This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
December 2013
A remote area of eastern Wyoming known more for dinosaur fossil digs and rodeos seems an unlikely place for a beehive of train activity. But thanks to some help from Balfour Beatty Rail Inc. (BBRI) — and a healthy oil reserve sitting below the nearby shale — plenty of activity is in store there in the months ahead.
"We ended up with a pretty nice facility," says Steve Gorton, BBRI Director of Operations/West. "This is an area that is just heating up. As they increase the ability to get oil out, you're increasing the amount of business that you'll see here."
BBRI's work this summer at the new Powder River Basin Industrial Complex just east of Douglas, Wyo., is expected to start paying dividends soon for BNSF Railway Co. and the two energy companies operating a crude oil rail terminal there: Crestwood Midstream Partners L.P. and Enserco Midstream L.L.C. Crestwood Midstream L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership that develops, owns and operates predominantly fee-based natural gas, NGL and crude oil storage and transportation businesses. Enserco Midstream L.L.C., a subsidiary of Twin Eagle Resource Management L.L.C., owns and operates crude logistical assets in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, and has plans to develop additional assets in North America.
At least 20,000 barrels of oil per day are expected to move from the terminal out to BNSF tracks in early 2014, with plans to reach 60,000 barrels daily, the companies said in a press release. But it took a bit of engineering, earth moving and experience working in challenging locales from BBRI to put together a project that came in on time and on budget.
BBRI's work at the complex began June 10, Gorton says. The company's task:
The area's topography and its remote location presented immediate challenges for BBRI, Gorton says. Working with a familiar partner, Earth Work Solutions Inc., BBRI developed plans to move and grade large amounts of soil on the site in order to keep the grade of the loop less than a half-percent.
BBRI also had to work closely with the Wyoming Department of Transportation to upgrade a county road that bisected a wye.
Utilizing a 10-man crew working 11-hour days for five days a week (with an occasional maximum crew of 16), BBRI completed the track work by Sept. 25, which enabled limited track usage to begin with no problems reported, says Gorton. He credited BBRI's long working relationship with BNSF, as well as previous experience working in the challenging Powder River Basin, with completing a project "with zero punch-list items."
The future in the Powder River Basin also looks bright for BBRI, as the company is eyeing construction of the second loop at the Powder River Basin Industrial Complex, as well as rail work at three other sites in the region that are preparing for more oil transport, Gorton says.
"They all eventually need increased train capacity, which entails the need for a rail loop," he says. "We've done a lot of work at facilities like this in Gillette [Wyo.], North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, so it's kind of right up our alley."
Herzog Railroad Services Inc.'s (HRSI) Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for ballast spreading has been implemented all across the railroad network. But as one Class I railroad in need of ballast spreading discovered, a rail tunnel is one of those places where GPS is often non-existent.
That railroad also discovered this year that technology developed by HRSI kept the ballast flowing efficiently, despite weak or non-existent GPS communications. The implementation of Herzog's P.L.U.S./SMART Inertial System in those projects has bolstered the future of the company's ballast work for railroads in a highly competitive market that continues to emphasize speed and quality, Herzog officials believe.
"This allows the railroad to focus on high-speed ballast delivery," says Herzog Vice President of Marketing Tim Francis. "Time is money. The quicker they can dump the train and return it back to the quarry to reload, the better."
In development and testing for several years, HRSI's P.L.U.S./SMART Inertial System combines computerized high-speed ballast spreading with new satellite technology, enabling faster and more efficient ballast delivery in tunnels, mountains and other areas where standard GPS signals are ineffective, Francis says. Rather than depending solely on GPS, Herzog's system uses more sophisticated Global Navigation Satellite System Inertial technology, which the company says is more precise and reliable in areas where GPS cannot be used.
Previously, ballast spreading in tunnels and other areas where a GPS signal could not be maintained had to be performed manually with workers walking in tunnels beside slow-moving manually operated cars or front loaders, shoveling and spreading stone into place, Francis says. Not only was it time-consuming, it created health and safety issues for workers dealing with poor ventilation and the dust created by the stone, he says.
"The safety side is a big aspect of this and every product or service we offer," Francis adds.
The P.L.U.S./SMART Inertial System is mounted to a locomotive while unloading HRSI's high-speed ballast-dumping cars, enabling them to continue operating in a non-GPS environment.
"It's all laptop controlled from the cab of the locomotive, utilizing HRSI patented programming," Francis says.
The system had its first successful run for a western Class I railroad earlier this year, when Herzog was called on to spread ballast in a two-mile-long tunnel where the railroad had just installed new ties, Francis says. Seventy-five cars traveling at about 8 mph spread ballast inside the center of the track — meaning that no manual spreading and no work crews were required in the tunnel.
Once outside the tunnel, the power was placed on the other end of the train and the direction was reversed for a second dump, which spread ballast inside and outside the rail. This is another benefit of the Herzog ballast trains: The dumps can be made, in either direction, regardless of the direction the pre-dump survey had been completed, Francis says.
"[The system] allowed us to maintain our accuracy, and it really cut down on time for the railroad. It was a seamless ballast spread," Francis says. "It went as well as we had hoped."
Herzog currently has the P.L.U.S./SMART Inertial System "available and ready," according to Francis, adding that the system will be an important part of HRSI's track-servicing arsenal.
"We think there are a lot of opportunities out there," Francis says. "The benefits for the railroads are great."
The Railroad Construction Co. of South Jersey Inc. (RCCSJ) hit a daily double this year, landing two rail construction projects about 10 miles apart in and near Philadelphia, each with the same purpose: receiving and transporting Bakken crude oil from North Dakota.
While it took skill and experience to simultaneously plan the projects and carry out the work, it also took a key investment made long before the projects materialized that helped the firm land the work, says Project Manager Chris Daloisio.
"Both projects were located in ports, where you run into security issues. You need TSA TWIC [Transportation Worker Identification Credential] clearance," he says. "Our entire workforce is TWIC-qualified. It takes two months to get TWIC qualification, but it's well worth it."
Also, Daloisio noted RCCSJ was ready to "hit the ground" since it is an ISNetworld subscriber, which is now required by most Fortune 500 companies as the "gold standard" for background clearances of outside contractor employees. Added to these requirements, all RCCSJ employees hold the Delaware Valley Safety Card aka the "South Jersey Chemical Card," reflecting certification to perform construction work in heavy industrial operations.
At both the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) oil refinery in Philadelphia and the Enbridge Inc. facility in neighboring Eddystone, Pa., RCCSJ was called on to install steel ties to accommodate the expected heavy tank cars carrying Bakken crude.
The PES site presented particular challenges. RCCSJ was called on to assist Rhinehart Railroad Construction, the prime railroad contractor for the project. With PES eager to move Bakken crude oil into its refinery, construction began on Aug. 13 to build 26,000 track feet of 132-pound jointed rail, including eight #10 turnouts.
Responsible for the field production, Daloisio utilized two 15-man crews working around the clock. The project was completed 60 days later, ahead of schedule.
"We had zero work injuries and we had zero loss of man-hours," he says.
While the PES project was at full-throttle, RCCSJ as the railroad track contractor was planning work at Enbridge's Eddystone Rail location, a trans-shipment facility designed to take in Bakken crude by rail and then deliver it to nearby refineries via barge. Scheduled for completion early next year, RCCSJ's work will include 13,000 track feet installing new inner and outer track loops, two mainline and 10 industrial #10 turnouts, 90 percent of which will utilize steel ties and timbers. In-place turnout construction already has begun.
The back-to-back projects put a premium on the contractor's planning abilities, Daloisio says.
"We've had constant communication among the crafts, the design professionals and the project owners' representatives," he adds.
Meanwhile, the heavy workload prompted the company to temporarily supplement its crews with additional workers hired through long-standing relationships with area labor unions. Those temporary workers also had the necessary TWIC credentials, which prevented lost work time.
Although some companies might have viewed the projects as a headache, RCCSJ embraced them, Daloisio says.
"We like having problems like this — we have it down to a really workable approach," he says. "We've become the difficult track project specialist."
Daloisio sees more similar challenges on the horizon, noting that there already has been discussion with other project owners regarding future engagements.
"There are opportunities all up and down the East Coast, and a lot of it involves oil and natural gas train loading using rail," he says. "If it involves rail, we plan to be involved."
The task of completing work for a new transit-rail client while also doing important work for an established freight-rail customer made for some challenging times this year for Railroad Controls Ltd. (RCL), a railroad signal construction and material integration company. Toss in the need to complete the transit work alongside heavy freight-rail traffic — and within a tight deadline — and the challenges became even more daunting.
"It required a detailed approach to project planning, scheduling and management," says RCL President Mike Choat. "But I think we've come out of this with some very good relationships with everyone involved."
Despite the logistical juggling, RCL's signaling work for the Central Florida Commuter Rail Transit project, also known as SunRail, came in on time and on budget, Choat says. The SunRail project represents RCL's largest transit project to date — it's an important milestone for a company seeking to expand the scope of its transit-rail projects.
"There have been some challenges working with all of the different agencies [on SunRail], but we've done well," Choat says. "I'm hopeful we can do more."
RCL was tabbed more than 18 months ago as part of the multi-contractor effort to get the first phase of SunRail operational by spring 2014. When completed, SunRail will run along a 61-mile stretch of existing freight-rail tracks in a four-county area in Central Florida. The first phase will feature 32 miles of double track and 12 stations, linking DeBary and Orlando.
The $47 million portion of the contract awarded to RCL included installation of new signaling, highway grade-crossing systems and an operations control center.
RCL's work was divided into seven phases over 18 months, says Steve Griffin, executive vice president and chief operating officer. Beginning with signal design and engineering and continuing to installation, RCL employed an average of 50 to 60 employees throughout the project, with a maximum of about 80, Griffin says. As of press time, the project's final phase was expected to be completed by mid-December, he adds.
Perhaps the project's most demanding challenge was the installation of 38 grade crossing systems along the route, Griffin says. Two crews working 12-hour shifts around the clock were necessary to meet project timeline requirements. And since SunRail is using tracks owned by the state of Florida and still available to CSX Transportation, "we did this all under traffic conditions," Griffin says. "That definitely added to the challenge." And for much of the duration of the SunRail project, RCL also was busy performing signal installations on several Class I railroads.
Choat and Griffin credit Joe Morgen, RCL's full-time project manager, for keeping the SunRail project on course.
"Joe had to spend a lot of time with the design team, the engineering team and all of the contractors and subcontractors," Griffin says.
Those efforts didn't just help RCL complete the SunRail project on time, Choat says. They also helped open the door to another transit rail project in Florida: signaling and crossing work for the Miami Intermodal Center near Miami International Airport.
"I think we were invited to be part of the team because of the work we did in Orlando," Choat says. n
Faced with construction delays and logistical challenges as part of a complex transit project in Tucson, Ariz., RailWorks Track Systems needed a friend. But RailWorks officials had something more in L.K. Comstock National Transit: another RailWorks Corp. subsidiary that knew what to do to smooth over some rough patches and help get Tucson's ambitious Sun Link Modern Streetcar project closer to completion.
"[L.K. Comstock] was willing to jump in and start their work sooner than they might be willing to if we were not part of the same parent company," says RailWorks Track Systems Project Manager Roger Boggess. "This allowed us to make up time on the overall schedule, over the traditional way of the track contractor completing their work 100 percent, and then handing off the area to the systems contractor."
That assist helped RailWorks Track Systems and joint venture partner Granite Construction finish their $56 million construction portion of the $196 million overall project on time and on budget.
Although streetcar delivery delays pushed the launch of Sun Link service back to mid-2014, officials at RailWorks and L.K. Comstock can reflect on a successful, yet challenging project that highlighted the benefits of sister companies working together.
A veteran manager at RailWorks, Boggess knew early on he would have his hands full trying to keep the project on an already tight schedule. It was RailWorks' task to construct 3.9 miles of double track running between the sprawling University of Arizona campus and downtown Tucson, encompassing busy shopping, entertainment and residential districts. Construction began in April 2012.
One of the first and most significant challenges? Where to weld the rail into the 320- to 720-foot lengths of continuous-welded rail (CWR) necessary, then developing a way to stage and move that rail when it was ready for installation.
"Normally, the job right-of-way is not down the middle of city streets," Boggess says.
What resulted was the creation of a special roller that was attached to the rails and then rolled along the city streets into the work sites, using police escorts ahead and behind the rail-moving operation. The rollers enabled crews to negotiate 90-degree corners, a necessity given the streetcar alignment, Boggess says. In some cases, the CWR was moved as far as one-and-one-half miles into installations sites, requiring careful coordination to ensure city streets could be quickly cleared for vehicular traffic.
The urban setting also caused some concerns for L.K. Comstock, which was charged with installing overhead catenary systems, signaling, power cables and six traction power substations.
"It was very challenging to schedule the optimum number of field people because of the uncertain access to the scheduled job areas," says L.K. Comstock Project Manager Zafar Arif. "Bringing those resources too early when there was not adequate access would have resulted in wasted cost. On the other hand, not bringing the resources at the right time would have delayed the project."
Moreover, the late delivery of the streetcars required L.K. Comstock to schedule testing without knowing when the cars would be delivered, Arif says. Constant communication between L.K. Comstock, RailWorks and the subcontractors was needed to keep the project on schedule.
And it was that company familiarity between RailWorks and L.K. Comstock that helped make up for some of the scheduling shortfalls.
"It made both the communication and coordination efforts easier," Arif says. "We had better access to information, which helped me to make better decisions on bringing in resources. And we had better cost and budget management because the billing was internal."
And with 15 different contractors and hundreds of workers on site at any given time for more than year, anything that was easier to accomplish was welcome.
"Our job team managed this well, and this was a large part of us completing the work on time," Boggess says.
Related Topics: