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September 2013
— by Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
The Engineering Department expects to make a meaningful contribution to railroads' do-it-better and do-it-smarter efforts. To do so, managers are targeting much of the same areas as their counterparts in other company departments: workforce development, work processes, equipment and technology.
Many railroads already are making strides in bolstering all four areas, or are registering benefits from completely different maintenance-of-way (MOW) approaches. CSX Corp. is attempting to do both. Yet, the Class I first needed to take a 10,000-foot view of how the department operates before it could derive any benefits at ground level.
Three years ago, CSX's Engineering Department engaged consultants to facilitate an "exhaustive study" of work processes and how to improve them, says John West, the Class I's vice president of engineering. One of the key findings: MOW work continues to greatly impact transportation since revenue trains aren't running when a line is closed for trackwork.
"How do you maximize the safety and reliability of our network while minimizing the interruptions that maintenance and other engineering work create?" West asks.
The study led to some answers, including a new take on crosstie installations. The consultants studied how crews install more than 3 million ties across CSX's network in a given year — a process that requires the deployment of manpower, materials and equipment in a highly coordinated fashion, says West.
"We found better ways to move our equipment from work site to work site, better utilize our people, improve controls on reporting and [gain] a higher degree of coordination with our transportation partners," he says.
For example, the department adopted unit tie trains to more efficiently deliver materials to work sites in advance of production work.
CSX also is seeking to deploy mobile technology to help MOW workers be more productive in the field. The department is conducting a pilot program in the Louisville Division through which field workers are using Windows-based tablets to report progress on track maintenance. The tablets enable field employees to view and prioritize work items quicker, access all other data from information technology systems and generate reports in a paperless environment, says West.
As mobile technology develops, CSX will introduce additional engineering applications, he says.
Kansas City Southern also is striving to provide field workers remote access to various reporting functions, such as track bulletins, remote track and time, and inspection filing. In addition, the Engineering Department is trying to embrace more available software, such as an ENSCO Inc. solution for track inspections and Bims software for bridge inspections, says KCS Vice President and Chief Engineer Jeff Songer.
Developed internally about five years ago, the Bims software has been enhanced to meet the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) new bridge inspection requirements, he says. In 2010, the FRA issued a rule that requires railroads to implement bridge management programs, conduct annual inspections on and inventory all bridges, and document all repairs, modifications and inspections for each bridge.
MOW equipment is another target area KCS is taking aim at to increase productivity and reduce costs. Equipment can be used more strategically, Songer believes. For example, a gang might use an additional spiker or tie inserter, or perhaps employ more operators if the actions boost production without increasing a job's cost, he says.
"If there's a choke point on gangs, maybe they'll add another spiker to be more consistent," he says. "We're looking for more of a balance of resources and cost."
Consistent work windows are key, as well. Engineering Department officials now work with local transportation managers to craft reliable eight-hour curfews so crews know exactly when they can perform work, says Songer.
"We're a single-line railroad, so if a line is down, we're shut down," he says.
Workforce development is vital to the department, too, especially training. KCS earlier this year opened a Transportation Engineering and Mechanical (TeAM) training center in Shreveport, La., to continue to expand and deepen training across the departments, says Songer.
The TEaM center helps new workers better learn the craft for which they were hired, as well as gain a perspective on the larger operation and interdependence of each department. New employees receive classroom instruction and perform field exercises with interactive learning tools to enhance their operating rules, procedures and compliance knowledge.
"KCS is positioned as a growth company, and as such, we are seeking to selectively add to our workforce, which further puts pressure on hiring," says Songer. "We are focused on our new-hire training efforts."
So is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which employs about 1,400 workers and 200 managers in the Engineering Department. The passenger railroad now offers new hires a Rapid Assimilation Program that's designed to cram five years' worth of inter-agency education into one year's time, says SEPTA Chief Engineer Andrew Gillespie.
One day per month for 10 straight months, the new hires undergo crash courses about each SEPTA department and the interaction between departments, and take tours around the company. The Rapid Assimilation Program, which first was conducted in fall 2011, is offered once per year.
"The new people gain a broad understanding of the departments," says Gillespie. "That way, they're not spinning their wheels as much to navigate through departments."
For experienced workers who display leadership potential, SEPTA earlier this year launched Advancing Internal Management (AIM). The two-year succession-planning program aims to ensure institutional knowledge is passed down to the next generation of workers — especially middle managers — and a continuity of leadership if turnover occurs in a critical position.
During the next few years, many experienced workers and key management personnel in engineering will be retiring, making succession planning a vital exercise, says SEPTA Assistant General Manager of Engineering, Maintenance and Construction Robert Lund.
Funded in part by a Federal Transit Administration grant in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, AIM helps prepare chosen candidates for future leadership positions via training and mentoring programs. The goal: create a pool of qualified candidates with the necessary skills and competencies to be effective leaders. The program's first AIM pool class includes 27 candidates from among 61 applicants who were chosen by a selection committee.
"The idea is to have a second- or third-stringer on hand," says Gillespie, adding that AIM targets about 20 key leadership positions.
SEPTA also is seeking ways to improve the project design process to gain efficiencies in the Engineering Department. For example, the passenger railroad tries to incorporate sustainable features — such as clear lighting and a stormwater management plan — into the designs of new facilities to ensure the structures have a long service life, says Lund.
In addition, SEPTA might outsource certain aspects of a project to derive savings, including the prefabrication of certain materials, he says.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has found that, in some cases, it's best not to outsource portions of an engineering project. During the design phase, it can be too much of a "back-and-forth thing" between the authority and a third party, says Mark Robinson, VTA's chief engineering and construction officer.
For the past two years, the authority — which operates light-rail and bus service — has tried to directly contract cities to design elements of engineering projects, such as sidewalks.
"We can take out the middle man," says Robinson.
VTA also tries to foster better collaboration between designers and contractors involved in a project. The authority provides a web-based system that enables designers and contractors to share documents electronically, including environmental reports and construction documents. The system helps improve collaboration and transparency.
"We're in the infant stages of using it now," says Ken Ronsse, VTA's deputy director of engineering and construction.
Improving in-house project management is a priority, as well. For the past several years, VTA has offered its project managers a training course to learn how to treat construction programs like projects, says Ronsse.
"They can manage programs the same way with the same tools. It empowers staff to think like project managers and not task managers," he says. "We get retention of the workforce because we show we invest in our staff."
Another VTA training program enables office and field engineers to better understand each other's role in the department. Office engineers spend time in the field, and vice versa.
"We have a diverse staff and we do all types of projects, and a diverse staff sometimes forgets all the things we do," says Ronsse. "This lets office and field engineers know the other side of the business. It ties into training and how we work together."
Finding ways to work well together is top-of-mind in Genesee & Wyoming Inc.'s (GWI) Engineering Department. The company essentially doubled in size after acquiring RailAmerica Inc. last year, and "there are a lot of new faces out there," says GWI Senior VP of Engineering Scott Linn.
Each of the company's nine North American regions — which govern 108 regionals and short lines — employs a human resources manager to help manage the larger workforce. GWI is working on a corporate succession planning strategy, and developing ways to strengthen recruiting and retain quality first-line supervisors, such as roadmasters, bridge managers and signal supervisors, says Linn.
Training is a key factor in those efforts. GWI is "keen on" providing as much technical and time-management training as possible, as well as offering more specialized training on how to maintain certain tools, says Linn.
GWI also is trying to standardize some engineering-related processes and procedures. Separate bridge, signals and track committees were formed earlier this year to develop and institute new policies on such topics as rail-flaw testing and bridge maintenance plans.
"It's an ongoing process. We've already made some policy changes," says Linn.
For example, department managers found it cost prohibitive to continue distributing some materials between railroads or a facility solely by rail car. Ties now are trucked to railroad properties and unloaded onto flat cars for distribution.
"As we move more volumes as a bigger company, it might make sense to use gondolas to load with materials and distribute. It's faster," says Linn.
GWI also is trying to develop a more user-friendly database to help the department keep track of the physical plant.
"Data now is not easily accessible and is housed in different locations," says Linn. "We have the information, we just need to bring it all together."
GWI subsidiary Atlas Construction Co. is attempting to bring all its MOW services together to offer customers a design/build/operate turnkey solution and contribute to the Engineering Department's long-term growth. The all-encompassing approach will help the subsidiary — which GWI acquired as part of the RailAmerica transaction — take advantage of synergies and, ultimately, generate more business, says Atlas Construction President Gary Long.
"We did some of this in the past, but not as much," he says. "We can gain the full benefit of the GWI family."
Atlas Construction also can derive benefits by pursuing more projects involving the explosion of crude oil and natural gas drilling at shales, such as the loading and unloading of frac sand, says Long. The company recently obtained a contract for a project in the South involving a destination terminal that will unload natural gas liquids, he says.
"We're already located in the Marcellus Shale," says Long. "There are opportunities for contracting if a project is located on a GWI property or not."
Shale-business opportunities also are knocking for the Brownsville & Rio Grande International Railroad (BRG) in Texas — so much so, the short line earlier this year completed an engineering project designed to eventually tap that potential.
In the first quarter, BRG finished building a $1.2 million, five-track yard at the Port of Brownsville that's designed to accommodate carloads of crude oil, frac sand and certain chemicals, such as lubricants. The yard can hold 138 cars and serve unit trains, says BRG President and Chief Operating Officer Norma Torres.
"We don't handle much crude and frac sand now, but we anticipate we will get some of that traffic," she says. "We want a piece of that pie."
BRG operates a yard on the south side of the port to handle bulk materials, but didn't have a north-side yard that would be more suited to shale traffic. The short line currently has a contract with government of Mexico-owned petroleum company Pemex to handle fuel No. 6 at the new yard, and that commodity is increasing in volume, says Torres.
As railroads continue to take on more carloads or passengers, their Engineering Departments figure to keep taking on more projects to ensure infrastructure condition and capacity are commensurate with current and projected traffic levels. Technological advancements surely will help advance projects.
"We think a better use of technology in the future will help us do a better job with designs, like the use of AutoCAD [software]," says VTA's Ronsse." We want to keep getting better."
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