Railway Track & Structures - July 2008 - (Page 9)

AREMA NEWS President’s Column his month, Richard Bowden, vice president of the Communications & Signals Functional Group, will report on the activities of the Group. Richard is an assistant director - signals for BNSF Railway. Directors for C&S are Keith Holt, deputy chief engineer c&s for Amtrak, and Peter Arato, general manager - signals and communications for Canadian Pacific Railway. Now for Richard’s report. The AREMA Communications & Signals Functional Group is continuing to work on review and improvements to the Communications & Signals Manual. The latest revisions to the Communications & Signals Manual include a new Manual part on recommended design criteria for low frequency tuned impedance bonds and another Manual part on recommended guidelines for verification and validation testing of new application software for electronic and/or software-based products used in vital signal applications. In addition, there were 58 revised Man- T C&S Functional Group ual parts and 27 reaffirmed Manual parts in the 2008 AREMA Communications & Signals Manual. That is just more than 12 percent of the Communications & Signals Manual changed for 2008. Each of our c&s committees specializes in different areas of communications and signals. We are always looking for accomplished individuals to join our committees, attend committee meetings and participate, advancing knowledge skills in this important area of transportation. Here is a rundown of each committee and its responsibilities: Committee 34 – Scales: This committee is responsible for the development and publication of recommended procedures and information for the design, installation, testing and maintenance of track scales and all other scales used in connection with operation of a railway. Committee 34 updated the AAR Scale Handbook for 2008, revising the specifications for railroad test weight equipment following the introduction of weight carts and created a guideline for operating a static railcar scale. It is currently reviewing the specifications for railroad scale capacities and lengths and creating specifications for mass flow meters being used to load railcars. Committee 36 – Highway-Rail Grade Cross- Larry Etherton AREMA® President 2007-2008 ing Warning Systems: This committee develops concepts, provides information and provides recommend practices for the design, installation, operation and maintenance of highway-railroad grade-crossing warning equipment and systems. The committee is reviewing crossing activation reports to determine if there is a better way to report and review these data to make them more useful. They continue to review and improve the Manual sections on highway traffic signal interconnects, with revisions coming nearly every year. Committee 37 – Signal Systems: This committee reviews current and new technology addressing the design, installation, testing and maintenance of signal equipment and systems and develops recommended “industry practices,” with the overall goal of improving the safety and reliability of train operations. Committee 37 has done a tremendous amount of work on communication-based signaling and has several Manual parts ready for the next Manual. Committee 38 – Information, Defect Detection & Energy Systems: This committee develops concepts, provides information and provides recommended practices for the installation, operation and maintenance of equipment and systems for defect detection, automated train operation, yard and terminal control and other special applications. AREMA Committee 38 is working on a new standard S918B, a compact and accurate method to report inspection data to any central (office) data collection system in a consistent manner for wayside train inspection systems, including hot bearing detectors, hot wheel detectors, wheel impact load detector and weigh-in-motion systems. It is also reviewing on-rail vibration levels for possible updates to the Manual. AREMA is the standard-bearer for c&s in the North American rail industry. Even though committees are growing, there is still a need for increased railway participation to be sure that real world scenarios are addressed not only from an engineering perspective, but also a construction and maintenance perspective. The committees are a great way to network and gain ideas and new concepts. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Salt Lake for the AREMA 2008 Annual Conference, September 21-24. There will be c&s papers Sept. 22–24 with an entire day of c&s papers on Sept. 23. Thanks for your report, Richard. Next month I will report on the 2008 Annual Conference. If you have not registered, please do so at www.arema.org. Have a safe and productive day. - Larry Etherton Railway Track & Structures July 2008 9 www.rtands.com http://www.arema.org http://www.arema.org http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - July 2008

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