Railway Track & Structures - December 2008 - (Page 3)

ON TRACK Vol. 104, No. 12 USPS # 860-560 ISSN # 00339016 EDITORIAL OFFICES 20 South Clark Street, Suite 2450 Chicago, Ill. 60603 Telephone (312) 683-0130 Fax (312) 683-0131 Website www.rtands.com Railroads and “green” George S. Sokulski/Associate Publisher Tom Judge/Editor, tjudge@sbpubchicago.com Mischa Wanek-Libman/Managing Editor, mischa@sbpub-chicago.com Wanda Welty/Copy Editor Susan Taylor/Editorial Assistant G CORPORATE OFFICES 345 Hudson Street New York, N.Y. 10014 Telephone (212) 620-7200 Fax (212) 633-1165 Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr./ President and Chairman Robert P. DeMarco/Publisher Mary Conyers-Brown/Production Director Barbara DiGirolamo/Production Manager Maureen Cooney/Circulation Director Jane Poterala/Conference Director Robert G. Lewis/Director of Special Projects For reprint information, contact: PARS International Corp. 212-221-9595; Fax 212-221-9195 RT&S, Railway Track and Structures is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp., 345 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10014. ISSN: 0033-8916. Canada Post Cust.#7204564; Agreement #41094515. Bleuchip Int'l, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Periodical Class postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Subscription price to railroad employees only in U.S. possessions, Canada and Mexico, Print or Digital version: $16 one year; $30 two years (all others $39.50 one year; $73 two years). All other countries, $68 one year ($168 for air mail); $120 two years ($320 for air mail). Both Print and Digital versions: $24 one year; $45 two years (all others $60 one year; $110 two years). All other countries, $102 one year ($202 for air mail); $180 two years ($380 for air mail). Single copies $8.50. Track Buyer’s Guide $21. All rates are payable in advance. The publisher reserves the right to increase subscription rates without notice. Call toll-free 1-800-895-4389 (or 402-346-4740) Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Central Time to place an order. Copyright 2008. Customer Service: Address all correspondence to: Subscription Department, RT&S, P.O. Box 10, Omaha, NE 68101-0010. Changes of address should reach us three weeks in advance of the next issue date. Send old address with new, enclosing, if possible, your address label. The Post Office will not forward copies unless you provide extra postage. Duplicate copies cannot be sent. POSTMASTER: Send change of address forms to RT&S, Railway Track and Structures, P.O. Box 10, Omaha, NE 68101-0010. reen is the latest buzzword. Everywhere you look, there are stories about green buildings, green systems and reducing the carbon footprint. But there’s a lot more to all this than preserving polar bear habitat in the Arctic or protecting an endangered minnow in the latest construction project. As a long-time advocate of defending the environment myself, I find it somewhat comforting that some people on the environmental stage are just now discovering how green an industry railroading really is. Yes, those emission-spewing, noisy, greasy hunks of hardware rolling across the country, committing dastardly deeds such as blocking motorists at grade crossings or sounding horns at inconvenient times are really the greenest of the green in transportation. In terms of ton-miles moved, trucks and airplanes rank far, far behind railroads in fuel efficiency. Water traffic does pretty well moving cargo with good fuel efficiency, but the government has to spend great gobs of money to build and maintain their right-of-way, especially if you don’t have a river handy to where you want to move goods. Canoeists like me and other recreational water users from power boaters to fishermen aren’t pleased by all that damming and dredging for the benefit of the barges, leaving behind some not very desirable stretches of water. In early November, it was my privilege to represent Railway Age and RT&S at the 2008 Railroad Environmental Conference. This was the tenth edition and like the previous nine, was held at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Approximately 400 people showed up to take in the speakers, exhibits, poster presentations and more. For two-and-a-half days, we listened to an incredible variety of well-informed speakers delivering well-thought-out presentations on a variety of environmental topics. Those of you who have attended these conferences know what I mean when I say my brain was stuffed and my butt was fatigued. People talked about Energy, Emissions and Air Quality, Pollution Prevention, Sustainability, Noise and Vibration, Compliance, Environmental Management Systems, Storm Water and Waste Water, Environmental Response, Risk Management and Remediation, with several presentations under each of those headings. Now I know that among my readers are lots of old curmudgeonly types whose blood pressure starts to rise at the mere thought of environmental remediation. Why should we worry about that? Because if we don’t, we’ll surely find ourselves in a serious situation. I’m talking about finding ourselves in court rooms facing some stern judges who are levying huge fines and/or imposing draconian remediation programs because we didn’t comply with the law. You don’t have to be a “green” mentally or politically to want to make very sure your company is complying with all the environmental laws. Finally, kudos to the University of Illinois people (Full disclosure: I’m a UofI alumnus) who staged the event. It went so smoothly it was almost scary. Tom Judge, Editor A SIMMONS-BOARDMAN RAIL GROUP PUBLICATION www.rtands.com Railway Track & Structures December 2008 3 http://www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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

Railway Track & Structures - December 2008 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Hand-Held Tools Continue Big Role in Railroad Engineering AREMA C&S Moving Ahead Optimizing Winter Speed Restrictions RTA 2008 Conference Makes Splash in Savannah, Ga. Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Advertisers Index Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - December 2008

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