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February 2024
Compiled by Michael Popke
Atlantic Track — which works with Class Is, heavy-haul railroads, light-rail systems, railroad contractors and industrial enterprises — manufactures solutions for railroad bridges, as well as ballasted, structural and direct-fixation track. Multiple bridge joint designs also are available that are designed to provide safe, reliable protection against thermal expansion and contraction that can cause costly structure damage, company officials said in an email.
All Atlantic Track bridge products are engineered and manufactured using durable components and premium-grade materials; bridge joints are available in two- and three-piece manganese designs, along with miter rails assemblies and easer arrangements, company officials said. Various expansion joint designs also are available in an all-rail configuration, providing up to 30 inches of movement for thermal expansion and contraction.
Atlantic Track also offers field, design and installation support services, and the capability to refurbish existing joints while providing solutions for movable span bridges, scales and grade crossings. The company manufactures special trackwork at plants in Memphis, Tennessee; Richmond, Illinois; St. Clair, Pennsylvania; and Clyo, Georgia.
Kawasaki Rail Car has developed an autonomous track component monitoring system designed to capture high-resolution images and provide the necessary data for railroad customers to identify components that need to be inspected and repaired.
Installed on locomotives, the system uses machine-learning technology; the first component it will monitor is track fasteners. The company plans to roll out production models of the locomotive-mounted autonomous fastener monitoring system in the North American freight-rail market early this year, company officials said.
The new monitoring system is part of Kawasaki’s goal to create a complete suite of autonomous track inspection and maintenance support products to pair with predictive data modeling, company officials said.
Knox Kershaw Inc. plans to roll out a hybrid version of its KBR 925 Ballast Regulator in early 2024. From a recent experience with converting straddle lift cranes to hybrid technology, company officials envision “the immense advantages this technology can have on current and future MOW equipment,” they said.
Benefits of the hybrid KBR 925 include a smaller engine package for increased visibility and lower noise emissions; fuel savings through the use of batteries to power operations such as the A/C and motors; electric HVAC for operator comfort; engine air filter life while using only battery power; increased engine life (it only runs when charging is needed); and less wear and tear on pumps.
Also: Knox Kershaw’s KBR 925 Ballast Regulator — which is designed for ballast work on all types of track — now includes the Plus+1® System Option, which enables the machine to automate key functions to make operations smoother and a touch screen to monitor system functions. The new Danfoss system controls machine functions and displays machine diagnostics. The Plus+1 system also is an option on the company’s KSF 940 machine and is standard on the KKA 1050, KTC 1250 and KPB 200.
L.B. Foster Co. continues to develop track products to meet the needs of transit agencies, company officials said. The company recently received a patent on its newly designed high-resilient special trackwork rail fasteners.
The design combines the flexibility of using an adjustable bolted clip housing commonly used on standard special trackwork direct-fixation fasteners with high-resilient performance characteristics, offering additional noise and vibration mitigation, company officials said. The design can also be modified to offer a solid top plate with weld-on shoulders, if preferred.
In 2023, L.B. Foster and CH. Vidon — through joint venture L.B. Foster Produtos Ferroviarios do Brasil Ltda — commissioned a new insulated joint manufacturing facility in Juiz de Fora, Brazil. The facility is modeled after L.B. Foster’s Allegheny Rail Products division, with U.S. manufacturing facilities in Niles, Ohio, and Pueblo, Colorado. The Brazil facility will serve railroad customers in South America.
Loram’s fleet of ballast maintenance equipment can undercut, clean shoulder ballast, excavate ditches and safely vacuum material away from special trackwork. When pairing the company’s excavating equipment with its MHC60 material handling cars, Loram customers can realize improved work block efficiencies and reduced unit costs, company officials said.
For example, railroads continue to find new uses for Loram’s LRV vacuum excavators. By pairing vacuum power with a manipulator that can apply 5,000 pounds of force at the tip of the nozzle, the LRV can excavate even the most fouled and cemented ballast in the hardest-to-reach locations, company officials said.
In addition to excavating in tight clearances on ballast deck bridges, in tunnels, and around switches and grade crossings, the LRV can perform mud spot undercutting and removal, cross drain or trench digging, and drain cleaning. And because there are no moving parts associated with vacuum excavation, ballast can be removed from critical components without any damage, company officials said.
Loram also offers the Badger Ditcher for high-speed ditch clearing and creation. The high-efficiency ditcher can excavate material at up to 800 tons per hour to quickly improve drainage and direct water away from the track, company officials said. The DCMax also can carry 200 tons of material onboard for difficult ditching applications.
By consistently excavating at eight inches below the tie and restoring the ballast shoulder structure, fines and migrate through the shoulder with dramatically improved seepage time, company officials said. Loram’s equipment is designed to break open mud pockets, compacted fines and ballast voids in the cribs and under the ties, as well as release damaging trapped water.
Loram Technologies is applying digital twins around the globe — including in North America, Brazil, Europe and Australia — to assist in extending rail infrastructure life and improve reliability.
The Loram Virtual Rail patented approach and software suite focuses on using digital twins to help railroads efficiently use their data to recommend, plan and monitor the best location-specific maintenance strategies to maximize track life.
The digital twins create a virtual representation of the physics and data of a track segment and allow users to test different maintenance strategies, including grinding, friction management and material selection. Users then can quantify how each scenario will impact track-life extension, return on investment and capital plans before implementing changes in the field, company officials said.
The digital twin models are expanding, including connecting the impact of maintenance on multiple track systems like wheel-rail interface, ties, ballast and substructure, and evaluating new failure modes like squat/stud defects. The software is modular to allow users and their partners to input new models and use these models in real-world applications.
Once maintenance scenarios are optimized, Loram’s series of scheduling tools can determine how to implement the maintenance strategy in the most efficient way and monitor compliance to ensure the strategy is being executed as planned, company officials said.
Pandrol North America offers a range of track maintenance solutions, including rail stress management to mitigate the risk of rail buckling in extreme temperatures. The company’s VERSE provides a non-destructive method to measure the stress-free temperature (SFT) of continuous-welded rail. The aim: to help ensure track safety, minimize speed restrictions, navigate tamping effects and plan re-stressing operations, company officials said. The portable Pandrol VERSE system swiftly measures SFT without cutting or welding, providing accurate results that take into consideration rail section, wear and track curvature.
Additionally, Pandrol’s Shoulder Clearance Safety Barrier is designed to create a secure trackwork zone. Designed for high ballast shoulders, it clamps to the rail foot with no specialized tools, ensuring minimal ballast disturbance.
The safety barrier also enhances track safety by preventing worker entry into the live traffic area and is especially useful with high ballast shoulders, company officials said. Plus, it enables higher train speeds on adjacent lines, which can reduce train-delay penalties, they added.
Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company, supplies a variety of infrastructure products and services to support its global customers.
As a manufacturer of specialty trackwork in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia, Progress Rail offers a full line of track products for freight, heavy-haul and transit railroads throughout the world. Products include turnout systems and specialty trackwork ranging from complete turnout panels to such maintenance components as flash-butt welded boltless frogs, lift frogs, tapered-heel frogs, partial flange-bearing frogs, moveable point frogs, OWLS crossings, Clamptite adjustable braces, adjustable guard rails, asymmetric switch points and cast monoblock crossings with flash-butt welded leg.
The company’s specialty products include buffer stops, overhead line structures, stretcher bars, cast-iron platework and hollow steel sleepers. Plus, Progress Rail’s line of fasteners includes rail anchors, ME or SL series systems for concrete ties, a variety of bonded direct-fixation fasteners, e-clips and ballast mats.
RailWorks’ multifaceted suite of track services includes track inspections, track maintenance, large-scale track rehabilitation, emergency repairs, track construction, rail grinding, undercutting, thermite welding, flash-butt welding, narrow gauge and cog railways. Services are provided throughout North America to all rail segments — freight, transit, streetcar, military, commercial and industrial.
“If there is rail involved, we have the capabilities to build or maintain it,” said RailWorks Executive Vice President Richard Carney.
Meanwhile, RailWorks’ fleet of more than 40 specialized flash-butt welding trucks has been integrated into the business across the network. Combined with the largest fleet of contractor-owned rail maintenance equipment in North America, the trucks are positioned to meet customer needs when and where they are needed, company officials said.
For trackwork customers, voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak LLC integrates more than 400 years of in-house railway design expertise in fastening systems, concrete crossties and turnout ties, switch drives and asset monitoring into a complete system for freight railroads, streetcar systems and light-, heavy-, commuter- and high-speed rail operations.
The focus is on increasing reliability, availability, safety and service life while reducing maintenance, with Nortrak’s Keyway Tie System and Unistar-HR switch machine serving as two examples, company officials.
The Keyway Tie System has been installed in multiple locations in wood-tie track where wide gauge was an ongoing maintenance and safety issue. The system secures and stabilizes track gauge using concrete ties interspersed with wood ties, maintaining the same track modulus as wood ties. The concrete ties can be installed with typical wood-tie equipment.
The Unistar-HR switch machine can control a moveable point frog from a single interface to the signal system with multiple drive points for full mechanical locking and detection. Additionally, the Unistar-HR offers a small footprint, is flood resistant and can be installed without a crane.
Nortrak is the only North American special trackwork supplier with in-house production of manganese steel, concrete ties, ductile iron, direct-fixation fasteners and injection-molded plastics, enabling the company “to control its own supply chain, and develop and manufacture integrated turnouts, diamond crossings and all varieties of frogs and special trackwork components,” Nortrak officials said.
Michael Popke is a Madison, Wisconsin-based freelance writer. Email comments or questions to prograil@tradepress.com.
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