Railway Track & Structures - June 2008 - (Page 45)

Fasteners Fasteners help railroads get a grip Fastener vendors are meeting railroad demands for long-lasting, reliable fasteners that can be installed quickly and can stand up to today’s heavy traffic. by Tom Judge, editor T o paraphrase the philosopher, if the fasteners don’t hold, there is chaos. Fortunately, fasteners suppliers are coming up with new products and features that ensure everything will hold together—and chaos can be kept at bay. AirBoss “AirBoss continues to make progress with our Tie Captive System that offers our fastening components pre-assembled on a concrete tie,” said Bob Magnuson, president of AirBoss Railway Products, Inc. “Sufficient interest has been generated with our customers that will encourage significant installations this month. The benefits of the system are reduced labor input for field installation and larger shoulder face design to increase insulator life. By integrating the existing clip design into the new system, we are confident that fastening dependability and service life will generate significant improvements for the end user. Preliminary laboratory examinawww.rtands.com tions have verified this optimism. “Because of significant cutbacks in new tie installations projected by our major customers, our market projection is generally static,” he said. “However, with new customers such as DART in Dallas and Rail Runner in New Mexico, we are optimistic about entering other domestic markets heretofore unavailable to us. ATP and AirBoss combined for a DF installation with DART that began in March. Rail Runner construction will include our Tie Captive System mounted on Rocla concrete ties.” Magnuson continued: “We are completing tests for a second AirBoss/ATP venture, with the Long Island Rail Road being the recipient. ATP is supplying the cast plates for a DF installation that is being utilized for new construction and AirBoss is supplying the clips, insulators and pads.” Advanced Track Products “Required qualification testing has completed successfully and Trackmas- ter™ shipments have started for both the DART in Dallas and ACL (Long Island Rail Road) projects, said Bill Osler of Advanced Track Products. “Service conditions for these two projects are quite different. DART involves 14-ton axles and speeds of 6075 mph. ACL involves up-to-37-ton axles and speeds up to 80 mph. Installation of 60,000 DART TM’s and 30,000 ACL TMs will start this summer. These track fasteners were produced in our U.S. manufacturing facility.” Osler continued: “DART is the first transit system to specify captive rail clips, i.e., arrives at destination with clips an integral part of the bonded DF body. Advantages include ease and speed of installation and reduction of job-site loss when clips are a separate component. ATP is not the only one to supply a captive DF design. But importantly, we are the first and only one to supply a captive, bonded track fasPandrol VICTOR system with FASTCLIP fasteners on a bridge on an eastern freight railroad. Railway Track & Structures June 2008 45 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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