Climbing comes naturally to many people when they are young, but the activity can become more complex — and riskier — as we age, especially if it involves structures such as bridges. Railroad Engineering Services’ annual bridge team training was held January 4-9 in Atlanta. Because of an emphasis on safety and skill training for climbing, the training was conducted at CSX’s REDI Center, which has a climbing structure with overhead fall protection. Every G&W Bridge Construction and Bridge Inspection team attended, as did regional bridge directors and managers. The structure was extremely helpful, says Assistant Chief Engineer of Bridge Construction Philip Ogram. “It enabled us to continue our climbing training in a controlled environment where we could focus on the training perspective around climbing and accessing our bridge components, rather than the inspection or repair processes if we were doing this training in the field,” he says. “In addition to the climbing structure, there were several small-scale bridge models to help with bridge nomenclature and inspection techniques that were valuable for members of both teams.” The field portion of climbing and inspection training was split between Ogram and Director of Structures Inspection Ian Elliott, while Chief Engineer of Structures Bill Riehl took a portion of the employees to the track panel for hands-on fall protection training. 20 AroundG&W
TIE AND SURFACING GANG 1
GETS A SUNNY START IN ARIZONA Tie and Surfacing Gang 1 started its production year in sunny Arizona, working on a 12,000-tie project for Arizona Eastern Railway (AZER). After wrapping up a smaller assignment near Bowie, Arizona, that was held over from December, Manager of Production Ancel Head and his team launched into a major tie replacement project near Safford, Arizona. Designed to increase the speed limit on AZER’s main line, the work was done over an uninterrupted 36-mile stretch, plus some other sections of track. “We did some jumping around,” says Head, adding that the project, which finished on February 13, went smoothly. TS-1 employees performed the work reportable injury-free. “This gang was reportable injury-free last year, and that is still going,” says Head.
SH UT T ER ST O CK B Y R O L AU ELENA
CLIMBING INSTRUCTION HIGHLIGHTS ANNUAL BRIDGE TEAM TRAINING
