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April 2015
Part 1 : 2015 MOW Spending Report: Railroads set aside billions of dollars to bolster infrastructure
Part 2 : Large freight railroads ramp up budgets, workloads
Part 3 : Small freight railroads target more dollars at more infrastructure improvements
Part 4 : Passenger railroads allocate additional dollars to take on a plethora of projects
2015 MOW Plans (By Budget Amount)
2015 track and structure budget: $144 million*
2014 track and structure budget: $138 million**
Typical capital program scope: Rail work, 100 lineal miles; tie installations, 1 million; surfacing, 2,000 track miles; switches, 50; bridges, $20 million worth of work; sidings, 30,000 track feet; crossing rehabs, 200.***
* Information from GWI's fourth-quarter 2014 earnings presentation **Information from GWI's presentation at NRC's 2014 conference ***Information from GWI's presentation Jan. 10 at NRC's 2015 conference
2015 MOW budget: $38,453,925
2014 MOW budget: $35,631,470
Reasons for budget increase: Inflation and material cost escalation.
Rail: Install or replace 18.1 miles of rail with 136-pound RE continuous-welded rail (CWR).
Special/unusual trackwork: Complete Richmond I.T. clearance project on the Belt Line North in Philadelphia and build a new Amtrak connection in Detroit.
Sidings: Belt Line siding in Philadelphia, 2,000 feet, and Tremley siding in Linden, N.J., 5,000 feet.
Grinding/surfacing: Grind 150 pass miles and surface 123 miles.
Ties: Install/replace 73,150 wood and 7,850 steel ties.
Ballast: Install 36,900 tons.
Bridge work: Replace timber bridge with concrete boxes on the Lincoln RT in Carleton, Mich., $375,000, start in June; rehabilitate the concrete deck of a bridge on the Lehigh Line in Roselle, N.J., $250,000, start in June; replace a bridge on the Port Reading secondary in Metuchen, N.J., with a new span, $450,000, start in July; replace wire ropes on Delair Bridge in Philadelphia; and various bridge deck replacements.
Facilities: Replace yard office at River Rouge and North yards in Detroit; replace retarder at Oak Island in Newark, N.J.; and install 4 new yard tracks at Port Richmond Yard in Philadelphia.
Unusual projects: Finalize replacement of swing span with new vertical lift for Paulsboro Moveable Bridge; convert lift span of Delair Bridge to be remotely controlled by dispatcher; install electronic position indicators on bow handles, derails and blue flags throughout Pavonia Yard; and reconfigure the Detroit interlocking at CP Lou and CP Bonita.
2015 capital spending: Estimated at $38.1 million (involves 150 projects)*
2014 capital spending:
Note: 2015 budget reflects projects submitted to the company's Capital Committee for approval and doesn't include routine or regular maintenance work.*
Budgets for work segments in six major regions: Nearly $11 million for tie projects, $8.2 million for surfacing projects, $6.4 million for bridge projects, $6.7 million for rail projects and $5.5 million for other work, such as crossing surfaces, switch ties and turnouts.*
*Information from Watco's presentation Jan. 9 at NRC's 2015 conference **Information from Watco's presentation at NRC's 2014 conference
2015 MOW budget: $37.2 million
2014 MOW budget: $35.1 million
Reason for budget increase: Signal upgrades across the system.
Rail: Install/replace 15 miles of rail with mix of rail.
Major track projects: Install 10.7 miles of CWR, surface and ballast 10.7 miles of track, install 8,000 ties and 6 turnouts, and renew 23 grade crossings for the Great Western Railway of Colorado; replace 4,000 feet of rail in curves, surface 15 miles of track, and install 9,000 ties and 1,000 tons of ballast for the Alabama & Tennessee River Railway; surface 48 miles of track, renew a crossing, and install 15,000 ties and 6,000 tons of ballast for the Georgia and Florida Railway; replace 5,640 feet of rail in curves, surface 20 miles of track, and install 11,000 ties and 4,000 tons of ballast in Illinois Railway's Montgomery Subdivision; surface 18 miles of track and install 10,000 ties and 4,000 tons of ballast in Illinois Railway's LaSalle Subdivision; and replace 4,000 feet of rail in curves, surface 20 miles of track, and install 13,500 ties and 4,000 tons of ballast for the Kettle Falls International Railway.*
Sidings: Build 3 new siding tracks totaling 16,000 feet and 2 new yard tracks for the Great Western Railway of Colorado; and construct a 6,000-foot siding and various yard tracks for the Illinois Railway.*
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 650 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 75,000 ties.
Ballast: Install 50,000 tons.
Bridge work: Inspection and rehabilitation budget is $4 million for work at various locations. Work includes the partial encasement of 3 piers with steel sheet piles for 6-span Hudson Bay Railroad bridge, begin in June and conclude by September.*
*Information from OmniTRAX's presentation Jan. 8 at NRC's 2015 conference
2015 MOW budgets: $18.7 million (operating maintenance); $7.4 million (capital track rehabilitation); $400,000 (rip-rap and drainage maintenance)
2014 MOW budgets: $18.3 million (operating maintenance); $6.8 million (capital track rehabilitation); $500,000 (rip-rap and drainage maintenance)
Reasons for budget increase: Budget is comparable to last year's. Continue to experience "financial challenges" that impact spending, so unable to spend as much as when received more federal grant money.
Rail work: Continue a track rehabilitation program as an ongoing effort to upgrade the mainline, sidings and yards from Seward to Fairbanks. Program calls for replacing rail, ties and ballast in areas of critical need.
Special/unusual trackwork: Continue work on Port MacKenzie rail extension, a 32-mile rail spur to an existing port. Embankment construction is underway on 4 of the project's 6 segments. Additional funding is required to complete the remaining segments. After the embankment work is completed in a few years, the $303.5 million project will move into the final phases involving sub-surface and ballast placement, track construction and signalization. Work is slated for completion in late 2017.
Grinding/surfacing: Similar to last year, the rail program is limited to pick up and clean up from prior-year rail work; no rail grinding or installations are planned. Surface about 125 miles of track.
Ties: Install or replace up to 10,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install about 20,000 tons.
Bridge work: The 2015 bridge program budgeted at $4.5 million calls for major maintenance, overhauls and replacements. Projects include the replacement of a 126-foot timber bridge along the Whittier branch with a steel and heavy timber tie deck bridge; driving the foundation piles for a new bridge at Skookum Creek; completing design and procuring a steel replacement span for a 27-foot, I-beam bridge span at Placer River (if resources permit); and continue building 8 concrete and steel girder bridges and 3 oversize culverts for the Port MacKenzie rail extension. Also, rehab and repair projects include performing shoe, side span and dolphin weld repairs on the Whittier Barge Slip; installing south end scour protection and replacing north end bearings and timber components at Big Susitna River; and completing design and procuring materials to replace timber towers with steel towers at Sheep Creek.
Other work: Replace tunnel liners that are in poor condition in Tunnel 2, and relace or improve the existing tunnel retaining walls in the Grandview area.
2015 MOW budget: $18 million
2014 MOW budget: $17 million
Reason for budget increase: Increase in rail installations.
Rail: Install or replace 7.34 miles of rail with new 136-pound IQ CWR.
Sidings: 2,200 track-foot siding in North Bergen, N.J.; 6,000 track-foot siding in Cortland, N.Y.; and 12,500 track-foot siding in Syracuse, N.Y.
Ties: Install or replace 24,525 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 50,500 net tons.
Bridge work: Steel work at bridges in Cortland, N.Y., and Ridgefield, N.J., start in May.
2015 MOW budget: $14,295,000
2014 MOW budget: $15,800,000
Reason for budget decrease: White River Bridge rebuild project, which began in May 2014, is 70 percent complete.
Rail: Install or replace 11.6 miles of rail with CWR.
Grinding/surfacing: Total of 200 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 2,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 25,000 tons.
Bridge work: 3 projects in the Chicago Subdivision: Replace timber pile bent with steel and reinforce concrete ballast deck bridge, $1.3 million, start May 15; replace timber pile bent bridge with concrete box culverts, $700,000, start June 15; and finish rebuilding a 1,100-foot-long truss bridge with new thru-plate girders, $2.5 million, work in progress.
Facilities: Major yard rehabilitation projects at the Senate Avenue, Hiawatha and Terre Haute classification yards.
Unusual projects: Use $8.25 million TIGER grant, $5 million in private funds and $600,000 from the state of Indiana to construct the new White River Bridge in southern Indiana. The bridge was built in 1899. Project began in May 2014 and is slated for completion in August.
After spending $20 million in 2014 to mostly renew rail and ties, the Indiana Rail Road Co. (INRD) has allocated $17.5 million in 2015 to predominantly replace or renew bridges.
Notable bridge projects include the replacement of two timber bridges in the Chicago Subdivision in the White River floodplain between Linton and Elnora, Ind., according to INRD's spring newsletter.
The 91-foot northernmost bridge will be replaced by two concrete culverts placed side by side and covered with subgrade and ballast, while the 184-foot timber trestle to the south will be replaced by a 159-foot steel and reinforced-concrete ballast deck structure. INRD also plans to continue replacing the 117-year-old White River bridge north of Elnora to accommodate 286,000-pound rail cars.
Although 2015 will be a busy year for bridge work, projects planned for both 2016 and 2017 in total will comprise the most aggressive bridge replacement program in the railroad's history, INRD officials said in the newsletter.
The regional plans to replace a 112-foot timber bridge near Newton, Ind., and replace eight other timber bridges in the Indianapolis Subdivision ranging from 28 to 130 feet long with steel and reinforced-concrete ballast decks.
In addition, the Shuffle Creek Trestle north of Bloomington, Ind., will receive a makeover, with components replaced in the 75-foot-tall viaduct's steel towers.
2015 MOW budget: $13 million
2014 MOW budget: $13.4 million
Rail: Install/replace 1.42 miles of curve rail with CWR.
Grinding/surfacing: Mainline 28 miles times double main.
Ties: Install or replace 15,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install more than 18,000 tons.
Bridge work: Large-scale maintenance and repairs to bridge at North Avenue and Manistee.
Facilities: Regrade 13 yard track switches, 4 diamonds, 1 lap switch and 3 groups of class tracks.
2015 MOW budget: $12.2 million
2014 MOW budget: $8.5 million
Reasons for budget increase: In August 2014, the railroad was awarded a $10 million grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to construct a bridge over the Lehigh River in Carbon County, which will provide progressive routing between the Reading and Lehigh division mainlines. Funds will be received over a two-year cycle, with $5 million allocated this year and $5 million in 2016. The $10 million is the state share, of which the railroad will provide $4.3 million in local share funds. The 2015 budget includes $7.14 million for the bridge.
Rail: Install or replace 4.35 track miles of rail with 136-pound relay CWR.
Special/unusual trackwork: Replace 4,000 feet of track (all new ties, rail and track materials) through the Buck Mountain Tunnel on the Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch.
Sidings: New 1,400-foot siding in North Reading Yard in Reading, Pa.
Grinding/surfacing: Grind 55 miles and surface 75 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 14,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 9,600 tons.
Bridge work: Construct a new Nesquehoning Bridge in Carbon County, Pa.; in final permitting stages and groundbreaking anticipated in August. The bridge will be about 500 feet long with a ballasted deck, and comprise 3 spans carrying rail traffic about 40 feet above the Lehigh River on an 11 degree horizontal curve. The project includes 1,200 feet of track to connect the 2 existing lines. Also replace a full timber deck on a 100-foot-long bridge on the Susquehanna Branch, start in May, about $110,000.
Facilities: Construct new garage and storage building to house trucks and equipment at Penobscot Yard in Mountain Top, Pa.; and build new crew quarters facility in Pittston Yard in Pittston, Pa.
2015 MOW budget: $10.1 million
2014 MOW budget: $17.6 million
Reason for budget decrease: The initial 2014 budget of $9.6 million did not include $8 million worth of expansion to the Brewster Yard facility that occurred late last year to accommodate increased traffic.
Rail: Install or replace 14 track miles of rail, all CWR.
Special/unusual trackwork: Rehab of the Clairton Branch in the Pittsburgh area, including the installation of CWR on the mainline and siding tracks; installation of 12,000 crossties and 4 new turnouts; and flash welding of 21 miles of jointed rail to complete a multi-year program to eliminate all jointed rail on the mainline of the 67-mile Carey Subdivision.
Grinding/surfacing: Grind 150 miles (already completed) and surface 100 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 47,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 30,000 tons.
Bridge work: Ballast deck installation on 6 bridges, and retire 4 bridges with installation of culverts and 2,000 deck timbers.
2015 MOW budget: $10.1 million, including $4.9 million of capital expenditures
2014 MOW budget: $15.8 million, included $11.7 million of capital expenditures
Reasons for budget decrease: By end of 2014, the railroad decided to build a new siding to increase line capacity at cost of $2.8 million, and performed relay rail project in city limits of San Angelo, Texas, last year at cost of $2.5 million.
Rail: Install or replace 5 miles of 115-pound CWR.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 100 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 20,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 5,500 tons.
Bridge work: Bridge management program between San Angelo Junction and McCamey, Texas, $750,000.
2015 MOW budget: $9 million (capital)
2014 MOW budget: $8.5 million (capital)
Reason for budget increase: Material costs.
Rail: Install or replace 4.5 miles of rail with jointed rail.
Ties: Install or replace 32,000 ties.
Ballast: Install 6,000 tons.
Bridge work: Budget of $600,000 for projects across the system, predominantly on the DeQueen & Eastern, Louisiana & North West and Columbia & Cowlitz railroads.
2015 MOW budget: $7,850,000
2014 MOW budget: $8,830,000
Reasons for budget decrease: Less work planned with outside contractors and all work being done with railroad employees. Several delayed projects were done by outside contractors in 2014.
Rail: Install or replace 5 miles of rail, including 4 miles of joint rail and 1 mile of CWR.
Ties: Install or replace 25,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 15,000 tons.
Bridge work: Tie upgrades on 4 bridges, $700,000.
Facilities: Upgrade yard in Charlottesville, Va., $2.2 million.
2015 MOW budget: $7.6 million
2014 MOW budget: $4.9 million
Reasons for budget increase: Rail grinding program, ballast program, grade crossing improvements, new rail installations and the installation of new turnouts.
Rail: Install or replace 1.5 miles of rail on mainline with 136-pound CWR.
Special/unusual trackwork: Replace/install 5 No. 10 turnouts and 1 No. 11 turnout with all new turnouts.
Sidings: Build siding in Butterfield, Mo., 2,400 track feet, relay rail.
Grinding/surfacing: To be determined; waiting on inspection by Loram Maintenance of Way Inc.
Ties: Install or replace 18,000 ties.
Ballast: Install 11,000 tons.
Bridge work: Replace deck ties in Fort Smith, Ark., $276,000, started in January; replace pipes with concrete boxes in Chester, Ark., $250,000, start in June or July; replace deck ties in Mountainburg, Ark., two locations, $67,000, started in January; install culvert boxes in Winslow, Ark., $50,000, start in May; and install new backwall and fill south bend No. 5 in Chester, Ark., $40,000.
2015 MOW budget: $7 million
2014 MOW budget: N/A
Rail: Install or replace 1 track mile of jointed curve relay rail.
Ballast: Install 10,000 tons.
2015 MOW budget: $6.5 million
2014 MOW budget: $8.2 million
Reason for budget decrease: Reduced capital spending to a more "normalized level."
Rail: Install or replace 2.9 miles of rail with 115-pound relay rail in 80-foot lengths.
Grinding/surfacing: Internal surfacing of 35 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 13,904 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 3,125 tons.
Bridge work: Program is budgeted at $125,000 and scope of work varies from replacing caps, stringers and piles to replacing stiffners on a few steel structure bridges, start in June.
Facilities: New roof on MOW building, expand main office and add a training facility.
2015 MOW budget: $6,445,000
2014 MOW budget: $1,630,000
Reasons for budget increase: Grant assistance from states of New York and Pennsylvania, and receipt of the Section 45G short-line tax credit for 2014.
Rail: Install or replace 1.2 miles of rail with CWR.
Special/unusual trackwork: Undercut a bridge in Carrollton, N.Y., to attain full double-stack clearances.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 42 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 27,700 new wood and 3,500 relay wood ties.
Ballast: Install 12,000 tons.
Bridge work: Rehab 350 feet of timber approaches to a through-truss bridge in Eldred, Pa., $700,000.
Facilities: Install 11 new switches at Olean Yard in Olean, N.Y.
Unusual projects: Drainage structure repairs, ditching and roadbed stabilization due to spring 2014 storms, $800,000; and rebuild surfaces at 30 public grade crossings, $750,000.
2015 MOW budget: $6,122,000
2014 MOW budget: $5,422,000
Reason for budget increase: The largest relay rail project in the railroad's history is set for 2015.
Rail: Install or replace 37.3 miles of rail with CWR.
Special/unusual trackwork: Replace 37 miles of 72-pound jointed rail with 112- to 115-pound CWR, making a new 286k-compliant route for grain shuttle trains.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 90 miles; grinding work undetermined.
Ties: Install or replace 15,000 hardwood ties.
Ballast: Install 16,000 tons for routine maintenance, plus about 15,000 tons for rail relay project.
Bridge work: Repair 4 to 5 bridges in North Dakota as part of routine maintenance program, and repair and upgrade 3 bridges as part of relay rail project.
The Red River Valley & Western Railroad Co. (RRVW) soon will tackle the largest relay rail project in the regional's history. The railroad plans to spend
$14 million to replace 37 miles of 72-pound jointed rail with 112- to 115-pound continuous-welded rail between Lisbon and Davenport, N.D.
To begin in May or June, the project will shorten the route for grain shuttles, enable the line to accommodate 286,000-pound rail cars and hasten equipment turns, says RRVW Director of Administration Dan Zink. When a new grain shuttle facility opens in Verona, N.D., in early 2016, originating trains' route miles will be cut in half from 150 miles to 75 miles, he says.
RRVW plans to build a connecting track in the northwest quadrant of its system so trains can pass more directly from one sub to another, saving about an hour in operations, says Zink. The work — which also calls for replacing rail and tie plates — will be performed by RailWorks Corp.
BNSF Railway Co. — which interchanges grain shuttles with RRVW — will contribute funds for the project and the state of North Dakota will provide a $6.5 million loan. The project is funded separately from RRVW's 2015 capital program. A typical capital program for the regional ranges from $1 million to $1.5 million, says Zink.
RRVW's previous largest capital project was completed in 2005, when the railroad spent $3.5 million to $4 million to upgrade about 15 miles of track between Independence and Oakes to meet 286k standards.
— Jeff Stagl
2015 MOW budget: $6 million
2014 MOW budget: $10 million
Reasons for budget decrease: The investment the railroad made in 2014 was unprecedented and equated to an amount greater than the sum of what the former Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway property had recognized in the previous decade.
Rail: Install or replace 36,000 linear feet (6.82 miles) of rail with 80-foot stick, field-welded rail. Last year, 110,000 linear feet (20.83 miles) of rail was replaced.
Sidings: Add an interchange/passing track at Northern Maine Junction in the Bangor, Maine, area to decrease dwell time on traffic moving from the Central Maine & Quebec Railway to Pan Am Railways Inc.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 97 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 29,650 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 19,000 tons.
Bridge work: Program budgeted at $475,000 to address various maintenance items; no major rehabs planned.
Facilities: Build new facility at Farnham, Quebec, for crews to report on and off duty.
2015 MOW budget: $5,805,000
2014 MOW budget: $5,816,000
Rail: Install or replace 7.2 track miles of rail with 136-pound relay head-hardened CWR.
Sidings: Build 4,700-foot siding at Allegheny Valley Railroad/Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway interchange.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 22 miles.
Ballast: Install 22,000 tons.
Bridge work: Install new bridge timbers on the Monongahela River Bridge in Pittsburgh; install new bridge timber and new rail on the bridge over the Youghiogheny River in Connellsville, Pa.; and install five new bridge decks on small bridges on the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad.
Facilities: Rebuild Bowest Yard on the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad in Dunbar, Pa., and expand yard facilities on the Ohio Terminal Railway.
2015 MOW budget: $4.2 million
2014 MOW budget: $3.6 million
Reasons for budget increase: Obtained multiple grants with the New York and Pennsylvania DOTs, and received federal crossing money.
Rail: Install or replace 1.8 miles of rail with jointed rail.
Sidings: Build 3,600-foot siding in Avondale, Pa.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 20 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 13,500 wood and 450 steel ties (in curves).
Bridge work: Redeck a bridge in Middletown, N.Y., and upgrade the only 2 bridges on the Middletown & New Jersey Railroad LLC not rated for 286k to that capacity in Warwick, N.Y.
Facilities: Build rail-to-truck transload facility with 3 or 4 tracks on land purchased in Avondale, Pa.
2015 MOW budget: $3,925,261 (not including structures)
2014 MOW budget: $4,640,000 (not including structures)
Rail: Install or replace 2.5 track miles of rail with new 136-pound rail in 80-foot lengths (1.15 miles), 140-pound relay CWR (1.1 miles) and 115-pound jointed relay rail (0.25 miles).
Special/unusual trackwork: Replace 400 feet of rail and ties in Rock Tunnel in Lisbon, Conn.; rehab yard tracks and 7 turnouts in Worcester, Mass.; and replace 1 turnout on main track in Putnam, Conn., to remove 25 mph slow order.
Sidings: Extend 5,000-foot storage track by 2,000 feet and add 1 turnout to create a 7,000-foot siding in Cumberland, R.I.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface about 30 miles as part of tie program.
Ties: Install or replace 15,500 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 8,000 tons.
Bridge work: Replace steel superstructure of 99-foot deck girder over Blackstone River in Sutton, Mass., $1.5 million, start in fall; replace stringer and perform strengthening work on 4 mainline truss bridges between Worcester, Mass., and Providence, R.I., $1.5 million, start in May; and replace steel superstructure of 18-foot span over a brook in Plainfield, Conn., $100,000, start in summer.
2015 MOW budget: $3.5 million
2014 MOW budget: $3.5 million
Rail: Install or replace 4.7 miles of rail with 115-pound relay jointed rail.
Grinding/surfacing: A total of 4.7 miles as part of the rail project.
Ties: Install or replace 14,500 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 3,600 tons.
2015 MOW budget: $3,335,857
2014 MOW budget: $2,984,582
Reasons for budget increase: General cost increases for materials and MOW employee raises, etc.
Rail: Install or replace 0.5 miles of rail with 80-foot, 115-pound relay rail.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 60 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 2,000 wood ties on main track.
Bridge work: Install new decks on 6 bridges and install 4 new culverts.
2015 MOW budget: $2,497,617
2014 MOW budget: $1,700,048
Reason for budget increase: Maintenance requirements associated with the takeover of a highly utilized, 49,000-foot rail yard.
Rail: Install or replace 1 mile of rail with jointed 132-pound relay rail.
Grinding/surfacing: Total of 6 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 6,500 wood ties.
Bridge work: Bent repair/rehab work for Old Verdell Creek Bridge within Charleston, S.C., with the South Carolina Port Authority Columbus Street Terminal footprint, $22,000, start about Aug. 1.
Facilities: South throat realignment of Cosgrove Yard leads.
Unusual project: Taking over a 49,000-foot yard from CSX/Norfolk Southern Railway and beginning a maintenance program for that yard.
2015 MOW budget: $2,486,830
2014 MOW budget: $2,445,905
Rail: Install or replace 3.5 mile of rail with jointed rail.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 30 miles.
Ties: Replace as needed for maintenance only.
Ballast: Install 5,000 tons
Bridge work: Convert ballast deck to open deck on 1 bridge and address frame bents on 2 bridges, $300,500, begin in April.
2015 MOW budget: $2,300,000
2014 MOW budget: $1,020,000
Reasons for budget increase: New York state grants and received the Section 45G short-line tax credit for 2014.
Special/unusual trackwork: Joint elimination project, $20,000.
Grinding/surfacing: Grind 8 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 5,000 wood ties.
Bridge work: Replace a 70-foot rail-over-highway iron bridge in Avon, N.Y., $600,000.
Facilities: Enginehouse extension, $500,000.
2015 MOW budget: $1,960,176
2014 MOW budget: $1,782,409
Reason for budget increase: General increase in material and labor costs.
Rail: Install or replace 2 miles of rail with CWR.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 2 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 600 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 2,000 tons.
2015 MOW budget: $1.6 million
Rail: Install or replace possibly 2 miles of rail with 115-pound CWR.
Special/unusual trackwork: Build 3 grade crossings, 2 are 300 feet long and 1 is 100 feet long.
Sidings: Build a 1-mile siding in Jefferson Parish, La.
Bridge work: Install 2,500 bridge timbers, perform work with railroad's own forces.
Facilities: Possibly build a new tie (bridge timber) mill.
2015 MOW budget: $1,484,000
2014 MOW budget: $1,397,000
Reasons for budget increase: Slight increase due to inflation and reallocation of MOW resources toward increased maintenance rather than capital expenditures. Completed a major capital upgrade from 2008 to 2014 and have readjusted capital to more regular levels for 2015.
Rail: Install or replace about 2 miles of rail; upgrade jointed rail by replacing 100-pound, 39-foot rail with 115-pound, 80-foot rail.
Ballast: Install 5,000 tons.
Facilities: Completed a shop expansion and wheel lathe installation in early 2015.
2015 MOW budget: $1,347,654
2014 MOW budget: $1,769,692
Reasons for budget decrease: Already have some newly built track and replaced some track, installed some ties and performed some bridge repairs in 2014.
Special/unusual trackwork: Build 6,000 feet of track for a new customer for Rio Valley Switching Co. Also, the company might construct track for new customers depending on business growth for the Gardendale and Santa Teresa Southern railroads.
Grinding/surfacing: Total of 42.25 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 11,200 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 4,800 tons.
Bridge work: Repair defects found during 2014 inspections and conduct yearly inspections per FRA requirements at Rio Valley Switching and Southern Switching Co.; conduct yearly inspection per FRA requirements at Caney Fork & Western Railroad.
2015 MOW budget: $1,318,778
2014 MOW budget: $1,368,935
Special/unusual trackwork: Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) grant project for the Garden City Western Railway Inc. involving the installation of 2,250 ties, tie plates and anchors on 3 miles of track, and tamping and regulating 15,840 feet of track, $359,552 (with percentage of cost covered by KDOT grant), start in mid-May. Short line also obtained TIGER II grant from state of Kansas for switch upgrades. In addition, the Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railway Co. received an Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) grant to install 10,000 ties between Cecil and Defiance, Ohio, including tamping and regulating ballast, $1.5 million, complete in summer. An additional 3,600 ties will be installed in the middle section between Cecil and Defiance as part of extra funding available from the ORDC.
Ties: Install or replace 19,166 wood and 63 new switch ties, plus 1 bundle of switch ties; relay 63 switch ties.
Ballast: Install 7,505 tons.
Bridge work: Perform annual inspections on 302 bridges at various short lines.
Unusual projects: Tie project for Gettysburg & Northern Railroad Co. involving the installation of 1,600 new ties between Aspers Yard and Biglerville Yard, including tie plates and ballast, and tamping and regulating 21,120 feet of track, $229,995 (with percentage of the cost covered by Pennsylvania DOT grant). Also, Mississippi Central Railroad Co. has submitted a bridge project through the Mississippi DOT and the Elkhart & Western Railroad Co. is performing a historical upgrade on the St. Joseph River Bridge that's still in progress in 2015.
2015 MOW budget: $1,204,997 capital; $1,166,426 operating
2014 MOW budget: $17,633,550 capital; $1,199,814 operating
Reasons for budget decrease: Undertook large-scale strategic intermodal system project from Orlando to Umatilla, Fla., in 2014.
Special/unusual trackwork: Installation of 9,400 crossties on Florida Northern West Coast Subdivision corridor.
Ties: Install or replace 9,400 wood ties (capital budget) and 750 wood ties (operating budget).
Ballast: Install 1,000 to 4,000 tons for West Coast Subdivision tie project.
2015 MOW budget: $1,063,000
2014 MOW budget: $855,000
Sidings: Build 1-mile siding for interchange with Norfolk Southern Railway in Coopers Plains, N.Y.
Ties: Install or replace 3,000 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 1,000 tons.
2015 MOW budget: $750,000
2014 MOW budget: $750,000
Bridge work: Rehab 5 bridges, 3 in Illinois and 2 in Indiana.
2015 MOW budget: $600,000
2014 MOW budget: $500,000
Reason for budget increase: Bring more track to usable condition.
Rail: Install or replace 2.5 miles of rail, angle bar.
Ties: Install or replace 3,500 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 1,600 tons.
Facilities: Build a new office building.
Unusual project: Bring rail back to service to serve a building for a new tenant.
2015 MOW budget: $520,000 (not including new yard projects with Port of Stockton and Union Pacific Railroad)
2014 MOW budget: $440,000
Reason for budget increase: Crossing renewal and switch turnout upgrade.
Rail: Install or replace 6.95 miles of track at Port of Stockton, Calif., all CWR both new and secondhand 136-pound rail.
Special/unusual trackwork: New east interchange yard at Port of Stockton as a partner with the port, includes 4.6 miles of new track or 5 new yard tracks for capacity improvement, rail plant for UP on west port complex, 2.35 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 1,500 mixed hardwood ties.
Ballast: Install 5,800 tons.
Bridge work: Renew headwalls on San Joaquin River Bridge at Port of Stockton, $29,000; and replace 2 stringers on main track, $8,000.
Facilities: Pave east and west end of locomotive and MOW shop.
2015 MOW budget: $82,000
2014 MOW budget: $174,000
Reason for budget decrease: Track rehab is up to date, so the 2015 budget is substantially less.
Ties: Install or replace 400 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 100 tons on Apache lead.
Bridge work: For 1 bridge, replace stringer with four-ply, 8-inch by 16-inch stringers in all 2 spans, replace existing shims on each bent with 1 solid sawn shim under each chord and replace north headwall with retired stringers estimated at 3 feet tall. At another bridge, shim under both chords on a bent, replace 8-inch by 8-inch 10-foot deck ties spaced at 12-inch centers and replace guard timber with 4-inch by 8-inch guard timber. Both projects estimated to cost $78,500, with work starting in April.
Facilities: Weatherproof shop in Curtiss, Ariz.
2015 MOW budget: N/A
Rail: Replace about 50,630 lineal feet of rail, including northbound and southbound main tracks across Jacksonville Bridge, track south of Harwood and other various locations.
Major rail projects: Construct 12,500 track feet with 136-pound premium rail at Port of Palm Beach, including 7 No. 10 136-pound switches and 3 No. 10 136-pound crossovers, and 212 feet of new concrete crossings.
Double track: Construct 5.4 miles of double track from Sunbeam to Bayard, including 136-pound premium rail, concrete ties, 1 No. 24 turnout, 1 No. 20 universal crossover, 1 No. 15 crossover, the construction of 3 new bridges and replacement of 3 bridges with concrete ballast-deck bridges.
Turnouts: Install 1 No. 10 and 3 No. 8 turnouts in Bowden Yard; 1 No. 24 and 3 No. 8 turnouts in New Smyrna Beach; 3 No. 10 turnouts along mainline; 1 No. 20 and 5 No. 10 turnouts on K-Branch; 1 No. 20 and 6 No. 8 turnouts at Pompano Beach; and 1 No. 10 and 2 No. 8 turnouts at Hialeah Yard.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 290 miles and undercut 25 miles; surface 17 crossings and rehab 36 crossings.
Ties: Replace or install 6,400 wood, 6,000 concrete and 2,540 switch ties.
Tie projects: Install 2,860 wood ties from Bowden to Cocoa, 2,700 wood ties from West Palm Beach to Miami and 840 wood ties from Cocoa to West Palm Beach; install 3,000 concrete ties from Bowden to Cocoa and 3,000 concrete ties from Cocoa to West Palm Beach; install 1,021 switch ties from Cocoa to West Palm Beach, 914 switch ties from Bowden to Cocoa and 634 switch ties from West Palm Beach to Miami.
*All information from FEC's presentation Jan. 10 at NRC's 2015 conference
Rail: Install or replace 14.5 track miles of CWR and jointed rail.
Sidings: Build 2,000-foot siding in Orleans, Vt.
Grinding/surfacing: Total of 125 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 15,000 wood ties, and possibly an additional 15,000 ties.
Ballast: Install 40,000 tons.
Bridge work: Re-deck east Wallingford bridge with new ties in spring; perform bearing work on Clarendon & Pittsford Railroad bridges; and re-deck bridges on the Vermont Railway.
Special/unusual trackwork: Grade separate underpass at 1st Avenue in Iowa City, Iowa; install 6 additional hot-box detectors; extend west yard in Council Bluffs, Iowa; and replace 3 turnouts.
Grinding/surfacing: Surface 48 miles.
Ties: Install or replace 38,131 timber and 574 switch ties.
Ballast: Install 38,400 tons.
Bridge work: Replace 8 bridges.
Facilities: Upgrade rip rap and build new yard office in Council Bluffs; complete yard capacity project at Burr Oak Yard in Blue Island, Ill.
Rail: Install or replace 16 track miles of CWR.
Ties: Install or replace 60,000 wood ties.
Special/unusual trackwork: Replace 6 mainline turnouts with new turnouts.
Ties: Install or replace 23,500 wood ties.
Ballast: Install 17,500 tons.
Bridge work: Replace 1 bridge with a concrete box culvert.
Ballast: Install 6,500 tons.
Bridge work: Replace 3 wood bridges with concrete box culverts and rehab 1 wood bridge to make it heavy axle compatible.
On March 24, Wisconsin & Southern Railroad LLC (WSOR) broke ground on a project involving the reconstruction of about 11 miles of state-owned track between Plymouth and Kohler, Wis. The groundbreaking was a milestone in a nine-year effort by state of Wisconsin officials, local leaders and area business owners to restore rail service after the line was embargoed in 2006.
WSOR in late 2014 began to clear trees from the right of way and recycle the old tracks, and now will focus on the main track reconstruction portion of the work. The $19.1 million project is expected to be completed by fall.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will provide more than $17 million for the project, with the remainder to be covered by WSOR; the cities of Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls; Sheboygan County; Bemis Manufacturing Co.; Kettle Lakes Cooperative; and Morrelle Transfer & Warehouse.
The railroad is looking forward to serving several existing customers along the line, which features land suited for industrial or warehousing uses, said WSOR Director of Government Relations Ken Lucht in a press release issued by the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp.
In addition, the regional is working with several area businesses to establish multi-modal capabilities on an existing spur, he said.
Owned by Watco Cos. LLC, WSOR operates 700 miles of branch and mainline track in 21 Wisconsin and Illinois counties, and is Wisconsin's second-largest railroad. The regional interchanges with BNSF Railway Co., Canadian Pacific, CN, CSX Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Railroad.
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