Railway Track & Structures - March 2009 - (Page 36)

Ballast’s big benefits Plasser American Corporation says working with railroads to ﬁnd innovative and efﬁcient solutions has resulted in many achievements, including the Ballast Proﬁle Measuring System offered on Plasser Track Recording Cars, Plasser’s Ballast Distribution System used to manage existing ballast, reducing the need to unload new ballast and working with high-speed tamping machines and the PBR-2005 Ballast Proﬁling Machine used to proﬁle ballast behind tamping machines in a one-pass high-speed operation. Plasser notes its well-proven shoulder plow used on the PBR-2005 Ballast Proﬁling Machine and BDS 100/200 Ballast Distribution System is a way to save ballast that has been lost over the shoulder. The company says that the long reach of the shoulder plow gives the machine the ability to reach far out on the shoulder and reclaim ballast that would otherwise be left using conventional ballast regulators. These machines may also be used to pull in shoulder ballast in front of ballast-cleaning operations so that as much ballast as possible is reclaimed. Plasser points out that the demand for conventional and high-speed undercutting/cleaning continues to grow, driven by the increase in trafﬁc and tonnage. The company says higher-speed undercutting/cleaning machines are becoming even more in high demand due to track work windows at such a premium. According to Plasser, track that has been undercut and has a clean ballast section requires less maintenance and increases the life of track components. Plasser notes this is especially true for track constructed with concrete ties. Progress Rail’s Kershaw division says railroads appear to be shifting to machines with higher horsepower, increased travel speeds and improved controls in order to take advantage of the smaller work windows. “With work windows getting smaller the railroads cannot afford machines that cannot perform 100 percent of the time when required,” said Randy Chubaty, national sales manager at Progress Rail. “Improved ergonomics and machine functions allow the operators to perform their work more easily and safely.” The Kershaw division continues to work closely with all of its customers and tailors each piece of equipment to the customer’s speciﬁcation. Chubaty points out that whether a customer is looking for a new feature on an existing product or for a new type of machine, Kershaw will continue to design and manufacture to meet its customers’ requirements. “With the possibility of budgets shrinking or being cut back, Progress Rail Services offers a full line of rental maintenance-of-way equipment through our All Track facility in Granite City, Ill. Renting and leasing of equipment is an ideal way for railroads to ﬁll a short-term need without having to purchase the machine,” said Chubaty. 36 Railway Track & Structures March 2009 www.rtands.com Plasser American Progress Rail http://www.rtands.com

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

Railway Track & Structures - March 2009 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D NRC Smashes Attendance Bridge Inspection Battling Bugs Ballast Fundamentals Vital to Keeping Track in Shape Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Advertisers Index Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - March 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.