Railway Track & Structures - November 2007 - (Page 8)

I N D U S T R Y T O D AY Railroads on track to make 2007 safest year ever Railroads reported the fewest train accidents in more than a decade for the first seven months of 2007. Railroads experienced 263 fewer train derailments and collisions during the first seven months of 2007, a 15.2-percent reduction compared to the same period last year. If the trend continues through the end of the year, 2007 will see the railroads' lowest accident rate ever, 3.19 per million train miles, according to preliminary data released by the Federal Railroad Administration. In addition, highway-rail grade-crossing accidents declined by 7.3 percent and grade-crossing fatalities were down by 11.2 percent. The railroads' train accident rate, which tracks the number of accidents per million train miles, was 10 percent lower than the current full-year record of 3.54 accidents per million train miles established in 1997. Specifically, the number of derailments declined by 14.3 percent and train-to-train collisions fell 12.1 percent. Further, the FRA’s data revealed that the two leading causes of train accidents, human error and track issues, declined 12.5 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively. Incidents caused by equipment failure fell by 11.3 percent and by signal problems declined by 36.0 percent. Harlem will be completed by the end of this year and eliminate more than 25,000 feet of slow zones. The work is part of an aggressive plan to eliminate slow zones on the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line and redesign the tracks to allow trains to reach speeds above 60 mph. In September, work was completed to eliminate 6,336 feet of northbound and southbound slow zones in the Blue Line subway from Damen to Clark/Lake. As of October 2, there were more than 17 miles of track from O’Hare to Addison operating under slow zones. The next phase from Harlem to O’Hare will begin in the spring, as weather permits, and will be completed by late summer. Repairs will remove nearly 48,000 feet of slow zones when completed. The final phase to eliminate just over 19,000 feet of slow zones from Jefferson Park to Addison will be completed by the end of 2008. Construction crews will be replacing more than 67,000 wooden rail ties with recycled plastic rail ties, as well as replacing tie plates and spikes on 111,000 feet of track. Lucin Rail Cutoff under construction, courtesy of Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce. CTA begins next phase of slow zone reduction work Chicago Transit Authority began a new phase of the Blue Line slow zone elimination work October 19. Rail service between the Jefferson Park and Harlem Blue Line stations was temporarily suspended on that weekend and again the following weekend in order to replace deteriorated rail ties, tie plates and spikes. The work on the O’Hare branch is divided into three phases: Jefferson Park to Harlem, Harlem to O’Hare and then Jefferson Park to Addison. As work is completed, CTA will be able to lift slow zone restrictions currently in effect for trains traveling between O’Hare and Addison. The work from Jefferson Park to Salt Lake City - September 21-23 REMSA World Rail Expo 2008 Held in conjunction with AREMA Annual Conference The largest Maintenance-of-Way exhibition in North America! Join the world’ finest display of equipment, s tools, materials and technology. Meet the industry’s high-profile decision-makers from around the globe. Reserve your exhibit space now! Visit www.remsa.org; email contact@remsa.org or stop by the REMSA Booth 300 this September in Chicago. REMSA, 417 West Broad Street, Suite 203, Falls Church, VA 22046 email: contact @remsa.org • fax: (703) 241-8589 8 Railway Track & Structures November 2007 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - November 2007 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Seattle Retrofits Downtown Transit Tunnel Switch Stand, Switch Machines Planning M/W with Modern, High-Tech Tools Products & Literature People Calendar Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - November 2007

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