UP develops on-track option to eventually spray weeds all day
3/22/2022
By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
Ensuring weeds and other unwanted vegetation don’t impede operations on more than 32,000 miles of track systemwide is a day-in, day-out endeavor for maintenance-of-way crews at Union Pacific Railroad.
The workers typically use a fleet of hi-rail trucks to spray vegetation along UP’s lines and can cover up to 30 miles of track per day. Although employing equipment on track would be more productive and efficient, the Class I has found if trains and vegetation management machinery occupy the same track, network congestion tends to occur.
Until now.
UP employees have developed a new vegetation sprayer that’s designed to quickly and effectively apply herbicides and other solutions along track without impacting traffic. The equipment pulls five water cars and a sprayer car at the tail end, and is tailored to work in tandem with train operations. It can carry 100,000 gallons of water and apply 25 to 60 gallons of solution per mile.
“This new sprayer allows us to cover more track, with less equipment and less impact on our network, which is a big achievement and step forward,” says Antonio Buelna, UP’s director or rail management-engineering. “We are always looking for ways to enhance our equipment and find efficiencies.”
Crews began testing the sprayer in May 2021. During a standard 12-hour shift, it can cover about 160 miles of track per day — or more than five times the coverage of hi-rail trucks.
Five water cars pulled by the sprayer carry up to 100,000 gallons of water so the equipment can apply 25 to 60 gallons of solution per mile. Union Pacific Railroad“It's a win-win — there is less network congestion, and we’re more effective with our resources and moving customers’ goods,” says Buelna.
Employees began developing the vegetation sprayer in 2019 and came up with a prototype about a year and a half later.
“The most challenging piece was designing a sprayer that would work effectively on different vegetation and in different geographical locations. Or to put it another way, to ensure it would work in all 23 states in which Union Pacific operates,” says Buelna. “This equipment gives us the flexibility to change products based on location and type of vegetation.”
For now, UP is employing one vegetation sprayer, which will continue to be evaluated to help fulfill future vegetation management needs. The railroad plans to add crew quarters to the equipment by July so it can operate 24/7 and cover about 300 miles of track per day.
To see the newfangled sprayer in action, check out the video below.
Video courtesy of Union Pacific Railroad
