RTS December 2020

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

FLOATING FAME

CREWS PUT FINISHING TOUCHES ON FLOATING BRIDGE MADE FOR TRAINS IN WASHINGTON STATE DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.RTANDS.COM

ALSO: 2020 BEST PRACTICES FRICTION MANAGEMENT rtands.com

February 2018 // Railway Track & Structures 1

CONTENTS

December 2020

10

FEATURES

10

A man-made wonder Challenges are endless when trying to build a floating bridge for trains

16

Seeing it differently New inspection technology and COVID-19 practices make their mark

20

Rollin’ down the railroad A robust friction management program reduces wear and increases asset life

COLUMNS

20 On the Cover Work continues on the I-90 floating bridge in the state of Washington.

DEPARTMENTS

4

Streamlining Rail bridge construction in Elgin, Ill.

6

TTCI Research Development of a laboratory fatigue test for engineered polymer composite ties

25

3

On Track The choice in 2020 is clear

32

Last Stop Best practices for long rail and transit long tunnel safety

AREMA News Message from the President, AREMA life during retirement, and more

For story, see p 10 Photo courtesy of Sound Transit

Follow Us On Social Media @RTSMag

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 1

ON TRACK

The choice in 2020 is clear VOL. 115, NO. 6 NO. 12 PrintVOL. ISSN116, # 0033-9016, Print ISSN ## 0033-9016, Digital ISSN 2160-2514 Digital ISSN # 2160-2514 EDITORIAL OFFICES EDITORIAL OFFICE 20 South Clark Street, Suite 1910 3680 Heathmoor Drive Chicago, Ill. 60603 Elgin, (312) IL 60124 Telephone 683-0130 Telephone 336-1148 Fax (312)(630) 683-0131 Website www.rtands.com BILL WILSON Editor-in-Chief wwilson@sbpub.com DAVID LESTER KYRAC. SENESE Managing Editor dlester@sbpub.com ksenese@sbpub.com CORPORATE OFFICES BOB TUZIK 88 Pine Street, 23rd Floor, Consulting Editor New York, NY 10005 btuzik@sbpub.com Telephone (212) 620-7200 CORPORATE OFFICES Fax (212) 633-1165 55 Broad St 26th Fl. ARTHUR J. MCGINNIS, New York, N.Y. 10004JR. President and Telephone (212)Chairman 620-7200 Fax (212) 633-1165 JONATHAN CHALON ARTHUR Publisher J. MCGINNIS, JR. President and Chairman MARY CONYERS Production CHALON Director JONATHAN Publisher NICOLE D’ANTONA Art Director MARY CONYERS Production Director HILLARY COLEMAN GraphicD’ANTONA Designer NICOLE Art Director MAUREEN COONEY Circulation Director ALEZA LEINWAND Graphic Designer MICHELLE ZOLKOS Conference Director MAUREEN COONEY Circulation Director CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-895-4389 Reprints: PARS International MICHELLE ZOLKOS Corp.

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G

eorge Washington himself might as well have been on the ballot. Prefer someone who has not been dead for 200 years? OK, Bill Clinton. Oh, yeah, he served his two terms. How about ... no, I will not go there.

Do not despair, I am not here to argue or debate on who should be the next president, but for the past 10 years or so one thing about the election has tied my cranium up in knots. Why do we still rely on paper ballots? You know, the same form we used at this country’s first presidential election, and the same form that was widely used up until 2000, when all those hanging Chad’s entered our lives.

Are we concerned about hackers? I think we have some of the best cyber security geeks this world has to offer, so you can’t tell me hacking would be an issue. Build enough firewalls to contain a cyber nuclear blast. It can, and should, be done.

Heck, you can even create an entire government agency out of it. That means more jobs. Hmm ... maybe I should run for president?

You log into an official website, plug in your voter identification number, and make your picks online. Results are instant, mail-in ballots are eliminated, paper ballots are left in the past, and the entire process is safe. One can even develop an app. OK, I know paper ballots play a prominent role in recounts. Again, let the geeks earn their pocket protection badge and figure out a way.

Let’s dial this whole one-touch process down a little bit. Ever since I began campaigning for the railroad (I joined RT&S back in 2019) I have come across dozens and dozens of stories involving the top half of a truck getting crumpled like paper due to a low-clearance railroad viaduct. In fact, just recently as I was trying to get

a jumpstart on my Monday news coverage the top story on my Google search was all about a truck getting stuck under a bridge.

The Onondaga Lake Parkway railroad bridge in Liverpool, N.Y., has been a hazard for trucks and other vehicles over the years. There have been 13 accidents due to the bridge’s vertical clearance over the past decade.

However, help is on the way. Rand McNally’s GPS unit has designated the Onondaga Lake Parkway route as a non-truck corridor.

It’s happening in other places, too. According to Rand McNally, drivers can input truck sizes and what they are hauling into a GPS device and it will map out the safest route ... one that will accommodate the vertical height of a truck.

I think this idea alone should run for political office. OK, maybe not, but it is brilliant. GPS technology has made our travel lives enormously simple. I still do not know how I got from point A to point B using a paper map. I made it work with a lot of effort, but the genius of today’s technology is once-complicated tasks are now crystallized in speed and instant results.

I believe the only way you can take advantage of Rand McNally’s GPS vertical clearance feature is by paying for the unit, which can cost as much as $500. This needs to be converted into an app immediately. For $2.99, haulers, delivery workers, etc., can make the purchase and steer clear of lowhanging obstacles. Officials also could use it to make decisions on raising the structure or lowering the road in the future.

This certainly has my vote.

BILL WILSON Editor-in-Chief

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 3

STREAMLINING

A BETTER HALF Construction crews are busy at work replacing a Metra commuter train bridge in Elgin, Ill. Half of the span was complete at the time this picture was taken. The project was finished this past summer. Photo courtesy of Metra.

4 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

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STREAMLINING

FOR THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS, GO TO WWW.RTANDS.COM. Photo Crediit: Metra

If you would like to contribute a photo to the Streamlining section please send a high-res version to Bill Wilson at wwilson@sbpub.com.

Photos must be no more than a month old.

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 5

TTCI R&D

Development of a Laboratory Fatigue Test for Engineered Polymer Composite Ties Center-bending strain data collected at FAST Yin Gao, Sr. Engineer I Michael McHenry, Principal Investigator I Transportation Technology Center, Inc.

T

o better understand the loading environment of EPC ties and develop a laboratory test, center bending strain data was collected for various EPC tie types, train speeds, and loads both at Transportation Technology Center, Inc.’s Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) and in revenue service.1 The TTCI test engineer selected the ties to ensure that no severely hanging ties or ties with loose plates were used. Overall, the ties chosen were representative of the ties in the test zones.

Figure 1 shows an example of the centerbending strain data collected at FAST for a certain tie type. Based on the enlarged view (bottom plot) of the field strain data, EPC ties experience one bending fatigue cycle for each railcar length (center-to-center length of two adjacent railcars). In comparison, the fastener/rail seat area generally experiences a full load cycle for each truck. The wear/abrasion test (AREMA Test 6), which is a fatigue test on the tie and fastening system, runs at a baseline of 3 million cycles.

The tie and fastener system typically experiences fatigue cycles in alignment with each truck. As EPC ties experience one bending fatigue cycle per railcar instead of per truck, to establish a similar simulated traffic volume as Test 6, 1.5 million cycles are performed for the EPC tie-bending fatigue test. This is an equivalent of approximately 200 MGT of heavy axle load traffic.

Bending strain by finite element (FE) modeling An FE model consisting of a nine-tie track 6 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

Figure 1. Strain measurements of EPC ties at FAST.1

panel was built to investigate how tie moduli and ballast support conditions affect the bending strain in EPC ties. Different ballast support conditions were simulated by changing the gap between the bottom of the ties and the top of the ballast.

Figure 2 presents the simulation results for center bending strain changes with different ballast support conditions of EPC ties and different modulus of elasticity (MOE).2 As the figure shows, uniformly supported ties had the lowest bending strain.

However, even a slight center bound condition could cause a substantial increase (up to 300 percent) in the tie-bending strain. In comparison, as the tie modulus increased, the center strain value decreased.

The simulation results indicated a nonlinear relationship between the tie modulus and the center strain, meaning the strain value did not decrease at the same rate that

the tie modulus increased.

The crosses in the plot indicate the in-track bending strains of three types of EPC ties (A, B, and D) at FAST. These ties had similar MGT (between 125 and 146 MGT) when the bending strains were collected. Even though the field strain data does not follow the exact nonlinear trend as the simulation results (possibly due to tamping, ballast conditions, weather, etc.), the field strain data still follows the trend of the higher the modulus, the lower the bending strains.

Based on the simulation results and field strain data, it can be determined that the tie modulus is an important factor in developing the input load.

Development of tie fatigue test The following presents the development considerations of the EPC tie-bending rtands.com

TTCI R&D

and one Type C) degraded due to center cracking.

All nine tested ties were sliced to see the internal conditions after the tests were performed. The two degraded ties had internal defects (see Figure 4), but the seven non-degraded ties visually had better internal conditions (denser materials, no voids). The two degraded ties that had internal defects were cracked by 1,800 µ and 2,400 µ while the other seven ties tested at higher strain values met the test requirements.

Key takeaways from the laboratory tests include:

Figure 2. Center bending strains for different ballast support conditions of EPC ties with different MOE.2

fatigue test and how the proposed test setup was determined from the test iterations.

AREMA three-point bending test. Section BC is the 30-in. inner span (loading span).

Test setup According to the in-track observation, the center cracking degradation often is associated with internal voids or defects in the tie center area. Therefore, a four-point bending test setup was designed to create a region of constant bending moment in the middle section of the tie, as opposed to only a single point of maximum bending in a three-point test.

A longer inner span is favored because it can provide a longer constant moment area to have a longer tie section tested. It is important to test as long of a section of the tie center as possible, as more potential variability in the location of voids can be considered. However, a longer inner span reduces the length of Sections AB and CD, and thus increases the shear forces in these two sections exercising tie shear strength instead of bending fatigue resistance.

Loading span to support span is typically a ratio of 1:2 according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards (D790, D7264). Testing with a 30-in. inner span was able to replicate in-track measured strains and generate fatigue cracks similar to those observed in track without degradation by shear. Since the center cracking typically occurs in the center 30 in. of a tie, a 30-in. inner span (Section BC) was determined to be adequate for this test. Figure 3 shows the test setup. Section AD is the 60-in. outer span (support span), consistent with the

Loading frequency During testing iterations, three types of ties were cycled at various loading frequencies.

Each tie type was cycled from 1 to 10 Hz. This was done to determine if loading frequency could be adjusted to maximize the stress/strain range for fatigue cycling. The test cycled the tie at 1 through 10 Hz. The tie was able to maintain the desired strain range at all frequencies. In addition, running higher frequencies showed the potential to increase tie temperature and unrealistically affect the tie performance. Running at lower frequencies, however, is not efficient for the fatigue test. Therefore, the fatigue test was determined to run at 5 Hz.

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Analysis and recommendations Different input strains were chosen to run the fatigue tests on the ties. Two ties (one Type B

• Internal defects are likely to be a major cause of the EPC tie-center cracking; • The test setup is capable of identifying the internal defects which could induce center cracks under repeated loading; and • It can be assumed the two degraded ties would have degraded at higher strain values. The presence of the defect is the key factor for generating the degradation.

Center cracking occurs in the center 30 in. of a tie. Therefore, the tie with the worst internal condition (maximum allowable defects/ voids/inclusions by X-ray quality control) should be selected for testing.

It is recommended that the tested tie is sliced to verify the internal condition by X-ray scanning. Additionally, this slicing test method could be used to learn more about acceptable defect types and locations to improve EPC tie quality control.

Based on the test data and the simulation results effort, an input strain from 2,500 µ to 3,000 µ is recommended for EPC ties with moduli ranging from 400 ksi to 130 ksi, respectively. Stiffer ties (400 ksi) would be tested at 2,500 µ and less stiff ties (130 ksi) would be tested at 3,000 µ . The strain range for other ties with a modulus in between can be interpolated.

The rationale of the recommended strain

Figure 3. Four-point bending setup.1

December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 7

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Figure 4. The internal defects of the two degraded EPC ties.

range is supported by the previous laboratory tests and in-track test results. The laboratory tests show that the strains in this range can degrade a tie with internal defects. As the strain range is obtained based on field test results, a safety factor is used to increase the test severity to account for the severe loading/ support conditions as shown in Figure 2. This range represents a conservative range of strains that exceed the in-service demand of an EPC tie in center bending with an approximate safety factor of 1.7.

Recommendations for a more conservative (higher safety factor) test could be developed in the future.

Conclusion Based on the field/laboratory tests and simulation results, the following findings are reported: • The simulation results and field test data showed a similar trend that the higher the tie MOE, the lower the center bending strain; • The laboratory tests showed that internal defects are likely to be one major cause of the EPC tie-center cracking. In addition, the proposed setup is capable of identifying EPC ties with internal defects. The ties with internal defects will break even if the input strains are not as high as the input strains on good quality ties; and • All the tested EPC ties had an MOE ranging from 130 ksi to 400 ksi. Based on the rtands.com

test results, an input strain ranging from 2,500 µ to 3,000 µ was sufficient to identify an EPC tie with internal defects, but did not overload and degrade a good quality tie.

A tie with the worst acceptable internal condition (as indicated by the manufacturer’s quality control procedures such as X-ray scanning) should be selected for this test.

Slicing ties can be an effective way to verify the tie internal conditions evaluated by the quality-control procedures.

Acknowledgement TTCI appreciates the support from the AAR and the FRA and the suppliers’ donation of the EPC ties for this research. TTCI appreciates continued input and support from AREMA Committee 30—Ties, as well ongoing support and guidance provided by the Tie and Fastener Technical Advisory Group.

References 1. McHenry, M., Linkowski, D., and Gao, Y. September 2019. “Development of Laboratory Fatigue Tests for Engineered Polymer Composite Ties.”

Technology Digest. TD-19-018. AAR/ TTCI. Pueblo, Colo.

2. Gao, Y., McHenry, M. and Linkowski, D. September 2020. “Development of Laboratory Fatigue Tests for EPC Ties: Stage II.” Technology Digest. TD-20025. AAR/TTCI. Pueblo, Colo.

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 9

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

A MAN-MADE

WONDER Challenges are endless when trying to build a floating bridge for trains

By Bill Wilson, Editor-in-Chief

10 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

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BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

O

rchestrating a mosh pit cannot be easy. One needs to make sure all the participants providing stabilization are in perfect sync, and even if it is performed at a high level there is still worry that an untimed arm drop could create a disaster.

Workers on the floating bridge in Washington State must have felt like they had to execute this mass coordination day after day.

Even when you are dealing with obtrusive concrete pontoons, the delicacy required is equal to walking into a sea of upright hands.

Just the idea of a light-rail train moving across a bridge that rests on a lake is impressive enough, but the construction process belongs in the record books.

The floating I-90 bridge over Lake Washington is anchored greatness, with each step calling for meticulous calculations and coordinated movements.

Adding density to this enormous engineering challenge is Washington’s tragic history with floating bridges. Two have been lost during storms, the Hood Canal floating bridge in 1979 and the old I-90 floating bridge during Thanksgiving weekend in 1990.

The fact the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was willing to take the plunge again is a feat in and of itself.

However, this time it is different, and it started with the recommendations coming from a blue ribbon panel after the second bridge dropped.

“We have had two floating bridges that have sunk, so there’s a high level of sensitivity and concern any time you are working on a floating bridge,” Sound Transit’s principal construction manager for the Seattle-South Bellevue segment of the East Link Extension, Sepehr Sobhani, told RT&S. “There were some strict guidelines that were derived from that blue ribbon panel report.”

The order that carried perhaps the harshest overtone was the fact that the vast majority of construction could only take place April through September. Before crews could gain access to the project, the fire life safety systems in the Mt. Baker tunnels, which take traffic to Lake Washington, had to be retrofitted. That project was not completed until June 2017, which essentially cut the first work window of the floating bridge in half.

“

“Trying to make meaningful work in that first season was pretty difficult,” said Sobhani.

“We were able to hit the ground running, though, to a certain extent.”

Injecting the project with some needed speed was an alternative contract delivery method called heavy civil GCCM. According to Sobhani, it is a hybrid between a designbuild and a design-bid-build delivery. Mockups tested well before June also made up some time and secured certainty. One experiment was on the track attachments made specifically for the floating bridge.

Targeted pre-planning along with the constant flow of expertise helped move the job smoothly, even during one of the world’s worst pandemics, COVID-19.

“Sometimes you went into meetings and your head was spinning when you came out,” remarked Sobhani. “It takes a lot of different subject matter experts coming together and working together to overcome these challenges.”

Photo Credit: Sound Transit

SOMETIMES YOU WENT INTO MEETINGS AND YOUR HEAD WAS SPINNING WHEN YOU CAME OUT.

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Pulling together The first challenge was certainly an intimidating one—conducting the longest posttensioning on a bridge in history. There are two floating bridges, one serving eastbound I-90 and one serving westbound I-90. The tracks are located on the inside lanes of the westbound span. Pontoons, which are bolted together, served as the building blocks of the floating structure, and each of them are 360 ft long. All together the series of pontoons required approximately 3,600 ft of posttensioning. Twenty tendons were used, with each one carrying 615,000 lb of force. Crews had to core holes, which would serve as ducts, and build massive reaction frames to prep the bridge for the post-tensioning. Every time a hole was drilled, marine-grade plugs were inserted and tested to maintain the watertight integrity of the pontoons.

“The floating bridge is designed with a series of cells and water-tight doors to compartmentalize the structure so you can stop progressive flooding if any one of those cells took on water,” said Sobhani.

Complexity like maintaining the watertight integrity of the pontoons was one of many reasons why a naval architect was required to prepare and review any work plans that required pontoon ballasting.

December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 11

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

Each reaction frame weighed 20,000 lb and there were 10 on each side of the floating bridge. They were located on the inside of the pontoons, which called for parts and pieces of the frames to go through the 3-ft x 2-ft watertight hatches on the bridge deck as well as the water-tight doors between pontoon cells. One of the pieces weighed as much as 3,500 lb, so carts running on Teflon surfaces were used for transport. Chains and hoists also were used to set the frames. Because each of the pontoons were unique, 3-D LiDAR scans of the surfaces were conducted and used during the fabricating of the frames so the fit was snug.

The post-tensioning process actually shortened the bridge by about 4.5 in., or 2.25 in. on each side of the bridge. Expansion joints at the ends of the bridge accommodated the increased gap.

All together the series of pontoons that form the floating bridge required approximately 3,600 ft of post-tensioning.

Moving like water The floating portion of the bridge is essentially a living, breathing structure. Approach structures are fixed, but the transition span is the hinge that moves up, down, to the left and to the right ... essentially the motion of the water underneath the floating pontoons.

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BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

The rail also has to mimic the movement of Lake Washington, calling for the installation of eight innovative track bridges. The track bridges were specially engineered to compensate for six ranges of lake motion to enable trains to safely travel from the fixed sections of the bridge to the floating section. Almost 9,000 specially engineered and constructed lightweight concrete blocks were affixed to the bridge deck using a specialized epoxy called DexG. Rail was then set on the blocks, with steel tie bars placed between them to maintain gauge, similar to standard railroad tie systems.

The blocks were fabricated in a precast yard and shipped to the site. Before being delivered, workers would pour a layer of elastomeric grout that contained pieces of cork. The grout served two purposes: It provided resiliency to the rail system in terms of dampening vibrations from trains crossing over, and it also prevents any kind of failure from transferring to the bridge deck itself.

Prior to placement of the blocks, grinding of the bridge deck surface was performed to create a uniform surface that could undergo extensive survey measurements to set the alignment and profile of the rail. The contractor would then

The rail has to mimic the movement of Lake Washington, calling for the installation of eight innovative track bridges.

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 13

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

Adding another challenge to this project was trying to work during a pandemic.

hang each block mimicking a top-down track installation method and begin the process of adhering the blocks to the bridge deck with the use the epoxy grout. The epoxy was injected between the small gap of the bridge deck and the blocks that hung from the rail. A steel wire was then used to screed the epoxy to eliminate any air bubbles.

“When they work all together,” Sobhani said, “they’re able to accommodate all of those different movements of the floating bridge.”

Two prototypes were fabricated by Jesse Engineering in Tacoma, Wash., and tested at TTCI in Pueblo, Colo. The prototypes went through extensive kinematic testing to make sure the sections were able to accommodate the range of movements. Four-car trains running at 55 mph traversed over the prototypes to test the performance of the track bridges, and according to Sobhani the ride was smooth.

Adding the track to the floating bridge required the contractor to remove weight from the structure. In order to do this, a barrier on the south side of the westbound bridge was removed. The barrier, which was designed for vehicular traffic, was no longer needed, and

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BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

the concrete was cut into segments and used as temporary ballast for the track.

At press time, track on the eastbound direction had been installed and most of the track on the westbound direction was in place. Setting eastbound track was a little tricky because it included the installation of guardrail. Because the eastbound track was adjacent to the lake, guardrail was needed to prevent the unlikely possibility of trains entering the water. Workspace was the challenge when working on the westbound track.

With the eastbound span completed the width of the construction zone was only about 25 ft, and 10 ft of room had to be left for WSDOT to perform operations and maintenance.

“We were restricted to golf car access at this point,” said Sobhani.

There were access points on either side of the bridge, and lanes could be shut down temporarily if necessary, but the entire process took a lot of coordination and effective scheduling and communication.

“If you do not sequence yourself right, you cut yourself off and essentially paint yourself into a corner,” Sobhani explained.

Treating strays Long-term maintenance also had to be addressed during the planning and construction phases of the floating bridge. Trains that cross the structure are dependent upon electricity, and stray current can be problematic because it can cause advanced corrosion.

Cathodic protection is there to fight this issue.

The elastomeric grout, track attachments, splints, etc., have all been treated, and a polyurea was sprayed on the bridge deck to prevent any stray current from entering the reinforcing steel of the floating bridge.

A current electric cable also has been installed to serve as another layer of security against corrosion. Stray current is caught in this collector cable and taken to the ends of the bridge and grounded.

Rectifiers inside the pontoons also are part of the cathodic protection. The rectifiers are automated and actually impress current into the steel because corrosion occurs when stray current leaves the reinforcing steel so impressing a constant current can prevent this from happening. The rectifiers are constantly measuring and calibrating to make sure the right balance is achieved, because if too much

is impressed into the steel you have what you call hydrogen embrittlement.

Pandemic protection Rehearsal, pre-planning, meetings—all and more helped construction meet any anticipated challenges, but what about the one big challenge that dictated its own timing: COVID-19? The usual protocol was followed, social distancing, temperature screening, etc., but nobody could become completely immune to the virus. Quarantining a crew for 10-14 days would put a serious hurt into a construction schedule that was already shortened to six months of each year.

The work inside the pontoon was mostly completed before the pandemic swept through the U.S., and effective scheduling helped keep workers from being on top of one another. During our interview in late summer, Sobhani said the floating bridge track crews were free of COVID-19 cases, but if one did happen there were groups of workers spread out over the entire 7-mile project, not just on the floating bridge. If necessary, workers could be pulled from other areas to complete tasks left behind by a quarantined group.

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 15

2020 BEST PRACTICES

New inspection technology and COVID-19 practices make their mark

By Bill Wilson, Editor-in-Chief

SEEING IT T

here is no technology that can scan a facemask.

The railroad industry has come a long way with advancements over the last few years, but even with innovations popping up during a pandemic there is still nothing that can measure facial expressions.

Michael Ehrenberger, project manager for Burns, wishes there was something that could indicate what the person across from him is thinking. Back in April, Ehrenberger was in charge of a team that was working 16 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

with Amtrak to integrate Positive Train Control (PTC) along the Northeast Corridor from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

Despite the beginnings of the worst global pandemic in a generation, Ehrenberger and his colleagues decided to move on and finish the program, and came up with a unique system in the process.

Still, nothing could translate the body language.

“You can’t see expressions on people’s faces when you are talking about something,” Ehrenberger told RT&S, “like all

of those visual clues that you have. When you are wearing a mask, you lose that. It’s all of those nonverbal cues that you rely on to communicate. Well, they are not there anymore, and it does make it more difficult.”

Inspecting rail, however, is becoming a lot less difficult ... and a lot less time intensive. With the Federal Railroad Administration officially backing autonomous track inspection late in the year, Class 1 company’s like Canadian National and Norfolk Southern received a huge endorsement for rtands.com

Photo Credit: Canadian National

DIFFERENTLY

FEATURE NAME

their systems.

Working in a pandemic environment and track inspections are both being recognized for best practices in 2020, but how will each evolve?

Here comes the quarantine train

Ehrenberger was traveling to the East Coast from his hometown of Pittsburgh on March 16 when the concerns of COVID-19 became too much to bear. With a lot of unknowns about the virus controlling media coverage, the decision was made to cancel the PTC work with Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor. However, after about a week a solution rose to the surface ... putting together a rolling quarantine train. The train consisted of an Amtrak locomotive, a dining car, a sleeping car and a meeting car. Wireless instrumentation was mounted on the outside of the train to relay PTC information to laptops.

So for 10 days, Ehrenberger’s crew wore masks and stayed 6 ft apart from one another in order to get the job done. Hotels and restaurants were completely taken out of the equation. In their place was a rolling restaurant, office and home.

“We stepped up and said, ‘Look, we need to do this, but we need to keep people safe,’” he said. “People are familiar with what you have to do when you are trying to introduce this technology and the testing. But then to throw the COVID on top of it and it was just kind of another layer of complexity.”

The biggest benefit of the wireless network was it removed the risk of people crowding into the locomotive. Ehrenberger said the cab is the most popular place to be during the testing. Now, people were situated in the office car operating at a safe distance from one another.

WiFi was not always dependable while on the rail, so an independent network was created in the meeting car so work could continue uninterrupted. Later in the trip, between Boston and Philadelphia, the connection was good enough so that Ehrenberger could execute a Zoom call with the people involved with the testing process who were not on the train. Those who were at their home base were able to guide Ehrenberger’s team through a problem during the call.

“To me, that was pretty fantastic that we could have all that happening live on a test train, because those guys would have liked to have been there looking for that problem.”

Because this approach entered new territory, Ehrenberger said he tinkered with the system virtually every day to make sure things were running smoothly.

“There was always something that we ran into,” he said. “And you kind of scratched your head and said, ‘OK, how do we address this?’ By and large, we were always able to come up with something to address the issues.”

Ehrenberger said other agencies have been using bits and pieces of his approach since it was first implemented earlier in the year.

Maintenance-of-Way activities did not stop during the pandemic.

In fact, with less traffic out on the rails, they flourished. Preventive measures were assembled all over the place so the work could continue. Screenings were taken daily, contact tracing was executed, and worker safety was more important than ever before. Companies discovered jobs could be handled with less people, and in some cases backup plans were installed in case there was a COVID outbreak. At the I-90 floating bridge site in the state of Washington, crews are spaced out over the length of the 7-mile project. If there were to be a case of COVID, which would require an entire crew to be quarantined, another group from a different location would come in and rtands.com

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2020 BEST PRACTICES

Zoom calls may not be a constant in the future, either. Ehrenberger said the same kind of fatigue develops conducting Zoom calls all of the time, and that companies who were in favor of the technology earlier are now back-tracking on the idea.

“Maybe a mix [of Zoom and in-person] would be better.”

Inspection on the fly

The quarantine train worked perfectly during the early stages of COVID-19.

continue the work. Everyone was educated on every part of the job.

Ehrenberger did mention that many files that would normally be handled by hand had to be viewed on a computer screen. The project manager does not believe that will be a trend when the pandemic is over.

“In the case of the detailed information on drawings or whatever, it’s a struggle,” he remarked. “I’m comfortable with a computer, and I thought more of the younger generation would be real comfortable doing everything on the computer. But even those guys ... it gets fatiguing.”

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Back in late August, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) submitted a Final Rule to the Federal Register allowing railroads to use ultrasonic inspection technology, augmented with Global Positioning System technology, to employ continuous rail testing. The regulatory reform allows rail testing services to move without stopping along the track, potentially decreasing passenger and freight train delays associated with routine inspections.

The move was revolutionary, and the technology was already buzzing along at full speed with Class 1s Canadian National and Norfolk Southern.

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2020 BEST PRACTICES

automated rail car that employs wireless communications to test and monitor realtime geometric track parameters without interrupting normal railroad operations.

Powered by solar panels and a generator, ATIP uses the latest sensor and AI technology to deploy fully automated track inspections.

Using advanced electronic sensing technology, ATIP creates a profile of track being inspected and provides a real-time picture of track geometry. The data collected also supports predictive maintenance capabilities.

Dan Vogen, vice president of Road and Rail Asset Management with Bentley, helped develop Canadian National’s system, and said the entire inspection process is now molded into one seamless operation.

“The bulk of the users that we have in this kind of space used geometry and measurement vehicles that were extremely specialized,” Vogen told RT&S. “[Canadian National] is moving forward with measurement vehicles in their revenue lines, and they are covering the network 24/7 instead of a couple times a year.”

Norfolk Southern, however, could be considered the trailblazer of this technology. The Class 1 company announced its autonomous track inspection technology back in early March. The track inspection system is mounted on the locomotive in a ruggedized box between the snowplow and the first set of wheels. A computer that powers the system is housed inside the electrical locker in the locomotive cab.

As part of a pilot, Norfolk Southern is operating the autonomous system on a mainline between Norfolk, Va., and Portsmouth, Ohio. The route offers a comprehensive range of track and operating conditions, including straight and curved track, hilly terrain, and high-tonnage loads.

Norfolk Southern plans to equip additional locomotives with the system and potentially upgrade its capabilities, including adding an optical system to evaluate track components such as fasteners, rail welds, and switch points. When RT&S reached out to Norfolk Southern for an update in mid-November, the company said the pilot was going along as planned

and there were no new developments.

Vogen said the types of information that is being collected by autonomous track inspection systems will continue to change, and the next five years could showcase a load of innovation.

“We are very big on the artificial intelligence machine and learning data,” remarked Vogen. “We are using those kinds of sciences to say, ‘Well, we’re getting data in from multiple reads over different times. Are there variables in when that was collected that we need to take into account here and adjust our insights on, and is temperature playing a big factor? Is humidity playing a big factor? Can we do something to determine a kind of outlier?’”

Vogen said Bentley is working on the AI and machine learning in terms of visualization, so things like a tie that is broken or out of place can be detected.

The size of the technology also is expected to shrink. It could eventually come down to attaching smaller sensors on a railcar or locomotive. The system could then be attached to every freight or passenger train covering the network.

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 19

FRICTION MANAGEMENT

ROLLIN’

DOWN THE RAILROAD A robust friction management program reduces wear and increases asset life

R

ailroad Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) departments know that a properly managed lubrication program can extend the life of wheels and rails, and checklists include regular inspection of lubricating equipment. Also, periodic market surveys are required to ensure they are aware of the latest products to support this critical MOW process.

This month, we offer our annual review

20 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

of friction management products, and we have six vendors who have provided material on their latest offerings.

Loram With over 60 years of experience in the friction management division, Loram is at the leading edge of advancements in reliable wayside application equipment, gauge face, and top-of-rail products. Loram can tailor a service package, beginning with

the initial installation and ongoing maintenance, on client-based needs. Loram has developed a portfolio of products that are both environmentally friendly and provide maximum carry distance with as little equipment as possible, reducing their customers’ overall maintenance costs.

Loram Friction Management offers several products in the curve lubricant market engineered for specific challenges, including wide working temperature range rtands.com

Photo Credit: L.B. Foster

By David C. Lester, Managing Editor

FRICTION MANAGEMENT

product that carries the European EcoLabel and is yellow/beige. Trackside has found wide acceptance in the transit market worldwide.

Rail King HL—Multi-season performance in an inherently biodegradable product with high load-carrying additives for heavy-haul applications. Rail King HL is gray in color and pumpable in wayside lubricators down to -20°F. Loram Friction Management also offers a range of top-of-rail friction modifiers that solve problems related to controlling the coefficient of friction in the wheel/rail contact patch area:

L.B. Foster’s Protector X trackside friction management system.

and pumpability, load-carrying capability, and environmental responsibility. They focus on solving problems at the wheel/ rail interface with the following range of products: EcoCurve Heavy Haul—All-season performance in a readily biodegradable product suitable for heavy-haul applications and carries the European EcoLabel.

This product is ideal for use near rivers and bodies of water and pumpable down to -40°F. EcoCurve Trackside—All-season performance in a readily biodegradable rtands.com

TOR-Xtend—An environmentally friendly, clean synthetic friction modifier with a low evaporation rate developed for top-of-rail applications. Along with increased fuel savings, reduced noise, extended wheel and rail life, TOR-Xtend is cost effective, uses less material per application, and has a carry distance of up to 6 miles.

TOR-H2OX—Ideal for railroads looking for the benefits of both water-based and traditional synthetic-based friction modifiers. This hybrid top-of-rail friction modifier provides exceptional fuel savings, reduces noise, and extends wheel and rail life. TOR-H2OX is a non-cavitating material with a 4- to 6-mile carry distance.

Robolube Robolube Industries has announced that the new Robolube R2K Wayside Lubricator has begun shipping. The R2K technology allows a rethinking of placement, environmental considerations, lubricant cost reductions, and effectiveness.

Utilizing up to 75 percent less lubricant per train, R2K lubricates 8 ft of track, and with precise application to gauge corner/face above the wheel flange, there is no waste or cast off. Because each train consumes all of the grease, there is no requirement for hazmat pads and the R2K is environmentally friendly for those areas of environmental concern. The R2K mounts in the apex of the curve for bi-directional traffic, and because there is no train contact, it lowers maintenance costs.

The Robolube R2K temperaturecontrolled system provides for continued operation in cold weather conditions, and there is an option to heat the application site for melting snow and ice. A web-based

user interface provides status updates, notifications, and diagnostics with realtime data. The Robolube R2K is an entirely stand-alone system powered electrically with an LP-fueled generator.

Robolube has partnered with Schaeffer Oil in developing a proprietary lubricant with an aluminum complex, known as Robolube R2K Rail Barrier. When used in the R2K, it provides exceptional carrydown properties, water resistance, wash off, excellent shear and mechanical stability, along with anti-wear and extreme pressure load-carrying properties.

Orgo-Thermit Orgo-Thermit, Inc., a Goldschmidt Company, has continued to deploy their automated lubrication system, the TrackSafe Lube, throughout North America.

The company has seen exponential growth and strong demand for these low-maintenance and high-performing units.

Bryan Dry, Business Development Manager of Orgo-Thermit, said, “With the demands for reduction of rail and wheel wear, decreases in noise emissions and enhanced rider comfort, transits have gained the most benefit from our system.

Due to its size and versatility, the system is applicable to almost any rail situation. To date, we have installed lubricators on main lines, elevated structures, dispatch yards, tunnels, and spurs.”

The solar-powered gauge face lubrication system can be connected to the grid and pump almost all market available greases. Orgo-Thermit said the 8-gal grease tank can accommodate a minimum of 500,000 axles, dramatically reducing the intervals at which someone must refill the grease. A sensor mounted on the field side of the rail sends a signal to the control unit, which then dispenses a uniform and precise dosage of grease on the rail’s gauge face. This feature can be controlled entirely by the client and adjusted via Bluetooth for quick adaptions to service changes. The company said its manifold guarantees the grease is distributed evenly among the grease bars to ensure sufficient distribution while significantly reducing waste and eliminating the need for a track pad when using environmentally friendly lubricants.

“Technology advancements and the desire to extend the lifecycle of railway components has been accelerating the demand for our units. The TrackSafe Lube establishes a cellular connection and transmits a daily status report of the unit, December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 21

FRICTION MANAGEMENT

Loram’s TracShield top-of-rail friction management application system.

Whitmore For almost a decade, Whitmore has offered the TOR Armor Friction Modifier. Major Class 1s and short lines use their products, along with transit customers internationally. There are temperature limits with this formulation, which cause the product to become too viscous to pump at cold temperatures.

Whitmore released a TOR Armor All Season/Low-Temperature Variant to limited customers this winter season. At third-party chill chambers, they have installed complete Accutrack Electric Trackside Applicators with full lengths of hoses that you would see in the field and 22 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

pumped to below -30°F. It cannot get any colder because, in these conditions, the pumps, cabinets, hoses, bars, and product were all at this extreme temperature, where in the field, the ambient temperature may get very low during the evening but then heat up during the day with the product retaining some heat.

Most railways understand the benefits of the optimal friction coefficient for reducing lateral forces, improving fuel economy, and decreasing maintenance costs. The differentiators between their choices include reducing capital and operating costs.

The end goal of operating costs is lowering the cost per axle for product and achieving your performance metrics (reduced lateral forces, fuel consumption, and maintenance costs). TOR Armor carries more than 3 miles down the track at an application rate far lower than other products. Consistently when compared side by side, they confirm this over and over in the field with railways.

Time and time again, Whitmore has reduced the number of trackside applicators required with competitive products by converting to TOR Armor. If you have competitive applicators, Whitmore asks you to reach out to them so they can show you how to re-deploy and reduce your capital costs while increasing your coverage. With both Class 1 customers and short lines, Whitmore has saved them considerable capital spend while meeting their performance metrics.

L.B. Foster Company L.B. Foster continues to partner with its customers to ensure their friction management programs are operating at peak efficiency and focus on customer-centric service and product solutions to meet their specific needs.

“A well-run friction management program can deliver significant savings by reducing fuel consumption and extending rail asset life,” according to John Cotter, general manager, L.B. Foster Rail rtands.com

Photo Credit: Loram

including the back-up battery’s voltage level, axle count, grease level in the tank, and any access to the cabinet in the past 24 hours. This data has proven to be beneficial to users and will give them the important information they need without them having to access the unit in the field physically,” explained Dry.

FRICTION MANAGEMENT

Technologies North America. He continued, “On a simple cost-benefit basis, for every one dollar our customers invest into an effective program, they can generate three dollars in benefits. The key to success is to ensure that all the friction management program components are fully integrated and working together. This Total Friction Management (TFM) initiative combines our products and field services with accountability to ensure that our customers fully realize these benefits.”

As an example, L.B. Foster recently introduced its new all-season Syncurve rail curve grease. Syncurve provides the desired protection against gauge face rail wear at half the normal application rate of other products. For some customers, this has translated into value by extending refilling intervals and minimizing the chances that the tanks will run empty in high-traffic corridors.

L.B. Foster also has rolled out a remotemonitoring platform for trackside assets, which allows the company to accurately monitor and respond on a timely basis to issues as part of the TFM initiative.

“We have introduced real-time rail wear monitoring,” said Cotter. “Using our proprietary algorithm, we can process data and analyze wear using rail measurements captured by geometry car runs. This allows both L.B. Foster and our customers to assess and identify any changes in rail wear rate at critical curves. Based on an 18-month field assessment with Canadian Pacific using Syncurve gauge face grease, we recently co-presented a paper with them at AREMA in September. The presentation detailed how using this unique algorithm provides effective rail protection on a high-tonnage, high-curvature subdivision, and the benefits of its reduced application rate. Not only do our customers want to know that the equipment is functioning properly, but they also want proof that the top-of-rail and gauge face friction management consumables are extending rail life.”

MPL Innovations MPL Innovations was the first to bring solid polymer lubricants to the rail industry for wheel flange lubrication. MPL developed solid stick lubricants for both the gauge face

and top-of-rail. It has continued to innovate with the development of its NatureBlend formulation. The benefits associated with flange lubrication have been widely studied and include fuel savings by reducing wheel/rail friction, significantly reducing flange wear and wheel truing frequency.

This lubrication method results in increased wheel life, rail life and reduces reliance on trackside lubricators.

Solid polymer lubricants are specially formulated materials designed to provide lubrication to steel-on-steel surfaces. The material consists of various extreme pressure additives and other lubricants bound in a polymer matrix. This solid material enables the lubricant to be applied directly to the point of contact in a clean and highly efficient manner and deposits a thin film of lubricant.

MPL has continued to innovate with its patented NatureBlend lube stick, a formulation of renewable plastics as binders and vegetable oil to help provide lubrication and various extreme pressure additives. This material is an environmentally friendly formulation produced using both renewable

Whether you’re looking at starting a Friction Management Program or optimizing an existing one, you can count on L.B. Foster to provide you with the expertise, equipment, consumables, service, and monitoring support to achieve your goals.

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 23 QtrPage_TFMAd.indd 1

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FRICTION MANAGEMENT

MPL Innovations’ locomotive-mounted top-of-rail and gauge face lubrication application devices.

1

12/12/19

4:15 PM

Photo Credit: MPL Innovations

1416 Complete Line RT&S Ad 7x4.9375 Mchl.pdf

and biodegradable polymers and lubricants.

MPL’s TopStick friction modifier is well established and is ready for testing at a candidate railroad after extensive successful testing at TTCI. TopStick uses a different combination of lubricants to incrementally modify the friction coefficient compared to the gauge face lubricant. The COF on the top of the rail must be no lower than 0.35 so that the tractive effort of the locomotive is not compromised. Testing at the Transportation Technology Center indicates energy savings of up to 8 percent.

The TopStick lubricant is fed into the wheel using a constant force spring, so lubricant is being applied to the wheels and conditioning the rail whenever the locomotive is moving. TopStick uses the same truck frame attachment bracket as the wheel flange lubricators, thus reducing installation costs.

The MPL NatureBlend stick lubrication and Topstick systems’ characteristics are low cost, reliability, 2 percent to 3 percent fuel savings, wear reduction of over 35 percent, and biodegradability.

24 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

rtands.com

Message From The President

T

VICTOR R. BABIN AREMA President 2020-21

he North American rail industry looks to AREMA for expertise.

Our guides, manuals, handbooks, plans and recommended practices are referenced not only on this continent but throughout the world.

These publications are regularly cited in engineering, construction and product procurement documents as well as in inspection, maintenance and safety instructions. Dedicated AREMA Technical Committee members are an indispensable resource for developing and maintaining these essential references.

These volunteers are the very heart of our association. Engagement by a broad and diverse assemblage of technical professionals ensures that we provide the most comprehensive and precise body of knowledge for our industry.

Technical committee participation multiplies the value of AREMA membership.

My career development and informal education were greatly enhanced by participation in Committee 37 of the AREMA Communications & Signals Functional Group.

I am grateful to these associates for sharing their wisdom and helping me along my career path. I treasure the knowledge, friendship and camaraderie found in this collection of our industry’s best.

By relating my experiences, I hope to encourage more of you to join one of our many technical committees for the benefit of your career, your employer and our industry. rtands.com

New material for publication is developed, and existing material is refined, through an iterative process. Responsibility is delegated by functional group leaders to committees and then to subcommittees. The subcommittee chairs, in turn, assign the development and review processes to individuals or small groups.

Review tasks are allocated over a multiyear cycle. A good place for a new participant to make their first contributions is to accept an assignment to review and revise part of a manual. This is how I became truly engaged in AREMA. For my first revision task, I was asked to modernize several short manual parts by adding equivalent Boolean expressions to drawings depicting long-established relay-based designs. The logic remained valid but the relay implementation was being superseded by processor-based systems.

I had a rudimentary knowledge of railway signaling but a fair amount of experience in industrial relay systems and digital logic. I accepted the challenge as “homework” to be submitted at the next semi-annual meeting. I was not, by any means, an expert on the topics of the manual parts, but the task capitalized on my strengths. I would be rewarded in the effort by learning more about railway signaling through immersion and by building upon skills I already possessed.

I set about my homework as my schedule permitted.

At the next session, the subcommittee carefully reviewed and deliberated upon my revisions and the works of associates.

The documents were edited as necessary, thoroughly vetted and advanced to full committee.

The process was repeated by the body as a whole, voted upon and progressed to the Functional Group Board of Directors for approval. Final reviews were subsequently made by the Publications Committee. At last, the new and revised material was published in the next annual edition of the Communications & Signals Manual (C&S).

In today’s practice, AREMA takes the additional step of inviting and considering comment from the industry at large before final publication. It is the scrutiny, collective wisdom, collaboration

and refinement by many and not the expertise of a few that places our publications among the finest in the industry.

Successful participation in the process built my confidence and I found my place in Committee 37. My knowledge base continued to grow as I advanced to collaboration in the development of new material for the C&S Manual.

For my first venture in creating new content, I was assigned the first draft of C&S Manual Part 16.4.8: Recommended Vital Circuit Design Guidelines for Lossof-Shunt Circuits. The information now found under this title is the curation of an assortment of design techniques used by several railroads, consultants and suppliers.

I compiled the material by querying several AREMA associates who were most happy to provide excerpts from the libraries, drawings, standards books and product literature held by them and their employers. Some colleagues generously furnished copies of their entire corporate standards libraries, books that I have referenced throughout my career.

It was my great fortune to work with such a scholarly and most affable group of professionals.

If you join an AREMA technical committee, you are sure to meet an equally friendly assembly of railway engineering and maintenance specialists. You need not commit to a specific committee at the outset.

Committee descriptions, contact information and details on how to join a committee may be found on the AREMA website.

Explore your options, talk to participants and leaders to determine where you best fit. Request to attend a meeting as a guest by reaching out to a committee chair. Observe committee activities, be at ease and enjoy the fellowship. Learn the ropes. If you hold a professional designation, as a member of that committee, you may gain professional development credits for your participation.

Many committees gather over dinner at the end of the workday. Be sure to join them.

Much is to be learned at these social events where lifetime friendships and professional networks are formed.

December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 25

FYI

AREMA would like to wish you and your family a very happy and safe holiday season.

Do you want to generate leads, promote a product and reach a target audience?

Sign up for sponsorship at the AREMA 2021 Annual Conference in conjunction with Railway Interchange. Please visit www.arema.org or contact lmcnicholas@ a re m a .o rg fo r m o re i n fo r m a ti o n o n sponsorship investment opportunities.

O rder the 2020 Man ual for Railway Engineering now. The Manual consists of railway engineering reference material and recommended practices for the industr y. It contains principles, data, specifications, plans and economics

pertaining to engineering, design and construction. Order online now at www. arema.org or contact mbruins@arema. org for more details.

Did you miss the AREMA 2020 Virtual Conference & Expo? The platform will be open for one full year for you to network and learn while on the go. Purchase now at www.arema.org and have access until Sept. 15, 2021.

Leverage the power of your trusted association’s Railway Careers Network to tap into a talent pool of job candidates with the training and e d u c a t i o n n e e d e d f o r l o n g -t e r m success. Visit www.arema.org/careers to post your job today.

Demonstrate that you are a professional by joining AREMA membership today. AREMA members are d e dicate d to im provin g th eir practical knowledge and are interested in exchanging information with your peers in order to advance the railroad engineering industry. Join now at www. arema.org to get exclusive rates on p ro d u c ts a n d e d u c a ti o n a l c o u r s e s, committee opportunities, and access.

NOT AN AREMA MEMBER? JOIN TODAY AT WWW.AREMA.ORG FOLLOW AREMA ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

UPCOMING COMMITTEE MEETINGS

JAN. 1, 2021

FEB. 8-9, 2022

Committee 8 - Concrete Structures and Foundations San Diego, Calif.

Committee 15 - Steel Structures Fort Worth, Texas

FEB. 2-3, 2021 Committee 15 - Steel Structures Virtual Meeting MAY 18-19, 2021 Committee 15 - Steel Structures Pueblo, Colo.

SEPT. 14-15, 2021 Committee 15 - Steel Structures Virtual Meeting

MAY 19-20, 2022 Committee 15 - Steel Structures Chicago, Ill. SEPT. 29-30, 2022 Committee 15 - Steel Structures Virtual Meeting JOIN A TECHNICAL COMMITTEE Joining a Technical Committee is the starting point for involvement in the Association and an opportunity

for lifelong growth in the industry.

AREMA has 29 Technical Committees covering a broad spectrum of railway engineering specialties. Build your network of contacts, sharpen your leadership skills, learn from other members and maximize your membership investment. If you’re interested in joining a technical committee or sitting in on a meeting, please contact Alayne Bell at abell@ arema.org. For a complete list of all committee meetings, visit https://www. arema.org/events.aspx.

Negotiated airline discount information for AREMA Committee meetings can be found online at: http://www.arema.org/ meetings/airlines.aspx.

26 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

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Staying engaged with AREMA into retirement

By Ashley Pate, TranSystems, chair of Committee 24: Education and Training The average age for retirement is 62, but for many people in the rail industry, age is just a number. No matter the age, or whether they have officially retired from their day job, rail professionals really enjoy being involved with organizations like AREMA. Being volunteer-based, AREMA relies on the work of many people to share recommended practices with the rail industry. Many current retirees have a lot of experience and knowledge to share; challenges that they have encountered themselves in the industry.

There are many ways to get involved in AREMA beyond just becoming a member.

This article profiles three retired members of Committee 24: Education & Training, and their experiences.

J. GRAY CHANDLER retired from CSX

Transportation 14 years ago as a manager of Transportation Projects and joined AREMA’s predecessor organization, The American Railway Engineering Association (AREA), in 1970. Chandler has been working in the railway industry for 50 years. As a member of Committee 24, Chandler is a task lead and instructor for the Track Alignment Design Seminar

(TADS) and co-author and presenter for the new TADS II seminar (anticipated 2021). In addition to his involvement in Committee 24, Chandler also volunteers with the Conference Operating Committee (COC) at the annual conference each year.

ARTHUR CHARROW retired from BNSF

Railway six years ago as a general director of Maintenance Planning and joined AREMA’s predecessor organization, The American Railway Engineering Association (AREA), in 1976. Charrow worked in the rail industry for 41 years before retiring in 2015. As a member of Committee 24, Charrow participates in the Training Cooperative Subcommittee and is an instructor for the Introduction to Practical Railway Engineering (IPRE) seminar.

Arthur also is a frequent guest lecturer for railroad engineering classes at California State University at Fresno (Fresno State).

DARRELL MURPHY retired from CSX Trans-

portation seven years ago as a director of Operations Support and joined AREMA’s predecessor organization, The American Railway Engineering Association (AREA),

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AREMA is focused on your education and helping you advance in the railway industry. AREMA’s convenient we bin ars provid e Profession al Development Hours (PDH) to serve your educational needs.

Critical Geometry Defects Webinar Date: Jan. 21, 2021 Time: 2-3 p.m. ET PDH: 1

HBD-101 Introduction To Defect Detector Systems Webinar Date: Feb. 17, 2021 Time: 2-3:15 p.m. ET PDH: 1.25

Welded Wire Reinforcement Webinar Date: Feb. 25, 2021 Time: 2-3 p.m. ET PDH: 1 These courses are comprised of re c o m m e n d e d p ra c t i c e s a n d relevant accumulated knowledge from subject matter experts in the railroad industr y. They are n ot inten ded as a reg ulator y qualification.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Albe84

Fo r m o re i nfo r m a ti o n o n o u r ed ucation al programs an d to register, please visit www.arema.org.

rtands.com

December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 27

CALL FOR CANDIDATES NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS OF AREMA The 2020-2021 Nominating Committee, under the chairmanship of Immediate Past President Edward Sparks, II, hereby solicits suggestions and recommendations of candidates to serve on the AREMA Functional Group Board of Directors in the following positions: All must be members of AREMA in good standing: • (1) Senior Vice President – One-year term. Must be a current or past member of the AREMA Board of Directors, and must be employed by a railway or transit company.

• (1) Functional Group Vice President – Three-year term (Engineering Services) Must be current or past member of the AREMA Board of Directors.

• (5) Functional Groups will have a vacancy to be filled in the Functional Group Director positions–three-year term (Communication & Signals, Maintenance-of-Way, Passenger & Transit, Structures and Track).

Nominating recommendation should be submitted via mailed letter or email and should include all documentation to substantiate the recommendation. This must be signed by the member making the recommendation.

Deadline for Receipt of Recommendations is Jan. 31, 2021.

The Nominating Committee will consider all recom m endations.

Submission of a recommendation should not be construed as affirmative committee action on that recommendation.

Please mail or email to: Edward D. Sparks, II Nominating Committee Chair AREMA 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 130 Lanham, MD 20706 info@arema.org

28 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

in 1987. Murphy has been working in the industry for 51 years. As a member of Committee 24, Murphy is an instructor for the IPRE seminar, a webinar presenter and is a member of AREMA’s Conference Operating Committee (COC) during the annual conference.

In learning more about why these retirees made the conscious decision to stay involved with AREMA and its committee work, we also will learn about how they are enjoying their retirement.

Why did you decide to stay involved with the AREMA organization after you retired?

CHANDLER: I have longtime friendships

that I would not have developed were it not for AREMA. I am also still interested in educating the next generation through conferences and classes.

CHARROW: Actually, I never really ‘decided’ to stay involved with AREMA; I always assumed that continued membership and participation would be part of retired life.

MURPHY: I enjoyed working in the railroad industry and think it’s important to keep the industry strong. One way to do that is by teaching and mentoring those who are new to the industry and by encouraging new people to join. I’ve always enjoyed helping, teaching and/or sharing knowledge.

When you were working, what did you envision retirement would be like?

CHANDLER: Enjoying the ‘good life’

doing what I want to do, which is a lot of volunteer work with Habitat, the church, Registrar of the Jacksonville SAR, Sons of the Confederacy camp, golf, tennis, traveling, and spending more time with family and grandchildren.

CHARROW: When working, I envisioned retirement would be sort of like a very long weekend or extended vacation.

MURPHY: I originally envisioned that I would work part time as a consultant in the railroad industry, while doing some volunteer work and travel. In reality, I did very little consulting work and concentrated on volunteer work, travel and helping with AREMA Committee 24 projects.

What’s your favorite part of being involved in Committee 24?

CHANDLER: The face-to-face meetings

with side trips.

CHARROW: My favorite part of being involved with Committee 24 is the

continued association with railroaders and the opportunity to stay fairly current with the industry, as well as the opportunity to contribute while still enjoying retirement.

MURPHY: Helping to develop training materials and teach topics to the new members of the industry.

What’s your favorite part of being involved in the AREMA organization?

CHANDLER: Working with the Confer-

ence Operating Committee (COC).

CHARROW: My favorite part of being involved with AREMA in general is attending the annual conference.

MURPHY: I’ve always enjoyed the camaraderie amongst fellow railroaders. Through AREMA, I’m able to keep in touch with former coworkers, as well as meet other railroad engineers throughout the industry.

What else are you working on outside of AREMA now?

CHANDLER: I help build handicap ramps

each Monday in my county and my wife and I help with Waste Not-Want Not with Darrell Murphy and his wife.

CHARROW: Spending time with our kids and grandson. Also, I am performing some volunteer work and trying to read the great literature that I should have as a student.

Coffee with my wife is a daily ritual that is most rewarding, as is running, skiing, and recreational eating.

MURPHY: Traveling to national parks and baseball stadiums, as well as volunteer activities, which include building handicap access ramps and rescuing food to be distributed to food banks and soup kitchens, and volunteering with an animal rescue group and our local dog shelter.

Over the winter months, I glean (pick) fruit that is donated to rescue missions, food banks, etc., while I wait for Spring Training to start each March.

Do you have any advice for professionals that are almost ready for retirement?

CHANDLER: Keep engaged with what-

ever your interests are and decide on a retirement plan. I am working the plan.

CHARROW: My advice to professionals nearing retirement is to stay active after retirement and anticipate the joy of ignoring your alarm clock.

MURPHY: Continue to work until you’re actually ready to stop and then go out and do the things you enjoy and give back to the community. rtands.com

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December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 29

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AD INDEX

COMPANY

PHONE #

FAX #

E-MAIL ADDRESS

PAGE #

AREMA Marketing Department

301-459-3200

301-459-8077

marketing@arema.org

8,C3

Danella Rental Systems,Inc.

561-743-7373

561-743-1973

SBolte@danella.com

13

Hougen Manufactruing Company

866-245-3745

800-309-3299

info@trak-star.com

12

L.B. Foster Co.

412-928-3506

412-928-3512

glippard@lbfoster.com

23

Linsinger Maschinenbau GmbH

4376138840143

marketing@linsinger.com

21

Nordco, Inc.

414-766-2180

414-766-2379

kmathesius@nordco.com

14

Pandrol USA, L.P

800-221-CLIP

856-467-2994

Racine Railroad Products, Inc

262-637-9681

262-637-9069

custserv@racinerailroad.com

19

RCE Equipment Solutions Inc.

866-472-4510

630-355-7173

dennishanke@rcequip.com

17

Railway Education Bureau The

402-346-4300

402-346-1783

bbrundige@sb-reb-com

18

voestalpine Nortrak, Inc.

307-778-8700

307-778-8777

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C2

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773-254-9600

773-254-1110

jm@wch.com

23

Whitmore Manufacturing Company

972-771-1000

972-772-4561

sales@whitmores.com

24

WVCO RailRoad Solutions

541-484-9621

541-484-1987

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C4

15

Advertising Sales MAIN OFFICE JONATHAN CHALON Publisher 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com AL, KY, JONATHAN CHALON 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7224 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jchalon@sbpub.com

CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA, WV, CANADA – QUEBEC AND EAST, ONTARIO JEROME MARULLO 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jmarullo@sbpub.com AR, AK, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NM, ND, NV, OK, OR, SD, TN, TX, 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 THE NETHERLANDS, BRITAIN, FRANCE, BELGIUM, PORTUGAL,

SWITZERLAND, NORTH GERMANY, MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA (NOT SOUTH), FAR EAST (EXCLUDING KOREA / CHINA/INDIA), ALL OTHERS, TENDERS JEROME MARULLO 88 Pine St., 23rd Floor New York, NY 10005 (212) 620-7260 Fax: (212) 633-1863 jmarullo@sbpub.com

SCANDINAVIA, SPAIN, SOUTHERN GERMANY, AUSTRIA, KOREA, CHINA, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH AFRICA, RUSSIA, EASTERN EUROPE BALTIC STATES, RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING MICHAEL BOYLE International Area Sales Manager Nils Michael Boyle Dorfstrasse 70, 6393 St. Ulrich, Austria. +011436767089872 mboyle@railjournal.com

Reader Referral Service This section has been created solely for the convenience of our readers to facilitate immediate contact with the RAILWAY TRACK & STRUCTURES advertisers in this issue.

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 JENNIFER IZZO 800 Connecticut Avenue Norwalk, CT 06854 (203) 604-1744 Fax: (203) 857-0296 jizzo@mediapeople.com

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

rtands.com

December 2020 // Railway Track & Structures 31

LAST STOP

Best practices for long rail and transit long tunnel safety Dr. Bernd Hagenah, Principal Engineer, Tunnel Ventilation, Fire and Life Safety, HNTB Corporation

A Dr. Bernd Hagenah

“

BEST PRACTICES OF EMERGENCY PLANNING REDUCE DECISION-MAKING ERRORS DURING EMERGENCYRESPONSE SCENARIOS.

s more cities are either in the midst of expanding or building new rail tunnels or contemplating whether tunnels are the right solution for their growing infrastructure demands, personal safety remains top of mind.

Questions and risks regarding all aspects of tunnel safety need to be brought out and addressed in the early planning stages. The first factor of tunnel safety is the prevention of fire events. In addition, the requirements for tunnel equipment (ventilation, lighting, etc.), operational procedures and specifications of rolling stock are considered.

Planning and operation of rail and transit tunnels and facilities require the implementation of high standards to prevent incidents and ensure the health and safety of passengers and agency staff.

Long tunnels pose a special challenge in emergency situations since it is unlikely that rescue teams could be engaged within the short reaction time required.

Therefore, planning of tunnel facilities, associated equipment and procedures must actively support the inherent simplicity of operations in the event of an incident. Best practices of emergency planning reduce decision-making errors during emergency-response scenarios while providing effective hazard mitigation for passengers, operating crew and first responders.

A four-stage safety concept serves to minimize the risks of persons (passengers, staff and rescue teams), the risks to the infrastructure (tunnel, buildings above, stations, etc.) and the risk to operations (absence of incidents, rapid recovery operation after incidents).

FIRST LAYER OF DEFENSE: PREVENTION Prevention has the highest impact on the level of safety and is the most effective measure. Examples for prevention measures are: Adequate maintenance plans and procedures with regular inspections and repair work, choice of rolling stock materials, wayside train

32 Railway Track & Structures // December 2020

monitoring (hot box axle detectors, heat detection, train profile detection, gas detectors, etc.), prohibition of encounters between freight trains and passenger trains, separation of tunnel bores for either direction, etc.

SECOND LAYER OF DEFENSE: MITIGATION Mitigation measures help to limit the impact of an incident on persons or on the infrastructure. Examples include emergency break override, fire extinguishers on board, fire rating of rolling stock (e.g., fire compartments, redundancy of train control elements and the electrical circuits, etc.).

THIRD LAYER OF DEFENSE: EVACUATION Evacuation measures help passengers and staff: earthing/grounding, length and width of egress ways (sidewalk, doors, emergency stairs), handrails, signage, emergency lighting, subterranean safe areas, etc., are some examples.

FOURTH LAYER OF DEFENSE: RESCUE Rescue measures support rescue teams carrying out their work under a range of circumstances. Examples include rescue trains, communication measures, training/drill, protective equipment and power sockets.

Although each tunnel project is complex and unique, there has been so much knowledge and practical experience gained from the tunnel work that has taken place around the world. Through those projects safety measures have been at the forefront using a four-stage safety approach.

Hagenah has more than 20 years of comprehensive international experience in tunnel ventilation, fire and life safety and tunnel climate for both transit and road tunnels. Hagenah is based in HNTB’s New York City office and is a national resource for large, complex tunnel and underground construction projects. rtands.com

JOIN AN AREMA TECHNICAL COMMITTEE Stay abreast of advances in your area of expertise Assist in the professional education of others Build a network of colleagues in the railway industry Open doors to future Leadership opportunities Assist with the development of Recommended Practices Make a difference in the railway industry!

For more information please visit www.arema.org.

UPCOMING WEBINARS Critical Geometry Defects Webinar January 21, 2021 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET PDH - 1.0

HBD-101 Introduction To Defect Detector Systems Webinar February 17, 2021 2:00 - 3:15 PM ET PDH - 1.25

Welded Wire Reinforcement Webinar February 25, 2021 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET PDH - 1.0 To register or for more information, visit www.arema.org.

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