February 2015 Railway Age

RailwayAge

February 2015 | www.railwayage.com

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Rapid expansion at NYCT

Hazmat Tank Cars: Hurry Up and Wait C&S Focus: Transit CBTC M/W Focus: HighProduction Rail Grinding

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RailwayAge

February 2015

visit us at www.railwayage.com Features Hazmat tank cars

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C&S Focus: Transit CBTC 27 M/W Focus: Rail grinding 30 Transit Focus: New York 34 TTCI track research

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News/Columns From the Editor

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Update

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Watching Washington

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Short Line/ Regional Perspective

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Financial Edge

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Departments Industry Indicators

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Industry Outlook

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Market

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People

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100 Years Ago

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Meetings

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Products

43

Advertising Index

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Professional Directory

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Classified

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On the Cover New York’s subway system is expanding with projects like the No. 7 extension.

Photo: MTA/Patrick Cashin

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Railway Age, USPS 449-130, is published monthly by the Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, 55 Broad St., 26th Fl., New York, NY 10004. Tel. (212) 620-7200; FAX (212) 633-1863. Vol. 216, No. 2.

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February 2015 Railway Age 1

From the Editor William C. Vantuono

Editorial and Executive Offices Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp.

55 Broad Street, 26th Fl. New York, NY 10004 212-620-7200; Fax: 212-633-1863 Website: www.railwayage.com

PTC: Is Congress listening?

T

en months to go until the Congressionally imposed PTC deadline arrives, and there are signs that Capitol Hill will grant the industry an 11th-hour extension. U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), newly installed Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, indicated in his opening statement at a Jan. 28, 2015 hearing on PTC that he would push legislation extending the deadline for freight railroads.

Thune apparently is prepared to listen to the concerns of those in the industry directly involved with PTC. CSX Vice President Service Design Frank Lonegro, speaking on behalf of the AAR at the hearing, is one of those voices: “[D]espite railroads’ best efforts, the existing statutory deadline for nationwide PTC implementation is unrealistic and should be extended,” Lonegro said. “PTC is an unprecedented technological challenge. Such a system requires complex technologies able to analyze and incorporate the huge number of variables that affect train operations. A simple example: The length of time it takes to stop a train depends on train speed, terrain, the weight and length of the train, the number and distribution of locomotives and loaded and empty freight cars on the train, and other factors. A PTC system must be able to take all of these factors into account automatically, reliably, and accurately in order to safely stop the train.”

Whether Lonegro’s “simple example” will be understood, much less embraced, by politicians and regulators remains to be seen, though in fairness the FRA seems to be on board with extending the deadline (no pun intended).

Of course, there are many specifics to be cited as to PTC’s complexity and cost. As Lonegro spelled it out for Thune and company: PTC involves “a complete physical survey and precise geo-mapping of the approximately 60,000 miles of 2

Railway Age

February 2015

RailwayAge

right-of-way on which PTC will be installed, including nearly 440,000 field assets; installing PTC on more than 22,900 locomotives; installing more than 35,000 wayside interface units (WIUs) that provide the mechanism for transmitting information to locomotives and dispatching offices from signal and switch locations; installing PTC on more than 3,300 switches in non-signaled territory and completing signal replacements at more than 14,500 locations; deploying a new radio system specifically designed for the massive data transmission requirements of PTC at 4,000 base stations, 31,000 trackside locations, and on 22,900 locomotives; and developing back office systems and upgrading dispatching software to incorporate the data and precision required for PTC.” As of year-end 2014, 13,000 locomotives were at least partially equipped with PTC, 19,000 WIUs were deployed, and close to 1,500 base station radios were installed—altogether, a little more than 50% of the combined requirements, at a cost to freight railroads that already exceeds $5 billion, none of it footed by taxpayers. When PTC is done, that number will be double, and it doesn’t include the hundreds of millions of dollars needed each year to maintain PTC. Equally important is that “the many potential failure points and failure modes in PTC systems are identified, isolated, and corrected, all without negatively impacting the efficient movement of goods by rail,” said Lonegro. “PTC systems must work flawlessly, day in and day out, or risk seriously impairing operations on key parts of the U.S. freight rail network. We in the railroad industry are fully committed to PTC, but it must be done correctly. That’s simply not possible by the end of this year.”

Congress, are you listening?

ARTHUR J. McGINNIS, Jr., President and Chairman JONATHAN CHALON, Publisher jchalon@sbpub.com WILLIAM C. VANTUONO, Editor-in-Chief wvantuono@sbpub.com Douglas John Bowen, Managing Editor dbowen@sbpub.com Luther S. Miller, Senior Consulting Editor lmiller@sbpub.com Contributing Editors: Roy H. Blanchard, Lawrence H Kaufman, Bruce E. Kelly, Ron Lindsey, Ryan McWilliams, David Nahass, Jason H. Seidl, David Thomas, John Thompson, Frank N. Wilner Creative Director: Wendy Williams Art Director: Sarah Vogwill Corporate Production Director: Mary Conyers Production Manager: Lily Man Production Director: Eduardo Castaner Marketing Director: Erica Hayes Conference Director: Michelle Zolkos Circulation Director: Maureen Cooney Western Offices 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910, Chicago, IL 60603 312-683-0130; Fax: 312-683-0131 Engineering Editor: Mischa Wanek-Libman mischa@sbpub.com Assistant Editor: Jennifer Nunez jnunez@sbpub.com George Sokulski, Associate Publisher Emeritus gsokulski@sbpub.com International Offices 46 Killigrew Street, Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 3PP, United Kingdom Telephone: 011-44-1326-313945 Fax: 011-44-1326-211576 International Editors: David Briginshaw, Keith Barrow, Kevin Smith Customer Service: 800-895-4389 Reprints: PARS International Corp.

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Industry Indicators SHORT LINE AND REGIONAL TRAFFIC INDEX

TRAFFIC ORIGINATED

32 DAYS ENDING DEC. 31, 2014

CARLOADS

MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS

by Commodity Grain Farm Products ex. Grain Grain Mill Products Food products Chemicals Petroleum & Petroleum Products Coal Primary Forest Products Lumber and Wood Products Pulp and Paper Products Metallic Ores Coke Primary Metal Products Iron and Steel Scrap Motor Vehicles and Parts Crushed Stone, Sand, and Gravel Nonmetallic Minerals Stone, Clay & Glass Products Waste & Nonferrous Scrap All Other Carloads Total U.S. CarLoadS

DEC. ’14 117,659 4,205 47,083 29,475 147,521 79,109 565,441 7,347 15,439 31,651 43,658 19,743 51,355 17,346 76,308 101,177 20,996 34,960 15,611 18,366 1,444,450

DEC. ’13 99,023 3,969 48,433 29,779 146,243 71,714 525,989 7.348 14,314 30,389 32,866 18,140 48,509 17,499 67,619 78,312 20,978 31,638 14,629 18,632 1,326,023

% CHANGE 18.8% 5.9% -2.8% -1.0% 0.9% 10.3% 7.5% 0.0% 7.9% 4.2% 32.8% 8.8% 5.9% -0.9% 12.8% 29.2% 0.1% 10.5% 6.7% -1.4% 8.9%

398,397

346,988

14.8%

1,842,847

1,673,011

10.2%

CARLOADS

Chemicals Coal Crushed Stone / Sand / Gravel Food & Kindred Products Grain Grain Mill Products Lumber & Wood Products Metallic Ores Metals & Products Motor Vehicles & Equipment Nonmetallic Minerals Petroleum Products Pulp, Paper & Allied Products Stone, Clay & Glass Products Trailers / Containers Waste & Nonferrous Scrap All Other Carloads

COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR INTERMODAL

32 DAYS ENDING DEC. 31, 2014

MAJOR U.S. RAILROADS

by Commodity TRAILERS CONTAINERS TOTAL UNITS

DEC. ’14 146,940 1,041,424 1,188,364

DEC. ’13 147,614 997,935 1,145, 549

% CHANGE -0.5% 4.4% 3.7%

7,342 258,670 266,012

7,347 231,273 238,620

-0.1% 11.8% 11.5%

154,282 1,300,094 1,454,376

154,961 1,229,208 1,384,169

-0.4% 5.8% 5.1%

COMBINED U.S./CANADA RR TRAILERS CONTAINERS TOTAL COMBINED UNITS

Source: Monthly Railroad Traffic, Association of American Railroads

average weekly U.S. Rail Carloads: all commodities (not seasonally adjusted)

% CHANGE 15.3% 3.3% 22.6% 7.1% 17.3% 10.8% 24.8% -20.6% 24.1% -5.5% 30.4% -3.0% 10.5% 24.8% 12.6% 0.6% 6.2%

DEC. 2014 - 393,597 DEC. 2013 - 349,678 310,000 320,000 330,000 340,000 350,000 360,000 370,000 380,000 390,000 400,000 Copyright © 2015 All rights reserved.

Railroad employment, Class I linehaul carriers, DECEMBER 2014 (% change from DECEMBER 2013)

CANADIAN RAILROADS TRAILERS CONTAINERS TOTAL UNITS

ORIGINATED DEC. ’13 42,682 23,636 31,464 12,022 24,010 6,664 8,674 9,394 18,955 12,240 2,333 2,016 18,835 10,568 42,134 10,680 81,132

TOTAL CARLOADS, DECEMBER 2014 VS. 2013

CANADIAN RAILROADS ALL Commodities

ORIGINATED DEC. ’14 49,233 24,418 38,584 12,881 28,156 7,387 10,826 7,460 23,530 11,566 3,043 1,956 20,810 13,193 47,453 10,739 86,153

BY Commodity

Transportation (train and engine) 71,721 8.26%

Executives, Officials, and Staff Assistants 10,012 1.52%

Professional and Administrative 14,278 2.82%

Total employees: 170,841 % change from DEC. 2013: 4.93% Transportation (other than train & engine) 6,701 0.68%

Maintenance of Equipment and Stores 30,766 3.44%

Maintenanceof-Way and Structures 37,363 2.60%

Source: Surface Transportation Board

Employment AGAIN UP FROM YEAR-AGO, Prior-month periOdS Figures released by the Surface Transportation Board show Class I total railroad employment rose 4.93% in mid-December 2014, measured against mid-December 2013, and was up a modest 0.59% from midNovember 2014. Transportation (train and engine) yet again powered the year-over-year gain, up 8.26%. Maintenance of equipment and stores gained most from November 2014, up 0.95%. All categories advanced over both year-over-year and the previous month.

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Railway Age

February 2015

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Industry Outlook Tank car safety tops NTSB list

Freight car backlog grows 75% The backlog of freight cars grew by about 75% in 2014, according to fourthquarter reporting statistics compiled by the Railway Supply Institute American Railway Car Institute (ARCI) Committee, released last month. As of Dec. 31, 2014, the backlog stood at 142,837 units, compared to 81,927 units at the end of 2014’s first quarter.

Orders in 2014’s fourth quarter decreased slightly, from 42,900 in the third quarter to 37,431. Deliveries stood relatively flat at 18,941 units, compared to 18,432 units in the third quarter. However, total orders of 138,234 cars in 2014 were nearly double that of 2013’s 66,569 cars.

2014 deliveries of 67,383 cars were 27% higher than 2013’s 53,050 cars. The number of deliveries has risen sharply since 2010, a rough year for the industry, when only 16,535 cars were delivered.

Tank car orders in the fourth quarter topped all other car types, at 14,964 units—about 60% of the total, and the highest ever in the modern era (post1980 Staggers Act), according to the ARCI. Covered hoppers under 3,500 cubic feet came in second in orders, at 8,627 units. Trailing in third and fourth place, respectively, were articulated intermodal platforms, at 5,392 units, and covered hoppers in the 3,500-5,500 cubic-foot range, at 3,802 units.

Honolulu project faces shortfall

PATH service cutbacks tabled

Honolulu City Council members last month deferred a resolution assuring short-term bond financing for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART)’s 20-mile elevated rapid transit line, now under construction.

A Memorandum of Understanding with HART would put the city at the top of any list of debtors demanding repayment, but council members fear the pledge is useless if HART has no money at all to repay such debt.

HART foresees a cost overrun of up to $700 million in capital construction costs, roughly 13.6% above the projected $5.16 billion project cost.

No cutbacks are imminent for PATH overnight service linking the Garden State and Manhattan, despite a report commissioned by the governors of New Jersey and New York recommending such cutbacks be evaluated. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey last month tabled the idea following vocal opposition from elected officials, backed by New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox. “This is not the way I would save money,” Fox told the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for 13 northern New Jersey counties PATH serves.

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Railway Age

February 2015

The National Transportation Safety Board last month released its 2015 list of 10 “Most Wanted” areas that require safety improvements. Six of the 10 are either rail specific or multimodal; four, among them tank car safety, are new.

The ten most-wanted improvements are “Disconnect from Distraction,” “Eliminate Substance Impairment in Transportation,” “Make Mass Transit Safer,” “Prevent Loss of Control in General Aviation,” “Enhance Public Helicopter Safety,” “Implement PTC in 2015,” “Strengthen Commercial Truck Safety,” “Strengthen Pilot Procedural Compliance,” “Improve Rail Tank Car Safety,” and “Require Medical Fitness for Duty.”

“Rail tank cars that carry crude oil, ethanol, and other hazardous materials across the country must do it more safely,” NTSB said in announcing the list. Of the four new issues on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List for 2015, “requiring that transportation operators be medically fit for duty” is the only other one concerning railroads. PTC has been on NTSB’s Most Wanted list for many years.

“The Board has kept an existing priority on the list and specified a date certain: Implement Positive Train Control in 2015. The date emphasizes the deadline established by Congress in 2008 for implementation of this lifesaving technology,” NTSB said.

“The Most Wanted List is our roadmap for 2015,” said NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “We want it to be a roadmap for policy makers and legislators as well. These are safety improvements for which the time is ripe for action. . . .This year the NTSB is focusing on all modes of mass transit for greater operational safety.”

For hazmat tank cars, NTSB notes that “more crude oil and ethanol than ever is moving across America’s rails.

But accidents demonstrate that the DOT-111 tank cars moving these flammable liquids are not up to the task.”

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Market

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More Siemens SF200 LRVs for San Francisco San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is exercising a $210 million option with Siemens for 40 additional SF200 low-floor light rail vehicles (LRVs), boosting the number of LRVs on order to 215. Last September SFMTA signed a $64 million contract for 175 SF200s. The LRVs will be assembled at Siemens’ Sacramento, Calif., plant. The SFMTA board will seek up to $153 million in state cap-and-trade funding. An additional $57 million would come from SFMTA itself.

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North America METROLINX: With Infrastructure Ontario (IO), selected Plenary Infrastructure ERMF as the preferred proponent to design, build, finance, and maintain the East Rail Maintenance Facility project to serve expanded GO Transit regional rail service.

NEW ORLEANS: Is considering putting its New Orleans Public Belt Railroad for sale to a private-sector operator.

provide ETCS Level 2 signaling technology for the suburban rail line between Toluca and Mexico City.

Worldwide DELHI METRO RAIL CORP. (INDIA): Awarded Alstom two contracts worth more than $75 million to supply signalling, telecommunications, and electrification equipment for the first phase of the metro network in Kochi, India.

SOUND TRANSIT: Awarded Hill International a one-year, $1 million contract to provide design-build project management services in connection with the E360 Segment of Seattle’s East Link Light Rail project.

EUROTUNNEL: Awarded Waggonbau Niesky, Germany, a €40 million ($45.4 million) contract for three freight shuttle sets, which will supplement the existing fleet of 15 trains.

TOLUCA, MEXICO: Selected a consortium led by Thales Group to

HUNGARY: Acquired a 64.9% stake in the carriage works at Dunakeszi near

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Railway Age

February 2015

Budapest from Bombardier in a deal worth $7.8 million.

ITALIAN RAILWAY NETWORK: Signed two contracts for civil works on new high speed rail lines in northern Italy.

Cepav, a consortium of Saipem (52%), Società Italiana Condotte d’Acqua (12%), G Maltauro (12%), and Pizzarotti (24%), was awarded a €768 million ($872 million) contract.

A second contract was awarded to Iricav, a consortium of Fintecna, Salini Impreglio, Lamar Contracts, Astaldi, and Pipelines.

NETHERLANDS RAILWAYS: Will proceed with an order for 60 electric multiple-units (EMUs) from Stadler after Alstom and Bombardier decided not to continue with legal proceedings against the railroad’s decision to award the contract directly to Stadler.

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Update Lilee Systems package offers PTC capabilities Lilee Systems has announced the availability of its TransAir™ LMS-2450 series, a locomotive messaging and application server (LMS) series that the company says “gives freight and passenger rail operators the ability to achieve positive train control (PTC) compliance.” Lilee said the system, “[b]ased on the newly released LileeOS 2.8 platform,” offers locomotive operators safety and speed enforcement per PTC’s implementation, “as well as manage other business data without having to invest in additional software or hardware for what is typically limited onboard cabinet space.The LMS-2450 “delivers both robust connectivity and an x86 application engine that allows users to load any business or PTC applications they wish to support,” the company said.

RailComm completes SEPTA switch and heater work RailComm has completed the installation of an advanced remote switch and third-rail heater control system for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority [SEPTA]. The switch and third-rail heaters are being controlled via RailComm’s DOC® System, with communications being handled with a combination of RADiANT® serial radios, cellular modems, and a fiber network along SEPTA lines. Remotely controlled heating elements allow SEPTA to only run the heaters when absolutely necessary, reducing energy use and related costs, and also reducing “the time railroad employees must spend along the track,” RailComm said. When heating elements present a failed condition, the system alarms the dispatcher so action can be taken before it affects train movements.

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Railway Age February 2015

4Q, full-year ’14 financials reflect growing Class I strength

A

s increasingly numerous indicators suggested strong U.S. economic growth entering 2015, Class I railroads kept pace, reporting fourth-quarter financial numbers that bode well for the sector and the overall economy.

CSX Corp. on Jan. 13 said it had notched record fourth-quarter net earnings of $491 million, or 49 cents per share, up 15% from $426 million, or 42 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2013, and solidifying the Class I’s record earnings for the full year. Operating income for the quarter increased 11% to $901 million, while CSX’s operating ratio improved 140 basis points to 71.8%. CSX expects 2015 to be healthy as well, anticipating “double-digit earnings per share growth and margin expansion, as we progress toward a mid-60s operating ratio longer term.”

Canadian Pacific on Jan. 22 announced record net income of C$451 million (US$435 million), or C$2.63 per diluted share, up 10% from the fourth quarter of 2013 and aiding the railroad’s record low operating ratio of 59.8%.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 10% to another record, C$1.76 billion (US$1.41 billion). Adjusted earnings

for the quarter reached C$460 million, or C$2.68 per share, from C$338 million, or C$1.91 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2013.

For the full 2014 year, CP notched a record C$6.62 billion (US$5.31 billion) in revenue, up 8% from 2013, and a record low operating ratio of 64.7%, “a 520-basis-point drop on an adjusted basis,” CP said. Reported earnings per share (EPS) rose 71% to a record C$8.46; adjusted EPS rose 32% to C$8.50.

“I am proud of the team at CP, which continues to build momentum as we exited the year with double-digit revenue growth and a sub-60% operating ratio, proving again our ability to control costs while growing the top line,” said CEO E. Hunter Harrison.

“In just two short years, CP has transformed from an industry laggard into a railway leader, and achieved its ambitious 2016 targets two full years ahead of schedule.”

“CP’s remarkable transformation has allowed it to exceed its operational and financial goals for 2014, positioning the company to be nimble in the near-term and successful in the long run,” Harrison said. “CP fully recognizes the impact of short-term volatility in commodity prices, but given the diversity of its

William C. Vantuono

Supply Briefs

business and proven ability to control costs, we’re confident in our ability to execute on our plan going forward.”

CP’s strong results came in the midst of falling crude oil traffic. The railroad downgraded its expected oil volumes for 2015 to 140,000 cars from 200,000 as crude producers cut budgets and reduce production with oil selling for under $50 (U.S.) a barrel. CP said it hauled 30,000 cars of crude in 2014’s fourth quarter, 1,000 fewer than the prior quarter.

Union Pacific, also reporting its earnings on Jan. 22, said its fourthquarter net earnings totaled $1.41 billion, or $1.61 per share, handily beating Wall Street consensus analyst expectations of $1.51 per share.

Revenue of $6.15 billion was up 9% from 2013’s fourth quarter. UP attributed the revenue increase to gains in its Industrial Products and Intermodal sectors. UP said its operating ratio for the quarter was 61.4%, an improvement of 360 basis points from the ratio in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Said UP CEO Jack Koraleski, “Union Pacific achieved record quarterly financial results, driven by strong volumes, solid core pricing and productivity gains.”

On Jan. 23, Kansas City Southern said it had achieved record revenue results for both its fourth quarter and full year, as its earnings per share also exceeded Wall Street analyst expectations. KCS reported fourth-quarter net income of $142 million, or $1.28 per diluted share, compared with $114 million, or $1.03 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2013. “Excluding debt retirement costs and the impacts of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, adjusted diluted earnings per share for fourth quarter 2014 was $1.27 compared with $1.03 in 2013,” KCS said. An operating ratio of 66.7% improved from 68.1% a year earlier.

Fourth-quarter KCS revenue of $643 million, up 4% from the year-ago quarter, set a record, driven by a 5% rise in carload volumes, led by its Chemicals & Petroleum, Energy, and Intermodal sectors, KCS said.

For the full year of 2014, KCS revenue also set a record at $2.6 billion, up 9% over 2013’s total. “After adjusting for lease termination costs, full-year operating income was $847 million. Full-year 2014 adjusted operating income increased 15% over prior year’s operating income. The company’s 2014 adjusted operating ratio was 67.1% compared with the operating ratio of 68.8% in 2013, a 1.7 point improvement,” KCS said.

Reported net income in 2014 totaled $504 million, or $4.55 per diluted share, compared with $353 million, or $3.18 per diluted share, in 2013.

“Kansas City Southern achieved record financial results with growth in all six commodity groups in 2014,” said President and CEO David L. Starling.

On Jan. 26, Norfolk Southern posted record financial results for the fourth quarter of 2014 and for the entire year, and dropped its operating ratio to below 70%. NS net income for the quarter was $511 million, or $1.64 per diluted share, compared with $513 million earned in fourth-quarter 2013. For the year, net income increased to a record $2.0 billion, 5% higher compared with $1.9 billion for 2013. Diluted EPS for 2014 was a record $6.39, up 6% compared with $6.04 diluted EPS in 2013. The railroad operating ratio improved 1%, to 69.0%.

Quarterly operating revenue was about even compared with the fourth quarter of 2013, with gains in merchandise and intermodal revenues offsetting weaker coal revenues. Total volume was up 4%, or about 66,000 units, due to gains in intermodal and merchandise traffic.

For full-year 2014, NS’s railroad operating revenue reached a record $11.6 billion, 3% higher compared with 2013, driven by a 5% increase in traffic volume. Income from railroad operations was a record $3.6 billion, 10% higher compared with 2013. The operating ratio was a record 69.2%, a 3% improvement compared with 71.0% in 2013. General merchandise revenue rose 6% to $6.7 billion.

Intermodal revenue increased to

$2.6 billion, up 7%. Overall traffic volume was 8% higher for 2014 compared with 2013. Coal revenues were $2.4 billion, down 6%, due to a 5% decline in traffic volume. Railway operating expenses were $8 billion, up 1% compared with 2013.

“Norfolk Southern delivered another solid quarter of financial performance, capping a record-setting year during which our company achieved its best results for revenues, operating income, net income, earnings per share, and operating ratio,” said CEO Wick Moorman.

On Jan. 27, CN reported fourthquarter net income of C$844 million (US$678 million), or C$1.03 (about 83 U.S. cents) in diluted earnings per share, compared with C$635 million (US$510 million), or 76 Canadian cents (61 U.S. cents) per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2013. CN’s full year net income totaled C$3.17 billion (US$5.14 billion), or C$3.85 per diluted share, measured against 2013’s totals of C$2.61 billion, or C$3.09 per diluted share. A fourth-quarter operating ratio of 60.7% was a 4.1 point improvement over the year-ago mark, while CN’s full-year 2014 operating ratio was 61.9%, a 1.5 point improvement for 63.4% in 2013.

CN said full-year 2015 freight volume reached record levels, with carloadings up 8% and revenue ton-miles up 10%. CN’s fourth-quarter revenue of C$3.2 billion (US$2.6 billion) rose roughly 27% above the year-ago quarter’s C$2.7 billion mark.

Full-year 2014 revenue increased 15% to C$12.1 billion (US$9.7 billion).

President and CEO Claude Mongeau said, “CN delivered a strong fourth-quarter 2014 performance, concluding a remarkable year characterized by brutal first-quarter winter weather, followed by a strong rebound starting in March 2014, and capped by record full-year freight volumes.

We’re particularly proud of our solid operating performance that allowed us to move record volumes of Western Canadian grain and equally strong U.S. grain shipments.”

February 2015 Railway Age 11

Update

BNSF last month announced details about the major capital projects it plans to complete in 2015 to maintain and grow its rail network. These planned capital investments are part of BNSF’s 2015 capital plan of $6 billion, which was announced last November and is the company’s largest planned capital expenditure in its history.

The investments include $2.9 billion

to replace and maintain core network and related assets, nearly $1.5 billion on expansion and efficiency projects, $200 million for continued implementation of PTC, and about $1.4 billion for locomotives, freight cars, and other equipment acquisitions.

In BNSF’s North Region, the railroad will invest approximately $1.5 billion across eight states for engineering

maintenance and line expansion projects, of which approximately $700 million is planned for projects to expand the rail lines and Positive Train Control (PTC) in that region. BNSF said its North Region has experienced the most rapid growth in recent years.

It is the corridor used to move agriculture and coal to export facilities in the Pacific Northwest, petroleum products produced in the region that are destined for refinery facilities, and for consumer products shipped to and from marine ports in the Pacific Northwest. The North Region is also a destination point for materials that support the production of crude oil in the Bakken shale formation.

In BNSF’s South Region, the railroad plans to spend approximately $800 million in nine states for engineering maintenance and line expansion projects, of which $175 million is

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Railway Age February 2015

BNSF

How BNSF will invest $6 billion in 2015 capital

planned for line expansion initiatives and continued implementation of PTC. The South Region includes BNSF’s high-speed Transcon (transcontinental route) with more than 2,000 miles of double track that allows customers to move freight from West Coast marine ports to interchange facilities in Chicago as well as major rail terminals in Kansas City, Fort Worth, Denver, and St. Louis.

In the Central Region, primarily used for the movement of coal, BNSF will invest approximately $650 million across six states for engineering maintenance and line expansion projects, of which almost $260 million is planned for line expansion projects and continued implementation of PTC. A few specifics: North Region

• Continue to install double track on the Glasgow Subdivision main line between Minot, N.D., and Snowden, Mont., which is located in the far

western part of that state.

• Extend the siding on the Dickinson Subdivision located between Mandan, N.Dak., and Glendive, Mont., and expand the terminal at the Dickinson yard to accommodate expected growth in single-car volumes.

• Convert the entire Devils Lake Subdivision, located between Minot and Grand Forks to CTC (centralized traffic control), which will improve capacity for freight operation while improving on-time performance of Amtrak passenger trains.

• Complete implementation of CTC on the Hillsboro Subdivision, located in eastern North Dakota. Upgrade the connection track between the Hillsboro Subdivision and the Devils Lake subdivision to permit faster train speeds.

South Region

• Connect two sidings on the Mojave Subdivision, which runs from Bakersfield to Mojave, Calif., to create

a short double-track segment that will increase capacity.

• Construct double track on the Panhandle Subdivision located between Wellington and Avard, Okla., to improve Southern Transcon capacity.

• Construct double track on the Clovis Subdivision located between Belen and Clovis, N.Mex., to improve Southern Transcon capacity.

Central Region

• Construct two new sidings on the northern and southern ends of the Hannibal Subdivision located in western Illinois.

• Construct two double-track segments on the Ravenna Subdivision, located in Nebraska, which will greatly improve capacity on this heavilytrafficked coal route.

• Extend sidings at six locations on the Brush Subdivision, located east of Denver, to improve the velocity of southern coal flows.

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February 2015 Railway Age 13

Update

BNSF Railway is taking a second look at its plan to purchase up to 5,000 tank cars for hauling oil products, following feedback from some of its customers, according to Chairman Matt Rose.

“At first, everybody applauded us for doing it,” Rose acknowledged during a panel discussion on crude-by-rail

14

Railway Age February 2015

(CBR) transport held last month during the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. “We’re going to go back and talk to our customers and see what they want us to do.”

Rose noted that CBR accounted for just 4% of BNSF’s overall traffic,

despite the publicity such business has generated. “Most people think it’s 25% of our business,” he said, but coal and ethanol shipments account for a substantial part of the Class I railroad’s energy-related business.

BNSF had said new tank cars, supplementing and then replacing the current DOT 111 standard equipment still in use across North America, would reduce CBR risks and improve safety. But, he said, “There is a general belief that this may interject a different type of car in a different part of our supply chain.”

“If our customers do not want us in this business, we’ll re-evaluate. We’ll do something else,” Rose added.

Rose said BNSF in any event will delay any purchase of new cars until the Federal Railroad Administration and the Department of Transportation set the new regulations, expected in the second or third quarter of this year.

Bruce Kelly

BNSF pauses to re-evaluate tank car purchase plan

Jeff Knadler/Reading & Northern

Reading & Northern posts record volumes in 2014 Regional railroad Reading & Northern set new records for carload volume and revenue in 2014. R&N handled 24,365 carloads, surpassing the previous record achieved in 2011, and a 3.2% increase in total carloads compared with 2013.

“This achievement is especially impressive considering the 21% decline in the anthracite coal unit train business, which fell due to severe price competition from foreign coal producers,” the railroad noted. “However, the substantial drop-off in unit train coal business was more than offset by 7% increases in domestic coal carloads and merchandise carloads. Our merchandise business, which consists of a diverse mixture of commodities including wood pulp, paper, metals, food products, plastics, forest products, chemicals, and minerals, comprises close to 80% of our total traffic.”

“Our record breaking volumes

for 2014 are the result of putting our customers first,” said R&N CEO and owner Andy Muller, Jr. He noted that in 2014, the R&N met its goal of serving all customers within a two-hour service window 99% of the time.

R&N President Wayne Michel pointed to the development of new transloading facilities at Cressona and Penobscot that “have been very

successful and resulted in substantial business growth on the railroad.” In recognition of this, R&N was awarded the ASLRRA Marketing Award in 2014, the second time the railroad has been so honored in the past five years.

R&N sister company Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway also had a record year, accommodating more than 72,000 visitors on its excursion trains.

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February 2015 Railway Age 15

Update

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) last month announced the selection of five industry safety experts retained as assessors for a pilot project as the first step toward the longer-range goal of developing a comprehensive industrywide safety culture assessment program that will serve as the core of the Short Line Safety Institute.

ASLRRA has adopted the Department of Transportation statement that has identified safety culture as a top priority for the short line and regional railroad industry. Safety culture is defined as “the shared values, actions, and behaviors that demonstrate

a commitment to safety over competing goals and demands.”

The Safety Institute is the direct result of a proposal the ASLRRA presented to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in January 2014, as a step toward improving the safety culture for short lines transporting crude-by-rail (CBR) shipments and eventually for all short line and regional railroads.

The team of assessors includes Wayne Hamm (36-plus years of rail safety and operating experience), Pat Black (30-plus years of rail safety and operating experience), Annie Richardson (20-plus years of safety assessment and related experience), Shannon Adamson

(14-plus years of rail and assessment experience), and Sam Cotton (17 years of rail safety and operating experience).

During the first six months of the pilot project, the teams will be tasked with visiting six railroads that transport crude oil to assess whether the leadership of the assessed railroad is committed to safety, whether the organization practices continuous learning concerning safety, whether its decisions demonstrate that safety is prioritized over competing demands, whether there is a safety conscious work environment, whether the employees feel personally responsible for safety, whether there is effective communication across the railroad, whether mutual trust is fostered between employees and the railroad, whether the railroad is fair and consistent in responding to safety concerns, and whether training and resources are available to support safety.

Said ASLRRA Chair Ed McKechnie, “Safety is our most important focus and the pilot project and Institute will lead the way in creating a commitment to a strong safety culture and behavioral change from the top down based on the assessments done by this group of dedicated professionals. We look forward to the results of their work.”

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Railway Age February 2015

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ASLRRA names five for Short Line Safety Institute effort

CHSRA

California HSR project breaks ground California’s long-anticipated and controversial plan to build a high speed rail system linking San Francisco with Los Angeles got under way Jan. 6, 2015 with a groundbreaking ceremony for the system’s initial 29-mile leg in the Central Valley in Fresno, Calif.

The California High Speed Rail Authority’s (CHSRA) 700-mile, $68 billion project, when completed, will be the first “true” high speed rail system in North America, with 200-mph-plus trainsets operating on a dedicated rightof way. The entire system is expected to be in operation by 2028.

Gov. Jerry Brown and other leaders joined CHSRA to mark the occasion.

HSR advocate and project supporter Robert Cruickshank, a board member and former Chairman of Californians for High Speed Rail, asserted that the ceremony marked “the end of six years of political and legal wrangling.”

Various opponents, ignoring voter approval for HSR in 2008, “did everything in their power to prevent HSR from being built,” Cruickshank said.

“They sued at every possible opportunity, and lobbied the Legislature to deny authorization to sell the Proposition 1A bonds.Those efforts delayed the project’s groundbreaking, originally planned for 2012.

“But in 2014, the opponents were handed a series of decisive defeats. The Legislature had already voted to authorize the sale of the Prop 1A bonds in 2012. In June 2014 they agreed to give 25% of the cap-and-trade revenue to HSR, which gives a big boost to the project’s finances for years to come.

NIMBY lawsuits also fared badly, with the state Supreme Court siding with the Authority and then the federal Surface Transportation Board ruling at the end of 2014 that their approval trumps CEQA.” Cruickshank labeled the ceremony “a very real turning point, the moment when HSR stops being an idea and becomes reality. That in turn will change the politics around HSR. No longer will it be realistic to talk about HSR as a possibility, as something that

might not happen. And it will no longer be realistic to talk about major route changes, like bypassing the Central Valley cities by going along I-5. Instead, the discussion will finally be about the details—whether to build a tunnel from Palmdale to Burbank, how to finish funding the project, and so on.”

The Federal Railroad Administration said in early December it intends to grant both Amtrak and the CHSRA waivers from its Buy America requirement for the non-domestic final

assembly of up to four prototype Tier III HSR trainsets. The waivers apply only to the final assembly of up to two prototype HSR trainsets each for Amtrak and California. Before issuing a Notice To Proceed to any selected supplier, Amtrak and California each must certify and provide support to FRA that its selected supplier still has not established domestic manufacturing facilities capable of assembling the prototypes and delivering them within a reasonable time frame.

February 2015 Railway Age 17

Watching Washington Frank n. wilner

NMB gets grievance arbitration makeover

T

o label Roland Watkins the WD-40 lubricant of the National Mediation Board (NMB) is not entirely accurate. As the agency’s director of arbitration services, this 34-year veteran employee—an attorney with an undergraduate degree in economics—is equal part a persistent prod.

In league with NMB Chairman Harry Hoglander, the two have ripped apart and refashioned a fossilized culture surrounding rail worker grievance arbitration where neither time nor money held priority.

This is remarkable because their reform efforts tackled issues of contract

board members Linda Puchala, a Democrat as is Hoglander, and Republican Nicholas Geale, both of whom support reform efforts.

What Watkins and Hoglander set out to cure—beginning with Hoglander’s 2002 arrival at the NMB—was systemic inefficiency that, aided by stakeholder denial, had fomented into disquieting frustration among stakeholders.

Rail union members, whose grievances sat unresolved by arbitrators —often for a decade or longer—lost faith in the Railway Labor Act, which requires such binding arbitration, in lieu

A new compensation system is being tested under a pilot program that will pay arbitrators a fixed sum per case. application and interpretation primarily under the stewardship of railroads, their labor unions, and neutral arbitrators chosen by parties to each dispute.

The process, however, most often was gamed by the arbitrators, who understood fully that neither carriers nor unions would be critical of their work ethic owing to an abundance of caution not to prejudice the cases.

Aiding and abetting the arbitrators was a compensation system whereby the federal government—not the carriers or unions—paid the bills.

As inspectors general on occasion noted, some arbitrators billed for 31 days work during months with only 30 days.

Among problems extending beyond an occasional fraud was waste, abuse, and a case management system Hoglander describes as “dysfunctional”—an assessment shared by fellow 18

Railway Age

February 2015

of strikes, for grievances challenging contract application or interpretation.

Unions despaired a lack of transparency in the grievance resolution process.

Carriers dreaded that labor peace might unravel in the midst of the dysfunction.

The NMB was scarred by adverse reports of federal auditors. And adroit lawmakers questioned whether the responsibility for arbitrator compensation and travel should be shifted from taxpayers to carriers and their unions.

“Although Congress provided us with a special appropriation to clear a backlog of more than 10,000 cases, the money came with an expectation we would reform the process and sin no more,” says Hoglander.

The Watkins-Hoglander superintended reform imposed time limits on arbitrators, setting deadlines for hearings and the rendering of decisions.

A case management system created a

transparency now permitting stakeholders to view on their laptops the progress of grievance cases, and to determine arbitrator workloads prior to tossing them new cases.

The new transparency shows some arbitrators are assigned dozens of cases, while others have none assigned them by the carriers and unions.

Watkins and the NMB’s chief of staff, Dan Rainey, developed the information technology platform that includes an Arbitrator’s Workspace, with the case management system as its core.

Arbitrators soon will be required to schedule a hearing or render an award within 60 days of being assigned a case.

Currently, awards must be rendered within 90 days (down from 180 days) of a hearing; if they fail to meet that deadline, they are prohibited from accepting new assignments.

In an attempt to reduce the number of new cases, the NMB now offers the parties agency-employed mediators to settle cases on the property without resort to binding arbitration, which Hoglander says is successful 80% of the time.

Additionally, a new compensation system is being tested under a pilot program that will pay arbitrators a fixed sum per case, which is intended to create an incentive to consolidate cases of a similar nature, limit faceto-face hearings in favor of written submissions, and accelerate the writing of arbitrator decisions.

The Railway Labor Act was intended as a manual of labor-management peace. But as the labor chant goes, “no justice, no peace.” By becoming more proactive earlier in the process, Hoglander says, “cases are now being closed more quickly and more efficiently. Most crucial, trust in the system is being rebuilt among all stakeholders.”

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RailwayAge.com

Perspective: Short Line & Regional LINDA BAUER DARR, ASLRRA PRESIDENT

At ASLRRA, a renewed sense of purpose

L

ife is filled with new beginnings.

For people, for organizations, for industries, there are countless ways, big and small, that we can restart.

A restart allows us to take a fresh look at both our tools and our focus, or both.

Recently I found myself lucky enough to be trusted with the task of serving the railroad industry as President of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. It’s a new beginning for me in an industry that, in many ways, is going through its own new beginning: a rail renaissance that fuels the excitement of rail advocates, shippers, and those whose careers have been spent tending to this historic mode of transportation.

In some respects, our organization, ASLRRA, is experiencing a restart as well. I am following in the footsteps of Rich Timmons, a man I hold in great esteem and who provided sustained leadership for more than a decade. As many know, Rich is a three-star general who made his mark at ASLRRA through leadership that grew the organization and rebuilt trust among its members about the critical role ASLRRA can play in being a partner in this industry’s growth.

The tools Rich used were forged through years as a military leader. He was focused, determined, organized, and forceful. Those traits served him well in rallying ASLRRA at a time when it was sorely needed. The focus was on stability and working to earn the respect of the industry itself and those who regulate it.

The platform Rich built is an enviable one for any new leader to have inherited.

Now it’s time for me to get down to work and make use of that platform to bring this organization to a new level.

During the search process I learned about an industry that is reeling from heavy-handed regulation but also revitalized by a surge of new customers, new volume, and new resources for growth. During my time on the road over the past few months 20

Railway Age

February 2015

meeting with ASLRRA members, I learned a lot about the priorities our members hold that I believe are well-placed for an organization that has so much potential and such a great story to tell.

I still have a lot to learn, but I have heard clearly that our members want: • To recognize more benefit from our advocacy efforts at a state, local, and federal level stemming from one of our greatest assets: our extensive grassroots network.

We have shown our ability to succeed by being proactive and focused on solutions.

• To level the playing field in a way that allows access to safety tools to create a uniform, sustained safety culture throughout our network that will save lives, prevent injuries, and minimize the enormous cost to our reputation and our bottom line from accidents that could have been avoided.

• To tell the story of our industry well, in a compelling way with supporting data to convey the depth and breadth of the service we provide and of the people and the industry of which we are so proud.

So that’s going to be my focus. It’s not entirely new, but rather an intensified focus in these particular areas that plays to the strengths of this industry and the tools I bring to the process through my personal experience. I’m excited to get started on our agenda of work for the year ahead.

Key efforts this year will include, first

and foremost, building a safety institute for the short line industry that will be the underpinnings for a comprehensive approach to providing education, training, and analysis in the rail safety area, customized for our short line members and audience.

We will also engage in a strategic communications and grassroots development effort that will utilize our network and our story to build strong support f or what we seek on the Hill and in the Executive Branch. We will engage state associations through our regional vice presidents and use the opportunity of our Regional Meetings and Railroad Day on Capitol Hill to both strategize about and implement a solution-oriented public policy plan of action.

The field is filled with plenty of challenges and opportunities. Difficulties abound, from alleviating service problems resulting from high volume and weather issues, to resolving challenges to our operating efficiency from PTC, crew size, and training requirements, to mitigating the ongoing threat of increased truck size and weight provisions.

We have our work cut out for us. But we have shown our ability to succeed by being proactive and focused on solutions as we address public policy challenges squarely in our wheelhouse. With legislative successes like the 45G tax credit, which allows us to rebuild our infrastructure to better serve our customers who have had track abandoned by Class I’s and build support for the development of our Short Line Safety Institute, we are building momentum.

That’s how we will shape our message and our reputation in our efforts to restart the engine at ASLRRA. We will be proactive, we will tell our story well, we will gather and mobilize our troops, and we will create solutions where others only see problems. It’s a new beginning.

And we’re up to the task.

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22/01/15 17:52

American idle: Slow dancing toward a new tank car

I

t’s too late to “Like” your favorite. Voting is closed and a winner is chosen, in America’s long-running online talent contest to select a wholesome new tank car, to ferry crude oil and ethanol from the heartland to glittering coastal refineries.

A total of 3,306 votes were submitted online for one or another of three (or is it four?) final contestants nominated

by Washington’s regulators of rail transport and hazardous material handling. The Simon Cowell method works well enough in finding new musical talent, doesn’t it? So why not in the choice of a new tank car?

And the winner is, well . . . we can’t tell you, not yet anyway. Though the Department of Transportation’s sibling rail and hazmat regulators have indeed selected a successor to the DOT-111, its vital costing statistics are now under study by the Congressional Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in yet another 90-day deferment.

22 Railway Age February 2015

“We are ready to build any car they specify,” said National Steel Car marketer Bob Pickel. “But until they tell us what it looks like, we can’t make one. Who’s going to pay $160,000 for a surprise box?”

So far, mostly, shippers, fleet owners, and railroads are being asked to bear the financial and operational burden of oil train reform. Oil producers themselves have successfully avoided any onus to render the lading safer for transport, even though the technology for doing so is inexpensive and widely available. It’s used routinely in Texas, where similarly light crude is treated to remove explosive gases before loading.

Instead, disproportionate attention has been diverted to the failings of the DOT-111. Public expectations have been raised unreasonably for its successor, the future DOT-117. As the carbuilders themselves advised: Any of the new car designs will be incrementally better than the DOT-111, but none of them will prevent fireballs on the scale of Lac-Mégantic,

Steve Host

When will the industry see a new specification? It’s a game of hurry up and wait.

By David Thomas, Contributing Editor

Aliceville, or Casselton. With so much faith invested in the notion that new tank cars are the solution, public dismay will greet any new oil train calamity, along with despair that Washington regulators are not-fit-for-purpose.

Efficient governance has been neutered by endless rounds of mandatory consultations and reviews of reviews. That was, of course, the avowed intention of Washington deregulators, who were intent on at least waterboarding the beast, if they could not drown it outright.

With the OMB already overwhelmed by a queue of regulatory proposals, it now looks plausible that a new tank car spec (or will it be two?) will not emerge before two years have passed, since start of a string of oil train explosions that began July 6, 2013, in bucolic, southern Quebec—after the now-defunct Montreal, Maine & Atlantic let slip a runaway train of DOT-111s packed with explosive crude, drawn from the Bakken oil field of North Dakota.

The horrible sight of burned and crumpled cars focused public attention on their fragility and, understandably, identified them as a root cause of the fireballs that engulfed the lakeside resort’s downtown. A new car became politically imperative, though unfortunately of marginal practical benefit in preventing similar catastrophes.

Tank car experts are betting that the AAR-sponsored option will win the talent contest, with its winsome, 9/16-inch shell slightly pinched at the waist, charming retro-style braking, and steam-punk complexity of top fittings and bottom valves.

But the government’s favored blue-sky design may also be approved in parallel, as an option. That will happen if U.S. regulators adopt Canada’s two-step upgrade strategy. (Canada is grandfathering the industry’s post-2011 CPC-1232 goodfaith car, while simultaneously spec’ing out a new design for approval as the TC-140 in some unspecified future.)

Dither and delay has damaged the reputations of both the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and its sibling Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Their political legitimacy as supreme regulators of rail transportation and hazmat handling is being challenged.

California is demanding state-specific emergency plans; New York is deploying its own oil train and track inspectors; and even in the petro-state of North Dakota, tiny Enderlin tried to ticket CP oil trains for blocking the town’s crossings.

Not even their previously go-along Canadian counterparts could wait for the U.S. process to play out. The schedule set out by PHMSA/FRA in their Aug. 1, 2014 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would see unmodified DOT-111s withdrawn from crude and ethanol service by Oct. 1, 2017, compared to Canada’s May 1, 2017. With Lac-Mégantic a domestic issue, Ottawa is unlikely to be dissuaded from its fast-track retirement schedule; not in this election year, especially. Eventual harmonization may be a given, but the way there may include a disruptive transition in which old DOT-111s are banished from Canadian rails, while still permitted to carry crude in the U.S. In its response to the NPRM, the Railway Supply Institute advised: “It is critical that the final regulations continue to protect the uniformity of our national safety standards, to prevent a patchwork of state regulations . . .”

So ill had become the repute of federal rail regulation that President Obama confided leadership of the FRA to a Democratic Party fixer with a degree in politics, and a gunslinger’s career in PR. Indeed, Sarah Feinberg would be a brilliant appointment if poor messaging were the problem, which it is not. No amount of Rustoleum will patch the cracked undercarriage of federal rail regulation.

For sure, the newly shopped tank cars will be nice, and not just for graffiti bombers. They will reduce the cleanup task for most low-speed mishaps. Pressure release valves and thermal jackets should give responders time to prevent small fires from propagating in car-to-car chain reactions.

All DOT-117 candidates call for readily available, off-theshelf plumbing. “The industry has been ramping up for this and we will easily satisfy demand from carbuilders once the spec is final,” said Kevin Cook of Midland Manufacturing.

The single-biggest improvement over the old DOT-111s is the post-2011 pressure release valve, which nestles among the top fittings. The new valve pops at 75 PSI (instead of 160 PSI) and releases tank contents at a fast 29,550 CFM while gradually re-closing to a complete seal at 60 PSI. The outstanding unresolved issue is how to prevent the bottom outlet valve from opening in a derailment or pileup. The immediate remedy is to add a breakaway weak spot to the

How much crash resistance separates the three tank car choices? Not much. handle. “A better solution would be to eliminate the handle altogether for transit,” said Cook, but the variety of attachments in service makes that impractical for now. “We are working with an AAR committee to standardize a removable handle that would be best both for accident mitigation and defense against vandalism,” he said.

But how much crash resistance separates the three choices?

Not much, according to simulations reported in the NPRM. The best of the proposed new cars, with 9/16-inch shells, suffer simulated coupler punctures at a mere 18.4-mph collision speed (compared to 8.6 mph for an unjacketed DOT-111).

The thinner-shelled CPC-1232-Plus does almost as well at 17.8 mph. Either puncture threshold falls well below the speeds of the three most explosive Bakken oil train derailments.

The Lac-Mégantic runaway jumped the track at an estimated 65 mph—more than three times the theoretical puncture resistance of the strongest replacement candidates.

The 18 cars that breached Dec. 30, 2013, when a BNSF oil train smashed into a derailed grain train near Casselton, N.Dak., were moving at an allowable 42 mph—more than twice the breach speed of the best new car. The three cars whose contents exploded on Nov. 8, 2013, when an Alabama & Gulf Coast locomotive derailed on a trestle near Aliceville, Ala., were travelling 39 mph—a bit less than track speed.

In each case, the cargo was Bakken crude, pumped “hot” from well to tank car. As regulators in both countries concluded, untreated Bakken oil is explosive—not just flammable, like more familiar crudes.

February 2015 Railway Age 23

hazmat tank cars

Boiling off explosive gases is universal in Texas, where equally light, identically fracked Eagle Ford crude is treated before loading into pipelines or railcars. Eagle Ford crude is routinely railed diagonally across the continent to Quebec City without reasonable fear that a derailment would result in more than a messy spill or a nasty fire.

Oil producers are happy to treat Eagle Ford crude because there is a ready market for the extracted butane and propane.

In North Dakota, on the other hand, there is no petrochemical industry at hand. The extracted gases would have to be transported to market by rail, perhaps increasing net risk; or flared into the atmosphere—an environmental atrocity and a wanton waste of valuable energy and chemical feedstock. Creation of a state-based petrochemical industry appears to be beyond anyone’s imagination—least of all the oil producers, who are fighting hard, so far quite successfully, to shift blame for oil train explosions to the railroads.

PHMSA claims it does not have the regulatory authority to demand the treatment of crude for transport by rail, though it certainly can, and does, for the very same quality crude offered for movement by pipeline. “It’s not in the HMR (Hazardous Materials Regulations),” declared a PHMSA spokesman. So who wrote the HMR, and who has the power to revise it, if not PHMSA? The regulator’s own NPRM says: “The primary intent of this rulemaking is to propose revisions to the HMR that update and clarify the regulations, to prevent and mitigate the consequences of a train accident involving flammable liquids, should one occur.”

The best, not very realistic, prospect for mandating uniform treatment of oil for transport by pipeline or rail is an order by Congress. But with oil-chummy majorities in both chambers, deweaponization of Bakken crude is unlikely as long as diligent railroaders work to avoid mass oil-train casualties on U.S. territory. RA

Name that tank car: Shell thickness is the key differentiator

I

t’s hard to keep track of the various pretenders in contention to dethrone the old DOT-111, especially without meaningful descriptors to differentiate one from another. And to the casual wayside observer, they would look pretty much alike. Each of the three PHMSA/FRA “prescriptive” options has 286,000-pound gross rail loading; a “normalized” steel shell; an 11-gauge steel jacket and thermal blanket; a full-height, half-inch-thick steel head shield; crash-proof bottom outlet valve; and a pressure relief valve that will flare the contents of a fireengulfed tank car, to avoid what PHMSA/FRA like to call a “high energy release event.”

The differences among the three are in thickness of tank shell, degree of rollover protection for top fittings, and the technology for emergency braking along the length of the train: • Option 1, blue-sky concept car championed by PHMSA/FRA: Shell thickness of 9/16-inch; enhanced topfitting rollover protection, borrowed from Toxic Inhalation Hazard (TIH) high-pressure car specs, effective up to 9 mph on a flat surface; electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking for instant and simultaneous application at every car (unit trains only).

Pros: Maximum low-speed puncture protection; aligns with Canada’s TC-140 proposal for an eventual replacement for the DOT-111 replacement. (Yes, we are going do this all over again.)

Cons: TIH-standard rollover protection, untried in lowpressure tank architecture; ECP would require locomotive upgrades and a years-long ramp-up of car shop infrastructure and personnel; prototype testing would delay fleet renewal.

• Option 2, car nominated by the AAR: Shell thickness of 9/16-inch; basic top-fitting protection; emergency

braking simultaneously applied by distributed-power locomotives or two-way, end-of-train devices.

Pros: Same crash resistance as PHSMA/FRA concept; well-understood, distributed train braking—proven in limited revenue service.

Cons: Slightly longer emergency brake application than concept car.

• Option 3, “Good Faith-Plus” car: Shell thickness of 7/16-inch; basic top-fitting protection; emergency braking simultaneously applied by distributed-power locomotives or two-way, end-of-train devices.

Pros: Based on CPC-1232 standard voluntary adopted in “good faith” by carbuilders since 2011; least-costly, lightest-weight, greatest-lading; in mass production and revenue service; grandfathering guaranteed by Canada.

Cons: Slightly longer emergency brake application than concept car; shell thickness may be politically incorrect for thin-skinned regulators; functions as a straw man to make Options 1 and 2 look good by comparison; may be reasonable as an upgrade standard for post-2011, CPC-1232 cars.

• Option P, the “Whatever” car: Just to make sure uncertainty continues to reign well into the future, PHMSA/FRA are proposing to authorize an entirely fanciful “DOT-117P” car. This one has no specs at all, just a general principle that it conform to the performance (whence the “P”) of the still-hypothetical DOT-117. The deregulator’s dream car.

Once again, thank Canada for coming to grips with tank car nomenclature. In a news conference last year, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt helpfully defined the options thusly: “Old Old Tank Car; Old Tank Car; New Tank Car; and New New Tank Car.” (In logical progression, Canada’s TC-140 is the “New New New Tank Car.” February 2015 Railway Age 25

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On the move again?

The market for communications-based train control may be expanding in North America as transit agencies other than NYCT seek to improve their technology.

By WILLIAM C. VANTUONO, Editor-in-Chief

W

hen a field is brown, it generally means that it is an old, dry place, with limited prospects for revitalization. However, for North America’s rail transit agencies and the key suppliers that provide signaling and train control—Siemens Mobility, Thales Transportation, Alstom Transport, Bombardier Transportation, Ansaldo STS USA—“brownfield” (as opposed to “greenfield”) represents the best, perhaps only, opportunity to make the move to CBTC.

While New York City Transit will always be the biggest, brightest brownfield (see map, above), and the New York/ New Jersey PATH CBTC system is undergoing installation (after delays caused by Superstorm Sandy damage), Philadelphia’s SEPTA, Chicago’s CTA, Boston’s MBTA, Toronto’s TTC, and San Francisco’s BART are among the agencies going with CBTC upgrades or at least thinking about them.

February 2015 Railway Age 27

COMMUNICATIONS-BASED TRAIN CONTROL

SEPTA, building on experience gained from the Bombardier system in operation on its Subway-Surface Trolley, is expected to release an RFP for the Media Sharon Line. BART, years after its brief experiment with CBTC, is expected to award an engineering and management contract by the end of this year, a project that will prove daunting, given the age and proprietary nature of its 1970s-era Westinghouse ATC system. (Washington D.C.’s WMATA, operating in manual mode following a series of serious ATC system failures that resulted in fatal collisions, faces a similar challenge, though some in its management appear to be opposed to CBTC). MBTA is considering CBTC for the Green Line, and Atlanta’s MARTA is interested. The CTA’s specification for new 7000-Series cars mentions CBTC from a space-for-onboard-equipment perspective, though the agency hasn’t officially said it wants to go the CBTC route.

Light rail appears to be a good opportunity, not so much for train control, but for collision avoidance with motor vehicles. As one supplier, noting how CBTC is being installed everywhere else in the world, said, “The North American market is convoluted right now.” Noted another, “There aren’t many opportunities. We’re not like Europe.”

“The benefits of radio CBTC technology are fairly well established in urban rail and therefore we see a great deal of growth in this market in larger cities that are investing in public transportation and upgrading their systems with the latest technology,” said Alstom Transport, whose Urbalis™ technology has been in service for more than 10 years on more than 25 lines around the world. In the Americas, Alstom has two lines in operation, Mexico City Line 12 and Panama Line 1, and two more lines in progress: TTC YongeUniversity Line renovation (in the dynamic testing phase), and Guadalajara Line 3. “We anticipate at least one new CBTC project per year in the region,” the company said.

“The main difference between the North American market and Europe is that North America has more decentralized urban areas, thus less dense settlement patterns than typically found in Europe and other regions. From a technical perspective, there are no differences.”

Aside from its initial cost being three-to-four times higher than traditional ABS, another reason why CBTC is a harder sell in this market is whether top-level transit agency leadership support exists. For example, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast, a committed disciple of CBTC, firmly supported it when he ran NYCT. In contrast, when David Gunn took over the TTC in the late 1990s, he scrapped the agency’s CBTC program, saying that the aging subway system had more pressing capital needs. Either way, brownfield projects on an operating railway are more costly, and more technically challenging, than new construction on a new line or extension.

Not that there aren’t at least a few greenfield opportunities. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) late last year awarded Thales a contract for design and construction of advanced train control technology for 28

Railway Age

February 2015

the new Central Subway project, a 1.7-mile extension of the existing T Line. Thales will supply its SelTrac® CBTC technology, already in operation on SFMTA’s Market Street subway. The Central Subway Project is the second phase of the SFMTA’s Third Street Light Rail Transit Project, and is expected to be open in 2019. The project is in its early stages and the tunnel dig has commenced. The design, engineering, and review processes are under way, as well as software development, with factory testing expected to last into 2016.

Among the other greenfield projects, three are in Canada: Ottawa (a new LRT), Edmonton (a line extension), and Toronto (TTC’s new Eglinton Crosstown LRT).

New York presses ahead with CBTC, a line-by-line program that is now expected to last through 2044 and, when completed, cost upwards of $60 billion. The New York Regional Plan Association recently issued a 72-page report forcefully advocating for CBTC, based on capacity, safety, and long-term life cycle cost benefits. “While CBTC will save money in the long run, it requires a substantial upfront investment in new systems and equipment,” RPA said.

“Future capital plans need to significantly increase funding beyond current levels. Converting to CBTC also could be done sooner with modifications to procurement rules and more [installation] flexibility. These are hard decisions that involve changes to longstanding procedures, but could speed up other projects in addition to signal work.”

NYCT’s Canarsie L Line, equipped with Siemens Trainguard MT CBTC technology, has been running in full ATO since 2009. Siemens and Thales are currently the only two suppliers certified for NYCT, and have contracted with the MTA to develop a standard CBTC system design as well as the standardized specifications that will allow other suppliers to provide interoperable systems compatible with the published specifications. The MTA is facilitating the cooperation of different CBTC equipment providers to develop interoperable systems and with Siemens and Thales is equipping the Culver Test Track as an integrated test facility for demonstrating the interoperability of their equipment allow other suppliers to demonstrate the compatibility of their equipment. The MTA plans to contract with one additional CBTC vendor, for a total of three. Once finalized, the new CBTC specifications will be codified and required for all future CBTC procurements.

NYCT’s Flushing/No. 7 Line (including the extension to 34th Street and 11th Avenue; see p. 34) is next for CBTC; installation of a Thales system is under way and expected to be completed by 2017. After Flushing, QBL (Queens Boulevard Line) Phase 1, which incorporates portions of the E, F, M, and R lines and unlike Canarsie and Flushing is not a captive system, will be NYCT’s next CBTC procurement, and the first implementation of the agency’s interoperability standards and specifications. The contract for QBL Phase 1, a very big brownfield in terms of its implications for the future of New York’s iconic subways, is expected to be awarded this spring—just when the city is at its greenest. RA

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A tad off the top

Rail grinding service providers offer profile correction, modification, and restoration.

R

ail grinding is a bit more scientific than just a metal removal means. Service providers are producing machines that are flexible and precise to fit the situational variety and intricacy required of North American railroads.

Harsco Rail

Harsco Rail designs and builds its rail grinding equipment to be flexible. “Flexibility is beneficial so that railways may use the same machine through the progression of a long term grinding program—maintaining consistency and reliability,” the company says. “Grinding programs develop for various reasons. Some customers begin grinding programs because they need profile correction or modification, with the intention of progressing to a maintenance program. Therefore, the machines need to be aggressive as it relates to horsepower and metal removal, but then after a few grinding cycles, the machine needs the ability to adjust patterns on the fly and accurately remove only the desired amount of metal at a specific area on the rail.

“Excessive grinding reduces rail life and it’s very important 30 Railway Age February 2015

By MISCHA WANEK-LIBMAN, Engineering Editor

to only remove the metal you need to remove. As a grinding program enters the maintenance mode, the machine needs a control system that has the ability to remove a slight amount of metal to maintain the desired profile while producing an acceptable surface finish. Harsco Rail is active in the global heavy haul and transit markets and we have noticed that different regions around the world are at different stages, as it relates to grinding methods and expectations. Some regions are just starting grinding programs as a way to reduce defects and derailments, while other regions have mature grinding programs and are extending rail life through gradual preventative and maintenance grinding practices.”

To ensure the proper program is being executed, Harsco Rail now offers a computer based Rail Grinding Overview training course that lasts approximately two hours and covers the history, application, and purpose of grinding.

Upon finishing the course, an individual has the opportunity be granted a Certificate of Completion. Harsco Rail says it values the importance of education within the industry and understanding fundamentals are the most important aspect to that education.

Harsco Rail adds it is consistently exploring avenues to increase the efficiency of its services, equipment, and technology. “Our Intelligent Solutions group is currently partnering with railroads to develop the most effective and efficient rail grinding programs,” the company says. Through our Accelerometer Based Corrugation Measurement System and analysis of our industry consultants, we are able to deliver specialized rail grinding program recommendations to railroads. Furthermore, we are incorporating our new technology, SmartGrind, to dynamically and automatically develop new patterns during grinding. These patterns are based on active feedback from the previous pass in grinding operations. Finally, in the back-end of our grinding advances, we are exploring customized grinding-stone development to deliver high efficiency grinding.”

Loram

Marketing Specialist John Simmons says grinding and grinding services are the foundation of Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc. The company offers a complete line of grinders to tackle the variety and complexity of jobs presented by the rail industry. Simmons notes that Loram also has a complete line of services to complement its fleet of machines, beginning with a staff of skilled machine operators, maintenance crews, and support staff assuring the machine is ready for work when called and able to produce quality results.

Loram’s fleet of grinders includes the RG400 Series Grinder (RG401 pictured, opposite page), which can grind at up 20 mph, allows for deeper cutting angle capabilities to address all rail conditions, boasts auto machine lubrication to reduce maintenance and enhance accuracy, houses a state-of-the-art rail measurement and vision system to verify quality, and offers a robust dust collection system to lessen the impact on the environment. The company’s RGS Specialty Grinder can grind at speeds up to 12 mph, has the ability to reduce power to grinding motors as needed to vary surface finish, and has a fuelefficient, low-emission EPA Tier II compliant engine.

Loram’s third offering is the L-Series Specialty Grinder, which can be rapidly transported at highway speeds to reach any work site, combines the technology from Loram’s heavyhaul main line grinders with a design to navigate transit systems, performs within most flangeway or field side clearance obstructions, is gauge-convertible, and comes with an integrated dust collection system and special noise-suppression system. The L-Series also utilizes Loram’s patented offset grinding that the company says allows the flexibility to grind a variety of rail conditions in tunnels or open rail spots.

“The railroads are moving more product today than ever before,” says Simmons. “The future looks bright for continued growth. However, the down side is reduced time for maintenance of the rails. Loram is constantly looking for innovative ways of getting more quality work done safely in less time.”

In addition to its grinders, Loram offers an asset management service to help railroads plan and execute grinding schedules utilizing the Loram Rail Inspection Vehicle (RIV). This vehicle is equipped with a track profile measurement and reporting package to track quality assurance and planning needs.

“This package is a proven system in use in North America and Australia and consists of several integrated components including state-of-the art optical transverse profile measurement systems, proprietary position locator system based on differential global positioning system (DGPS), proprietary profile analysis, grind quality control software, and proprietary data viewing and reporting software,” says Simmons.

“The RIV ensures the most efficient application of the rail grinder to the rail conditions.”

Simmons says that with the increasing levels and sophistication of technology on the grinders, it is very important to have access to highly qualified technicians to assist the machine operators in problem resolution. This is why the company made enhancements to its Remote Machine Diagnostic System.

“Loram has the ability for a grinder to communicate realtime data with technicians at any time,” says Simmons. “This saves valuable time by allowing a technician to receive live data from the machine without having to be on it. Since technicians are able to gather pertinent data via the Internet, they can work with the operator in finding and resolving a problem much quicker. This is another way of maximizing production within the shrinking available time for grinding.”

Orgo-Thermit

Orgo-Thermit Inc. offers the VM8000, a 12-stone grinding vehicle equipped with four-wheel steering. The company says the machine is capable of road driving, which allows for quick on- and off-track movements, as well as the ability to drive to the grinding site without occupying track time.

Another feature Orgo-Thermit points out is the machine’s ability to skew its wheels to “slide” out of the way of an oncoming train and return to its original position. The company says it upgraded the unit’s dust collection system, which means there is minimal dust in open track and almost non-existent dust in embedded track, an accomplishment that has won Orgo-Thermit praise, especially for work in crowded areas.

“We can easily grind directly through crossings and get very close in switches,” says Director Field Services Randy Dry. “With our experienced team, mounting time is kept to within 25 seconds. This allows the stoppage of traffic, pedestrians, and trains to be kept to a minimum. No longer is it needed to wait for the last train to get into the yard, before departure. While other rail-bound machines are dead-heading out to a site from their tie-up location, the VM8000 has already been grinding since the last train passed the work site. Orgo-Thermit has been told by various transits that this ability sometimes allows for 1.5 hours more of spark time.”

In anticipation of acquiring a new machine, Orgo-Thermit says it has been keeping up with the latest technology, such as real-time profile monitoring and increased horsepower to the grinding heads. “Everyone always wants more power,” says Dry. “The challenge is to figure how to get the power and keep the finish. He also says noise is always a major issue for transits in residential areas and notes the VM8000 is very quiet. “A normal conversation can be had while only 10 feet from the machine,” he notes. “Also in line with keeping February 2015 Railway Age 31

RAIL GRINDING

Harsco Rail says it is consistently exploring avenues to increase the efficiency of its services, equipment, and technology.

things quiet is the finish. We’ve done much research to get an even finer finish. The VM8000 leaves behind very tight facets (with no ridges) and a scratch mark of only 3-6 microns.

We’ve developed specialized grinding stones for different situations. Mill scale removal has always been the hardest to complete and keep passes to a minimum. With this new stone, the passes have been cut in half for mill scale removal.

This helps to keep up with transit agency needs for increased production on shorter track times. Orgo-Thermit has also developed a Fine Finish stone. This stone leaves behind an immaculate finish, creating an absolute silent environment, when a train passes. There is no longer the need to wait one or two weeks for the train to wear in.”

Vossloh Rail Services

Vossloh Rail Services says it is committed to bring the technology of rail milling to the North American market in 2015 and notes the technology being offered will allow railroads and transits to experience just how clean a milled rail is.

The company says the technology does not produce sparks or heating of the rail, which means it can be used in potentially difficult areas, such as bridges and tunnels.

“With the use of eddy current technology, the validation of a truly clean rail, with no RCF (rolling contact fatigue), can be done immediately after the milling process is completed,” 32 Railway Age February 2015

says Vice President and General Manager Ron Martin.

“This process has proven to increase rail life and minimize rail renewal programs due to defects.”

As it pertains to tight work windows and the speed of grinding service, Martin says that question is really one of corrective vs. preventive maintenance. “Corrective grinding requires the removal of much more metal than does preventive maintenance grinding, so speed is dictated by metal removal rate,” he points out. “Conventional grinding, being powered stone grinding, also has the limitation of the amount of metal able to be removed based on the rotational rate of the stone and the pressure of that stone applied without negatively affecting the metallurgy of the rail.

“High Speed Grinding (HSG) is not a powered stone system but is based on the friction relation of the rail to the stone.

This allows the system to work at much higher speeds, typically 50 mph, than is achieved by powered stone grinding.

The HSG system was developed to allow a railroad to maintain the rail to as close to the desired optimal profile as possible by making frequent, but very fast, passes to minimize traffic disruption. The metal removal rate is minimal but will take out the RCF and correct rail flow or degradation before it can grow to the point of where corrective grinding is required. The technology has proven to increase rail life and decrease rail renewal programs requirements.” RA

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Made (mostly under) Manhattan

Amid myriad ongoing rail project work in New York’s five boroughs, four subway programs in Manhattan signify the ups and downs of adjusting and growing a century-old system for the second 100 years.

By Douglas John Bowen,

34 Railway Age February 2015

robust visibility of cross-continental rival Los Angeles, but growing all the same, and with growing ridership as well, on some days now exceeding 6 million subway passengers.

The impetus for such rail progress is at least threefold: a civic-pride need for Manhattan to retain its “world-class” status in the 21st century; a civic yearning, bolstered by federal funding, to recover from the scars visited by 9/11; and a coldly analytical reaction to the looming threat of climate change and its potential impact on New York Harbor, highlighted by the very real damage visited upon the Northeast by SuperStorm Sandy in October 2012.

Mike Michaels

I

n the city that never sleeps, rail transit developments nevertheless remain largely unnoticed, mostly because so much of it is underground. So the opening last November of lower Manhattan’s Fulton Center was critical progress on several levels, including a physical presence that, at least in part, was visible for New Yorkers to actually see at street level.

Fulton Center (seen above) also doubles almost as a talisman, a psychological lift and sign that New York, after pausing for nearly a half century, is once again addressing and growing its vital subway system—not anywhere near rivaling Beijing or other Chinese cities, and not expanding with the

Managing Editor

And while the tripartite spurs have generated widespread repair, rehabilitation, and new construction throughout at least four of New York’s five boroughs, four of the high-cost, high-profile subway projects predictably can be found in the high-cost, high-profile borough, Manhattan.

di Domenico + Partners

Dual downtown projects

The $1.4 billion Fulton Center’s opening streamlines customer access to and from nine (soon to be 11) subway lines. And the debut of the related Dey Street Passageway, which also opened last November and is often ignored by the media, will offer pedestrians underground access to and from the nearby PATH World Trade Center station—in effect giving New Yorkers weather-sheltered access halfway across Manhattan’s downtown, from the Hudson River to past Broadway, and including numerous skyscrapers old and new in the process.

That opening, so far deemed successful (Railway Age staff uses the station fairly often), also allowed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to reset its “completed checklist” at one, after flooding by SuperStorm Sandy essentially erased MTA’s $530 million completion in 2009 of the nearby new and improved South Ferry Station, offering improved underground connectivity among three subway lines and improved access to Staten Island Ferry service (also overseen by MTA). MTA will try again to establish the undone station, this time using various technologies to harden the station (and others) against flooding, in an attempt to reopen the upgraded site by 2018.

South Ferry Station is the most vulnerable of at least 10 flood prone subway stations, most in Brooklyn and Queens, being addressed by architectural firm di Domenico + Partners; the firm’s newest effort will include “all concourse, mezzanine, and platform levels, employee facilities and backof-house spaces, as well as mechanical and electrical rooms throughout the station complex,” a company spokeswoman says. “For flood protection and resiliency, the assessment focused on street level entrances, ventilation structure, hatches, manholes and critical spaces throughout the station complex. Both assessments resulted in reports documenting the conditions and recommendations for recovery, rehabilitation, and mitigation required for a Category Two hurricane.”

The assessments resulted in “alternative designs that

Do-over: South Ferry Station, inundated by SuperStorm Sandy, will receive infrastructure to repel a repeat incident.

balanced costly permanent flood mitigation with more economical components that could be deployed prior to a storm event (photos, above). These measures, while responding to current and future needs, were also an opportunity to form three new prominent (and water-proof) pavilion entrances, now under construction,” the spokeswoman says.

Subway expansion as TOD prod

Seemingly a world away, five miles or so up the Hudson River in Midtown Manhattan, system expansion competes with rehabilitation far more aggressively, as two subway extension projects move forward fitfully: The No. 7 line addition reaching toward Manhattan’s “far” West Side; and the Second Avenue Subway, decades delayed but now a real thing with an optimistic December 2016 opening date for Phase 1, and a Phase 2 add-on north to 125th Street being openly discussed.

Ardently backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, first as a means to attract the Olympic Games and then as a transit-oriented-development (TOD) tool, the roughly 1.5-mile, $2.4 billion No. 7 extension failed to meet a December 2013 target opening, set to occur before Bloomberg’s departure from office. A debut sometime in 2015 remains in flux. Even so, the extension already has succeeded in its role as a TOD agent, as Hudson Yards construction gains speed and is significantly transforming Manhattan’s West 30s.

Relative to New York City population standards, “There’s no one there” right now, MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu quipped in an interview with Railway Age, making the project “classic TOD. We’re creating the transit link.” Manhattan real estate interests in various media, often adding words like “transformative,” echo Horodniceanu’s belief in the TOD aspect.

Whenever it opens, the No. 7 extension will be equipped with Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), as will much of the existing line from Times Square to Flushing, Queens, courtesy of Thales Transportation, becoming the second MTA New York City Transit subway line to be so fortified after NYCT’s L (Canarsie) Line (details, p. 27).

February 2015 Railway Age 35

MTA new York city transit SAS slowly nears reality

Over on Manhattan’s East Side, the ever-ephemeral Second Avenue Subway (SAS) is slowly but finally becoming a reality, at least in part, though since SAS first surfaced as a concept in 1929, New Yorkers remain understandably skeptical of its functional existence.

Here, unlike the No. 7, construction of the $4.45 billion, two-mile Phase 1 has been unavoidably “more intrusive,” Horodniceanu observes, since SAS will serve “the densest residential area in the country, 100,000 people per square mile.” As well, the project has had to dodge sewer lines and other existing infrastructure “outside the walls of the station” or subway tunnels, and many residents, small businesses, and property owners “had no trust” in MTA when the project’s latest push ceremonially commenced in the spring of 2007, Horodniceanu says.

Though SAS primarily utilized tunnel-boring machines, and not New York’s traditional “cut and cover” construction, fears of disruption and dirt (real and anticipated) prompted MTA Capital Construction to initiate an outreach program along the entire route, including not just casual contact with New York’s Community Boards but also “monthly meetings with building representatives, contractors, and MTA officials on what’s to come,” Horodniceanu says, with an unofficial MTA motto of “no surprises” being the goal. For him, SAS CPT-ProgRailroad-half-P-H-May2014:Layout 1 4/17/14

became more than just moving Manhattan schist.

“Civil engineering, he says, “is a profession that’s supposed to serve the people.” SAS Phase 1 is expected to serve 200,000 daily riders upon opening, an anticipated mix of “new” riders mixed with others opting for the new line instead of the consistently overcrowded Lexington Avenue (4, 5, and 6) East Side service.

Originally conceived in 1929, the everephemeral Second Avenue Subway is slowly but finally becoming a reaility.

It’s not that New Yorkers automatically will appreciate—or even notice—system improvements or expansions. But with New York’s population expected to top nine million by 2030, the four subway projects, buttressed by widespread if less spectacular work systemwide and reinforced by other MTA regional rail projects, plus other improvements—whenever they might come on line—will be needed, and used.

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What cant can and can’t do

Curve design for balance speed conditions is not practical for all operating conditions. How can improved track design help vehicle and track curving performance?

By Harry Tournay, Senior Scientist, TTCI,

A

s part of the Association of American Railroads’ Strategic Research Initiative (SRI) Program, Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) is quantifying the effect of track cant on vehicle curving to establish whether vehicle and track curving performance might be improved through improved track design, thereby reducing wheel and rail and track maintenance costs.

Elevation of the high rail above the low rail (track cant) introduces a force on the vehicle to the inside of the curve.

This force opposes the force to the outside of the curve due to centripetal acceleration and counters vehicle overturning.

The centripetal acceleration of the vehicle is a function of its speed and the track curvature.

There is only one speed, curvature, and track cant combination for zero net lateral force on the vehicle and for equal

for Railway Age

vertical load on the wheels in high and low rail contact; this is termed the balance speed.

Curving above this speed results in higher vertical loads on the high rail (overbalance or cant deficiency conditions, as Figure 1a shows). Curving below this speed results in higher vertical loads on the low rail (underbalance or excess cant conditions).

Under imbalance conditions, a further variable influences the vertical loading (the height of the center of gravity of the vehicle, h, Figure 1a). For a given imbalance condition, the higher the center of gravity of the car, the greater is the vertical load transfer between high and low rail contact.

Curve design for balance speed conditions is not practical for all operating conditions. For example, vehicle speeds vary as a result of the following: February 2015 Railway Age 39

TRACK CANT

For a given imbalance condition, the higher the center of gravity of the car, the greater is the vertical load transfer between high and low rail contact.

Excess cant induces a larger angle of attack on the lead wheelset than for curving at balance speed, increasing wheel and rail forces.

• Traffic mix (passenger vs. freight and fast freight vs. slow freight).

• Traffic direction and grade (ascending heavy trains at low speed vs. faster, lighter descending trains under braking).

TTCI has quantified the influence of imbalance conditions on vertical wheel loads as well as steering tractions across the wheel/rail contact patch. Vertical wheel loads are relatively easy to quantify given the height of the center of gravity of the car. Care should be taken to consider: • The spectrum of vehicle types and load conditions; e.g., in-track measurements in a 4.5-degree curve at 3-inch underbalance showed a load differential from high to low rail of 5,330 pounds for loaded coal gondolas and 7,430 pounds for loaded coal hopper (with higher center of gravity).

• The lateral and roll deflection of the vehicle suspension.

This influences the vertical and lateral position of the center of gravity of the vehicle.

• The influence of coupler force and swing on vertical wheel loads. In-track vertical load measurements in the same 4.5-degree curve showed that the above mentioned load differentials increased to 7,610 pounds and 9,680 pounds immediately behind the two lead locomotives and decreased to 3,010 pounds and 5,130 pounds immediately in front of the two trailing pusher locomotives.

TTCI examined the influence of imbalance speed on steer40

Railway Age

February 2015

Lateral force is reacted almost entirely by the lead wheelset and is proportional to the degree of imbalance for a given curvature.

ing tractions. Theory indicates that excess cant induces a larger angle of attack on the lead wheelset than for curving at balance speed (Figure 1b), increasing wheel and rail forces.

Instrumented wheelset measurements under controlled imbalance conditions at TTCI confirmed the theory and showed that the lateral force is reacted almost entirely by the lead wheelset and is proportional to the degree of imbalance for a given curvature (Figure 1c).

TTCI concluded that curving at underbalance speed particularly exacerbated the stresses in low rail contact and should be avoided if at all possible. These stresses lead to an increased propensity to form high impact wheels and to an increased propensity for low rail spalling and material flow.

The investigation concluded with suggested strategies to minimize imbalance conditions under heavy haul conditions.

Further quantification of optimum design limits are anticipated as TTCI continues fundamental research under the SRI program into the root causes for rolling contact fatigue.

See also: • Tournay, Harry, et al. July 2014. “The Effect of Track Cant on Vehicle Curving: Theory & Single Car Test Results,” TTCI Technology Digests TD-14-013, TD-14-014, and TD-14-015.

• Tournay, Harry. Railway Age, April 2014, p. 55. “Rolling contact fatigue root causes.” RA

People

Meetings

High profile Parsons Brinckerhoff has named former FRA Deputy Administrator Karen J. Hedlund Director of PublicPrivate Partnerships (P3s), based in New York. She will work with federal, state, and local transportation agencies as well as private companies to facilitate financing and development of transportation projects through P3s. Hedlund was appointed Deputy Administrator of the FRA in November 2011, after serving as the agency’s Chief Counsel from June 2010. During Hedlund her tenure, she provided leadership for FRA’s $12 billion high Parsons speed rail grant program. She advised on FRA-funded multiBrinckerhoff state locomotive and passenger equipment purchases, and on California High Speed Rail and Amtrak next-generation trainset procurements, including consideration of Buy America waiver requests for non-domestic equipment manufacturers. Hedlund also oversaw the FRA’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Infrastructure Finance (RRIF) program.

February 18-20 International Railway Summit Co-sponsored by International Railway Journal and International Rail Infrastructure and Technology Summit (IRITS), Barcelona, Spain.

Tel: +44 1326 313945; Email: hello@irits.org; Website: www.railjournal.com

CANADIAN PACIFIC—Timothy Marsh appointed Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing.

FORT WORTH TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY—Bob Baulsir appointed Vice President of TEX Rail and Procurement.

NORFOLK SOUTHERN— Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Donald W. Seale will retire effective March 1, 2015.

NORTHEAST MAGLEV— Nazih Haddad, P.E. named Executive Vice President, effective Feb. 3.

WMATA—Jack Requa appointed interim General Manager and CEO.

ASSOCIATIONS ASLRRA named five industry safety experts as assessors for a pilot project to develop an industry-wide safety culture assessment program that will serve as the core of the Short Line Safety Institute. The five include: Wayne Hamm, Pat Black, Annie Richardson, Shannon Adamson, and Sam Cotton.

SUPPLIERS Auto Truck Group named Jeff Mower Director of Railroad Sales.

HNTB Corp. named Michael Townes Senior Vice President and National Transit Market Sector Leader.

LTK Engineering Services named Natalie E. Cornell Director of Business Development, based in the firm’s Ambler, Pa., headquarters, succeeding Thomas B. Furmaniak, P.E., who was appointed Director with LTK’s affiliate NDYLTK Rail, based in Sydney, Australia.

TNW Corp. named Al Stokes Director of Health and Safety, reporting to CEO Paul Treangen.

TranSystems promoted William Schafer to Senior Associate.

100 YEARS AGO in

March 23-26 ASME 2015 Joint Rail Conference San Jose State University Email: CraneS@asme.org; Website: www.asmeconferences. org/JRC2015/index.cfm

March 28-31 2015 ASLRRA Connections Hilton Orlando, Orlando, Fla. Email: kcassidy@aslrra.org; Website: www.aslrra.org

April 28-May 1 Railway Educational Bureau Track Safety Standards Part 213, Classes 1-5 Workshop, Council Bluffs, Iowa Tel.: 800-228-9670; Email: studentservices@sb-reb.com; Website: www. railwayeducationalbureau.com/ TrkInspWrkShp.html

June 21-24

(FEBRUARY 1915) NEW UNION STATION AT ST. PAUL, MINN. The general plans for a new union station have been completed by the St. Paul Union Depot Company, and were recently submitted to the city council in asking for the ordinances necessary.

Action was made imperative when the old station was destroyed by fire on Oct. 3, 1913. The location of the terminal property between the Mississippi River and a well-developed commercial section of the city has made the problem of locating an enlarged terminal very difficult. The terminal is used by all nine railroads entering the city.

APTA 2015 Rail Conference Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah Website: www.apta.com

June 23-26 Railroad Day on Capitol Hill Renaissance Washington, Washington, D.C. Email: kcassiday@aslrra.org; Website: www.aslrra.org

October 4-7 Railway Interchange 2015 Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, Minn.

Website; www. railwayinterchange.org February 2015 Railway Age 41

The Railway Educational Bureau BOOKS - Railroad Resources -

Big Boy: On the Road to Restoration 2014 Railroads of the Continental United States Wall Map

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Video documenting the first phase of this locomotive's journey to restoration. Historical footage of Union Pacific (UP) Big Boys in action plus exclusive Trains video of interviews and images of No. 4014 being removed from the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds and moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., for restoration.

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Products Outdoor train detection system from Protran

Expo2015 Planning for new england rail exPansion Thursday, march 19th

Protran Technology has developed the first smart sensor detection system that only detects those objects requested, such as trains, maintenance-of-way equipment, hi-rails, etc., entering the facility and giving a warning to personnel. The outdoor train detection system is track-specific regardless of whether curved or tangent, and can detect objects up to 550 feet (166 meters) away at speeds ranging from as little as 1 mph up to 200 mph in real time. To see the Outdoor Train Detection System in action, go to: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=CQTtijKZ79M&feature=youtu.be. For more information, contact Protran Technology, Tel.: 973-2504176; Website: www.protrantechnology.com

AME saw/drill unit provides optimal rail cutting Advanced Machine & Engineering Co. (AME) offers the Amsaw R-series saw made specifically to offer high-production cutting of high alloy rails. The combined saw/drill unit is designed to improve efficiency and productivity, offering smooth, accurate cuts from durable machinery with a long tool life.

The rail saw offers blade changeover time of less than three minutes, hardened spindle gears ground for minimum backlash, a special saw blade guide and dampening device for accurate cutting to stabilize the blade, low-maintenance design, and dry operation requiring no coolant. An electronic overload device monitors cutting performance and stops the saw feed when necessary. A chip conveyor conveys metal chips to the rear of the machine for deposit into a tote box. The R-series saw can be combined with an integrated or inline rail hole drill machine for bolted joints at the rail ends or with infeed and outfeed material handling systems. To learn more, visit www.ame.com.

DCU Center • Worcester, MA

The New England Railroad Club invites you to join us in Worcester, Massachusetts, for our annual Rail Forum & Expo. The one-day event will focus on how states and railroads are working together to improve the region’s rail infrastructure to better handle passenger and freight operational interaction and capacity challenges.

2013 EASTERN REGION RAIL CROSSING CONFERENCE & EXPO expo 10:30 am - 6:30 pm Seminars: Ammunition or Shackles: Managing Crisis Response to Maximize Your Legal Position Positive Train Control Update: Where the Industry Stands on Implementation New FRA Rules for 2015

Exhibitor Pavilion:

Visit with companies representing all aspects of the industry. Booths still available!

Networking Reception dinner 7:30 pm Engineering & Transit Night Keynote Speaker: Commissioner James P. Redeker Connecticut Department of Transportation

Tickets & information: www.nerailroadclub.com February 2015 Railway Age 43

Track Safety Standards Part 213 Classes 1-5 Workshop April 28 - May 1, 2015 Council Bluffs, Iowa Instructor: Brad Hess This 3.5 day course describes track defects and discusses in depth the FRA Track Safety Standards in 49 CFR, Part 213: Track Safety Standards (TSS) Class 1-5 with an interactive approach both in the classroom and in the field. Class 1, Short Line operators, and contractors will find this workshop valuable for those responsible for compliance with the FRA TSS. Upon completion of this course, attendees will have an introductory understanding of how to apply FRA TSS for inspecting track, recording defects, and taking necessary remedial action.

Emphasis during this course is placed on: FRA Qualification, Compliance, Railroad/Track Owner Responsibility, Class Specific Defects, Non Class Specific Defects, Turnout Inspections, Rail Defects, and Inspection Report Requirements.

Those attending will: • Learn track inspection techniques with special emphasis of turnouts.

• Learn how to measure track parameters in the field.

• Develop a clear understanding of the FRA Track Safety Standards and the FRA track inspection process.

Course outline: Track Safety Standards Part 213 Railroad/Track Owner Responsibility Track Components Track Structure Track Appliances Inspections Track, Switches, Crossings, Lift Assemblies, Inspections and Requirements, Automated Inspections (Concrete Ties) Special Inspections Inspection Record Requirements

For workshop registration or for more information call toll free, 800-228-9670, email: studentservices@sb-reb.com or visit www.railwayeducationalbureau.com.

44

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February 2015

Products DEUTA crash-hardened recorder for SEPTA PTC

DEUTA’s REDBOXstar event recorder is part of SEPTA’s PTC implementation.

DEUTA, an international market leading manufacturer of locomotive and carborne railway components, is supplying crash-hardened event recorders for the Positive Train Control (PTC) project of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).

This project requires upgrading the entire SEPTA regional railroad fleet based on FRA CFR 49 Part 236 Subpart I. More than 300 vehicles of 13 different types are to be equipped with a new installation of one recorder version— the new DEUTA REDBOXstar.

DEUTA’s REDBOXstar recorder was chosen by Ansaldo STS, the PTC supplier for the SEPTA vehicles. The selection of the REDBOXstar was based on its versatility to accommodate analog, digital, serial, USB, and Ethernet interfaces.

The memory module provides sufficient and stable data storage.

DEUTA offers a variety of event recorders for railway vehicles. The REDBOXstar integrates the specific requirements for integration into the FRA/IEEE environment, accompanied with an integrated web-based maintenance tool and ADS4 playback software.

DEUTA’s REDBOXstar variants offer flexible configuration and compact dimensions—ideal for new vehicle equipment, retrofit, and PTC applications in freight locomotives, high-speed trainsets, and mass transit vehicles. Data protection is covered by DEUTA crash-hardened memory modules that are PMU 23 (IEEE compliant) and PMU 24 (IEEE and FRA compliant).

DEUTA-WERKE is a market leading international supplier of electronic systems to the freight and passenger rail industry. Operating in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas, DEUTA’s products include driver display technologies, odometry and positioning systems, and event recorders and safety-relevant controllers.

DEUTA-America Corp. is the U.S. operating entity of DEUTA-WERKE. For information, contact Blake Kozol, DeutaAmerica Corp. Chief Operating Officer, ( 904) 625-0038 ; Blake.Kozol@deuta-america.com.

Ad Index Company

Phone #

Fax URL/Email address

Alstom Transport SA

+0033157069491

+0033141668843

elaine.west@transport.alstom.com

21

Amsted Rail Group

312-922-4516

312-922-4597

kskibinski@amstedrail.com

C2

Construction Polymers Technologies, LLC 440-591-9018

866-814-1961

russell@constructionpolymerstech.com

36

Dixie Precast

770-944-1930

770-944-9136

fbrown142@aol.com

14

Ellwood Crankshaft & Machine

724-347-0250

724-347-0254

ecgsales@elwd.com

12

Greenbrier Companies The

800-343-7188

503-684-7553

gbrx.info@gbrx.com

26

Holland Co.

708-672-2300 ext.382

708-672-0119

gpodgorski@hollandco.com

Kelso Technologies

630-495-1151

630-396-9069

schwartz@kelsotech.com

LORAM

763-478-6014 763-478-2221 sales@loram.com

LTK Engineering Services

215-641-8826

National Steel Car

905-544-3317 Alan.wilson@steelcar.com

24

New England Railroad Club

617-437-7810

jbudzyna@aol.com

43

ORX

814-684-8484

glenn@orxrail.com

C4

Railquip Inc

770-458-4157

770-458-5365

sales@railquip.com

13

Rails Co.

973-763-4320

973-763-2585

rails@railsco.com

14

Railway Educational Bureau, The

402-346-4300

402-346-1783

bbrundige@sb-reb.com

Salco Products, Inc.

630-685-4661

630-783-2590

sales@salcoproducts.com

Soft Rail

888-872-4612

sales@signalcc.com

TTX Company

312-606-1450

felix.castillo@ttx.com

Van Air Inc.

219-879-5100 x217

sales@vanair.com

215-542-7676

617-437-0722

219-879-5800

Page #

9 15 3

tfurmaniak@ltk.com

17

42, 44, C3 5 15 7 16

The Advertisers Index is an editorial feature maintained for the convenience of readers. It is not part of the advertiser contract and Railway Age assumes no responsibility for the correctness.

Advertising Sales MAIN OFFICE Jonathan Chalon, Publisher 55 Broad St., 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com AL, AR, IN, KY, LA, MI, MS, OH, OK, TN, TX Emily Guill 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 683-5021 eguill@sbpub.com CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA, WV, Canada – Quebec and East, Ontario Mark Connolly 55 Broad St., 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 mconnolly@sbpub.com

AK, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, IL, KS, MN, MO, MT, NE, NM, ND, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI, WY, Canada – AB, BC, MB, SK Heather Disabato 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 683-5026 Fax: (312) 683-0131 hdisabato@sbpub.com BELGIUM, PORTUGAL, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, EASTERN EUROPE, BALTIC STATES, MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA (except South africa), far east (except Korea, china, hong kong, india), all others, tenders Louise Cooper International Area Sales Manager The Priory, Syresham Gardens Haywards Heath, RH16 3LB United Kingdom +44-1444-416917 Fax: +44-(0)-1444-458185 lc@railjournal.co.uk

SCANDINAVIA, THE NETHERLANDS, SPAIN, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, KOREA, HONG KONG, CHINA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH AFRICA, RUSSIA, RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING Steve Barnes International Area Sales Manager The Priory, Syresham Gardens Haywards Heath, RH16 3LB United Kingdom +44-1444-416375 Fax: +44-(0)-1444-458185 sb@railjournal.co.uk Italy, Italian-speaking Switzerland Dr. Fabio Potesta Media Point & Communications SRL Corte Lambruschini Corso Buenos Aires 8 V Piano, Genoa, Italy 16129 +39-10-570-4948 Fax: +39-10-553-0088 info@mediapointsrl.it

Japan Katsuhiro Ishii Ace Media Service, Inc. 12-6 4-Chome, Nishiiko, Adachi-Ku Tokyo 121-0824 Japan +81-3-5691-3335 Fax: +81-3-5691-3336 amkatsu@dream.com CLASSIFIED, PROFESSIONAL & EMPLOYMENT Jeanine Acquart 55 Broad St., 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 620-7211 Fax: (212) 633-1325 jacquart@sbpub.com

February 2015 Railway Age 45

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RailwayAge.com

The News Destination for the Rail Industry

equipment Sale/Leasing

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Financial edge DAVID NAHASS

Rail Equipment Finance 2015: A preview

P

reparations are in full swing; soon it will be March 1, 2015, and Rail Equipment Finance 2015 (REF 2015) will be ready for its opening reception.

The program for REF 2015 is a powerhouse; there is no more formidable a lineup of rail finance cognoscenti assembled in the industry. Registered attendees will walk away more informed and with more knowledge about the rail equipment market in 2015 than ever before.

REF follows trends in the rail marketplace. Relevant rail equipment topics will command the focus at REF. Regulatory changes in the specification for tank cars hauling flammables will be a focal point. The dropping price of crude and the impact the drop in price may have on petroleum loadings, frac sand loadings, and the backlog for railcars will take a central role.

Intermodal, train velocity, the competitive positioning of the truck market, covered hoppers for grain and plastics, and the current and future demand for coal and coal equipment will all be tackled in the first two days of REF 2015.

Monday and Tuesday mornings (Mar. 2 and 3) include two major keynote speakers. Genesee and Wyoming, Inc. President and CEO Jack Hellmann will kick off the conference. For those not familiar with Hellmann and his company, GWR is a global rail powerhouse operating 116 railroads in 11 regions, and has the pulse of every segment of the railroad industry.

On Tuesday morning, Roger Jimenez, chief financial officer of Solvay’s North American Essential Chemicals Group, will take the podium. A producer of soda ash and other diversified chemicals with a global presence, Solvay uses rail, truck, and barge to deliver its products to its customers globally. Jimenez will discuss the changing energy landscape, 48

Railway Age

February 2015

its impact on his business, and how transportation impacts what Solvay is doing day to day.

The REF program will be further enhanced by two important presences from the operating lessor community.

Attendees will hear from the President of First Union Rail, Barbra Wilson, and the President of GATX Rail North America, Thomas Ellman. Both are leaders of sophisticated companies investing in and leasing large dollar amounts of rail equipment. Their perspective on market trends and

There is no more formidable a lineup of rail finance experts assembled in the industry. how they see the ever-changing marketplace will provide important insight into where 2015 is headed.

Crave data and hard analysis? Monday and Tuesday have experts covering every important aspect of the rail marketplace. Analyst Tony Hatch will discuss the state of the “rail renaissance.”

Graham Brisben, CEO of PLG Consulting, will lay out the fracking world and the short- and long-term outlook for frac drilling and growth or contraction in that market. Eric Starks and Kristine Kubacki of FTR Associates and Avondale Associates, respectively, will discuss rail velocity, trends in manufacturing, and how sub-$50 a barrel crude may affect the rail market and the role of trucking.

Need still more? Philip Baggaley and

Betsy Snyder from Standard and Poor’s will provide perspective on the rail market and the rail economy. Joe Devoe (DVB Bank) and Mark Gerlach (Fifth-Third Bank) will lay out the capital market perspective for rail today.

Intermodal? Ron Sucik condenses 50% of the rail freight loads into 40 minutes of knowledge. Management consultants Oliver Wyman will tackle the current state of rail service the problems associated with it and how to fix it.

We didn’t forget equipment. Three railcar manufacturers (FreightCar America, National Steel Car, and Union Tank Car) will address specific markets and the manufacturing landscape. Railinc will lay out the North America fleet with a “who, what, when, and why” on all things fleet-related.

Major car types get their say as panels cover the markets served by boxcars, gondolas for scrap and finished steel, coal, grain, sand, plastics, and tank railcars. Worried about values? We‘ll talk equipment fair market values as well.

Hoping to get powered up? Day three of REF 2015 will tackle the locomotive picture. We will talk EPA Tier 4 from the people building and using the units.

Come hear about the leasing market, the values of existing locomotives, the state of orders for 2014 and 2015.

GWR Vice President of Motive Power David Powell will give his perspective on locomotive use in North America.

NRE will help us understand how they are managing Tier 4 compliance. Hear about the future of natural gas locomotives from David Scott in his new role at OsComp Rail.

Action packed, fun-filled, and not to be missed, REF 2015 will give you everything you need to know about your rail world for 2015 and beyond.

Come join the party.

Got questions? Set them free at dnahass@railfin.com.

We’re current, are you? FRA Regulations FRA News:

Mechanical Department Regulations A combined reprint of the Federal Regulations that apply specifically to the Mechanical Department. Spiral bound.

Part Title 210 Railroad Noise Emission Compliance Regulations 215 Freight Car Safety Standards 216 Emergency Order Procedures: Railroad Track, Locomotive and Equipment 217 Railroad Operating Rules 218 Railroad Operating Practices - Blue Flag Rule 221 Rear End Marking Device-passenger, commuter/freight trains 223 Safety Glazing Standards 225 Railroad Accidents/Incidents Update 1-1-15 229 Locomotive Safety Standards 231 Safety Appliance Standards 232 Brake System Safety Standards Update 1-6-15

BKMFR

Part 234 – Grade Crossing Signal System Safety— This final rule requires railroads that operate one or more trains through highway-rail or pathway crossings to submit information to the U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory about the crossings through which they operate.

These amendments, mandated by section 204 of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, require railroads to submit information about previously unreported and new highway-rail and pathway crossings to the U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory and to periodically update existing crossing data.

Dates: This regulation is effective March 9, 2015.

$27.95

Mech. Dept. Regs.

Order 25 or more and pay only $24.50 each

Part 215: Freight Car Safety Standards

49 CFR 215. Prescribes the minimum safety standards for freight cars allowed by the FRA. Includes safety standards for freight car components, car bodies, draft system, restricted equipment and stenciling. Softcover, spiral.

Current FRA Regulations Item Code

FRA Part #

209 211 BKTSSAF 213 BKTSSG 213 BKWRK 214 215 BKFSS BKROR 217 218 220 BKRRC 221 BKEND BKSEP

Update effective

2-12-13 7-20-09 3-25-14 7-11-13 7-1-14 6-25-12 6-25-12 6-25-12 6-25-12 6-25-12

BKHORN 222 6-25-12 BKRFRS 224 6-25-12 BKHS BKLSS BKSLI BKSAS BKBRIDGE BKLER

228 229 230 231 237 240

6-25-12 12-19-12 6-25-12 6-25-12 6-25-12 6-25-12

BKCONDC 242 6-25-12

BKBSS

232 1-6-15

Each

RR Safety Enforcement Procedures & Rules of Practice Track Safety Standards (Subpart A-F) Track Safety Standards (Subpart G) RR Workplace Safety RR Freight Car Safety Standards RR Operating Rules and Practices

27.50 9.95 8.55 9.50 7.25 9.50

8.95 7.85 8.55 6.55 8.55

RR Communications Rear End Marking Device, Passenger, Commuter & Freight Trains Use of Locomotive Horns Reflectorization of Rail Freight Rolling Stock Hours of Service Locomotive Safety Standards Steam Locomotive Inspection RR Safety Appliance Standards Bridge Safety Standards Qualification and Certification of Locomotive Conductor Certification

5.50 5.00

4.95 4.50

13.25

11.95

6.25 10.50 11.00 22.95 9.35 6.25 12.75

5.60

49 CFR 231. General requirements for safety appliances including: handbrakes, brake step, running boards, sill steps, ladders, end ladder clearance, roof handholds, side handholds, horizontal end handholds, vertical end handholds, and uncoupling levers. 106 pages. Softcover.

9.90

BKSAS

8.50 5.60 11.50

11.00

9.90

Each

25 or more

14.75

13.50

Brake System Safety Standards

Combined FRA Regulations FRA Part #

50 or more

Update effective

Each

25 or more

BKCAD

40 219

10-3-12 Drug and Alcohol Regulations in 5-6-13 the Workplace

36.00

BKSTC

233 234 235 236 238 239

9-2-14 Signal and Train Control Systems 10-21-14 10-21-14 10-21-14 1-28-14 Passenger Safety Standards 7-29-14

19.50

17.55

22.80

20.50

BKPSS

Compliance Manuals BKINFRA BKTM

Track and Rail and Infrastructure Integrity Compliance Manual - Volume II, Track Safety Standards - Part 213 Technical Manual for Signal and Train Control Rules. - Includes Part 233, 234, 235, 236

33.00 46.00

Updates from the Federal Register may be supplied in supplement form.

30.00 39.10

BKFSS

Freight Car Safety Standards Order 50 or more and pay only $6.55 each

$7.25

Part 231: Railroad Safety Appliance Standards

$9.35

Railroad Safety Appliance Order 50 or more and pay only $8.50 each

Part 229: Locomotive Safety Standards

The Locomotive Safety Standards cover the laws governing inspections and tests, brake system, draft system, suspension, electrical, cabs and cab equipment plus more! Softcover. Spiral bound.

BKLSS

Locomotive Safety Standards

$11.00

Order 50 or more and pay only $9.90 each

800-228-9670 www.transalert.com

The Railway Educational Bureau 1809 Capitol Ave., Omaha NE, 68102 I (800) 228-9670 I (402) 346-4300 www.RailwayEducationalBureau.com

Add Shipping & Handling if your merchandise subtotal is: U.S.A. CAN U.S.A. CAN Orders over UP TO $10.00 $4.10 $8.55 25.01 - 50.00 9.80 15.70 $75, call for shipping 10.01 - 25.00 7.20 11.80 50.01 - 75.00 10.90 19.80 *Prices subject to change. Revision dates subject to change in accordance with laws published by the FRA.2/15

Bob and the others like him here at ORX make us what we are: fully committed to getting you what you want, when you need it. Nothing will stop us. Either we'll find a way... or we’ll make a way.

December 7, 2013 – Bob takes his two boys, Tanner and Hunter, ice fishing. Things go smoothly because that equipment, too, is well-maintained and ready to go. Six perch, two crappies, and one great photo.

October 16, 2013 – A critical component in the underbelly of a critical CNC machine fails. We call the machine’s manufacturer to order a replacement part. Lead time: 14 weeks. Instead of accepting this set-back, Bob makes the part from scratch, and the machine is back in action the next day. And, if that weren't enough, he corrects the flaw in the part’s design that caused it to fail.

ORXceptional

Bob Gorman Senior Maintenance Mechanic

www.ORXrail.com | 814.684.8484