on the type and the connected loads, the generators can produce high voltage spikes that damage signaling equipment.
When natural disasters strike, damaging power-related phenomena are often overlooked in the chaos. To help customers better prepare for such extreme situations, Site-Specific Solutions provides products that are designed to protect signaling system electronics from over-voltages caused by lightning strikes, storms and similar events, said Capan.
"We offer extremely reliable power protection for both AC and DC power," he added.
Email questions or comments to julie.sneider@tradepress.com.
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