Railway Track & Structures - January 2009 - (Page 29)

Clearing the Railroads search for the perfect balance between chemical and mechanical brush control. way Kershaw Manufacturing’s Sky Trim telescoping tree trimmer. T by Mischa Wanek-Libman, managing editor he goal of all vegetation management programs is clear: bare ground. Vegetation control companies are being asked to be more productive with their time and equipment and use less, but more-effective, chemicals. Here’s a look at what companies are doing and building to keep rights-of-way clear. In 2006, Dow AgroSciences introduced Milestone VM specialty herbicide. According to the company, the product excels in controlling marestail and ragweed, as well as other weeds that may be resistant or uncontrolled by standard herbicide mixes. Its success is attributed to its ability to provide season-long control of problem weeds due to its soil residual activity. “One of the keys to ﬁghting resistance is employing new chemistries into the mix. Herbicides with different modes of action and a wider spectrum of control can help to combat species resistant to some herbicides,” said Homer Deckard, railroad vegetation management specialist with Dow AgroSciences. Deckard notes that the industry as a whole is moving toward reducing the amount of herbicide used, ounces rather than pounds, but the desired result of bare ground is the same. “The bare ground market is driving the most demand in the railroad segment. While bare ground sites improve reliability of the infrastructure, they also vastly improve worker safety. Dangers such as line-of-sight at crossings, dealing with entangled Herbicides switches and tripping and ﬁre hazards are all reduced by completely eliminating vegetation from track areas,” said Deckard. All Railroad Services Corp., a full-service railroad pole line removal and vegetation control company, has introduced its Total Rail Yard Control Program. According to ARS CORP, after yards have been cleaned of unwanted material and debris, it is the optimum time to perform the yard spray application, which provides ultimate results in bare ground weed control. ARS CORP is also adding state-of-the-art hi-rail spray trucks to its ﬂeet that are designed to direct the right products to the desired application areas, reducing the risk of any potential off-target concerns. The company is adding more ﬁeld service trucks to ensure its equipment is operating properly Hi-rail truck sprays www.rtands.com Railway Track & Structures January 2009 29 http://www.rtands.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Railway Track & Structures - January 2009

Railway Track & Structures - January 2009 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Railroads Continue to Budget Major Capital Projects Battling Brush and other Vegetation Steel Mills Increasing Metallurgical Quality of Rail Steels Products and Literature People Calendar Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - January 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.