Railway Track & Structures - June 2008 - (Page 10)

AREMA NEWS President’s Column illiam E. Roe, vice president of the Maintenance Functional Group, is reporting on the Maintenance Group this month. Bill is chief engineer-Central Region, for Union Pacific. As most of you know, the Maintenance Functional Group was formed several years ago to provide a forum within AREMA to address maintenance issues that did not otherwise fall within the scope of the other functional groups. This group has since concentrated its efforts in two primary areas - track maintenance and safety. One of the first things we did was to find out where the typical first-line track manager, i.e., roadmaster, was spending his/her time and identify areas of opportunity to more fully utilize the talents and skills of these managers. Most of the committee felt, going into this exercise, that most first line managers were spending more and more of their time on W Maintenance Functional Group administrative tasks and less and less time on their core responsibilities of maintaining track. Through a process called a DACUM - Develop A Curriculum - we were able to identify 99 percent of the first line manager’s duties and categorize them into broad areas of responsibility. We also rated each task as to its frequency, importance and difficulty - to be able to understand the nature of these opportunities. We selected representatives from nearly all of the Class 1 North American railroads for this exercise. The summary results of this DACUM were as follows: Area of responsibility Avg % of time spent Administrative 21% Safety 15% Track Maintenance 25% Inspection 16% Personnel Management 8% Public/Gov’t Relations 4% Supporting Capital Programs 11% Obviously, each railroad needs to look at these results in light of what they are asking of their track managers. While each responsibility is important, there was general agreement of the group that we need to continue to push for ways to reduce the June 2008 Larry Etherton AREMA® President 2007-2008 amount of time spent on administrative tasks and increase the time spent on the track. The Maintenance Functional Group has also been active in putting on seminars that address basic maintenance issues. Over the past couple of years, we have conducted multiple seminars on: • CWR management to prevent track buckles • Derailment cause-finding • Basic track maintenance • Track inspections for the 21st Century • New FRA CWR regulations The group has also worked hard to put on quality AREMA conference presentations that address the needs of the industry’s maintenance professionals. We have tried to keep our focus on those topics that are more practical to the day-to-day maintenance professional. Many of these have focused on reducing the number and severity of injuries to our co-workers. It has been gratifying to see the number of people attending the Tuesday maintenance workshops at the AREMA fall conferences. Finally, the Maintenance Functional Group has taken on the task of putting together Best Practices for Maintaining Concrete Tie Track. Again, we are using the collective wisdom and experience of the industry to guide us. BNSF, CN, CSXT and UP have contributed to this effort. This document will address inspections, maintenance and repairs of concrete tie track. As the industry continues to move towards more concrete ties for their heavy-haul lines, it is extremely important that we learn from one another to ensure the highest quality track possible. As my term ends, I would like to publicly thank the members of the maintenance team - namely, Ray Zenisek (CSXT), Bill Van Trump (UP), Doug Perry (BNSF), Peter Finch (Amtrak) and Todd Dragland (CPR) - for their efforts to further the work of our industry’s maintenance professionals. Thanks, Bill, for an informative report, and for your leadership of the Maintenance Functional Group. The 2008 Portfolio of Trackwork Plans is now available for purchase. This is a companion volume to the Manual for Railway Engineering and consists of plans and specifications that relate to the design, details, materials and workmanship for switches, frogs, turnouts and crossovers, crossings, rails and other special trackwork. Order your copy now. Have a safe and productive day. - Larry Etherton www.rtands.com 10 Railway Track & Structures http://www.arema.org http://www.rtands.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Railway Track & Structures - June 2008

Railway Track & Structures - June 2008 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Grade Crossings Provide Interface Between Railroads, Public Grade-Crossing Equipment & Materials Guide Fastener Suppliers Getting a Grip Grinding Plays Part in Rail Maintenance Big Picture Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Website Directory Advertisers Index Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - June 2008

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