Railway Age - 08 AUG 2009

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Carloads Carloads %originated originated Change

Carloads, by commodity June ’09 June ’08

Chemicals 38,687 38,632 0.1%Coal 16,621 21.954 -24.3%Crushed stone, sand, and gravel 18,784 23,613 -20.5%Food and kindred products 14,186 12,901 -10.0%Grain 23,238 25,421 -8.6%Grain mill products 8,584 7,682 11.7%Lumber and wood products 6,865 10,993 -37.6%Metallic ores 2,924 4,278 -31.7%Metals and products 13,987 29,573 -52.7%Motor vehicles and equipment 7,017 8,774 -20.0%Nonmetallic minerals 2,127 2,991 -26.9%Petroleum products 1,521 1,865 -18.4%Pulp, paper, and allied products 16,671 22,033 -24.3%Stone, clay, and glass products 13,123 15,783 -16.9%Trailers/containers 30,419 41,180 -26.1%Waste and scrap materials 9,981 14,392 -30.6%All other carloads 84,569 99,100 -14.7%

Short line and regional traffic index

220,000 240,000 260,000 280,000 300,000 320,000 340,000 360,000 380,000 400,000

Total carloads, June: 2009 vs. 2008

June 2008 — 381,085

CARLOADS WEEK 28 ENDING JULY 18, 2009MAJOR U.S. RAILROADSBByy ccoommmmooddiittyy 2009 2008 % ChangeGGrraaiinn 18,829 25,649 –26.6%FFaarrmm pprroodduuccttss eexx.. ggrraaiinn 816 681 19.8%MMeettaalllliicc OOrreess 4,205 8,684 –51.6%CCooaall 128,414 144,791 –11.3%NNoonnmmeettaalllliicc mmiinneerraallss 4,885 6,010 –18.7%GGrraaiinn mmiillll pprroodduuccttss 8,283 8,622 –4.0%FFoooodd && kkiinnddrreedd pprroodduuccttss 7,677 8,603 –10.8%PPrriimmaarryy ffoorreesstt pprroodduuccttss 1,774 2,352 –24.6%LLuummbbeerr && wwoooodd pprroodduuccttss 2,210 3.713 –40.5%PPuullpp,, ppaappeerr && ootthheerr 5,918 7,305 –19.0%CChheemmiiccaallss 27,269 30,639 –11.0%PPeettrroolleeuumm pprroodduuccttss 5,436 6,585 –17.4%SSttoonnee,, ccllaayy,, aanndd ggllaassss 7,213 9,070 –20.5%CCookkee 2,729 4,164 –34.5%MMeettaallss && pprroodduuccttss 6,783 12,426 –45.4%MMoottoorr vveehhiicclleess && eeqquuiipp.. 7,676 11,279 –31.9%WWaassttee && ssccrraapp 8,202 10,731 –23.6%AAllll ootthheerr ccaarrllooaaddss 4,780 4,739 0.9%TTOOTTAALL ccaarrss llooaaddeedd 226688,,555533 332277,,119977 ––1177..99%%

CANADIAN RAILROADSAAllll ccoommmmooddiittiieess 5577,,881100 7766,,447733 ––2244..44%%

MEXICAN RAILROADSAAllll ccoommmmooddiittiieess 1122,,554433 1133,,553344 ––77..33%%

U.S. TOTAL 28 weeks: 7,337,655 • % change from 2008: –19.1%CANADIAN TOTAL 28 weeks: 1,666,531 • % change from 2008: –24.0%MEXICAN TOTAL 28 weeks: 317,670 • % change from 2008: –14.8%NORTH AMERICAN TOTAL 28 weeks: 9,321,856 • % change from 2008:–19.9%

INTERMODAL WEEK 28 ENDING JULY 18, 2009U.S. RAILROADSTTrraaiilleerrss 30,407 49,510 –38.6%CCoonnttaaiinneerrss 159,134 184,006 –13.5%TToottaall uunniittss 189,541 233,516 –18.8%CANADIAN RAILROADSTTrraaiilleerrss 1,547 2,012 –21.8%CCoonnttaaiinneerrss 38,624 49,730 –22.3%TToottaall uunniittss 40,198 51,742 –22.3%MEXICAN RAILROADSTTrraaiilleerrss 43 39 10.3%CCoonnttaaiinneerrss 5,322 6,758 –21.2%TToottaall uunniittss 5,365 6,797 –21.1%U.S. TOTAL 28 weeks: 5,182,786 • % change from 2008:–17.2%CANADIAN TOTAL 28 weeks:1,121,283 • % change from 2008:–16.2%MEXICAN TOTAL 28 weeks: 133,646 • % change from2008: –22.1%NORTH AMERICAN TOTAL 28 weeks:6,437,715 • % change from 2008:–17.1%Estimated ton-miles (billions), U.S. Class I railroads

2009 2008 % ChangeWWeeeekk 228899..99 28.7 34.7 –17.3%Total Weeks 1- 28 780.4 954.1 –18.2%

Source: Weekly Railroad Traffic, Association of American Railroads

TRAFFIC ORIGINATED

www.railwayage.com AUGUST 2009 RRAAIILLWWAAYY AAGGEE 11

Industry In

dic

ato

rs

June 2009 — 309.304

Source: Surface Transportation Board

Total employees:149,614

% change from June2008: —8.45%

Railroad employment Class I linehaulcarriers, June 2009 (% change from June 2008)

Transportation(train and engine)

55,434(—17.45%)

Executives, officials, and staff

assistants10,047

(—0.02%)

Professional andadministrative

13,276(—3.13%)

Transportation(other than train and

engine)6,856

(3.46%)

Maintenance ofequipment and

stores28,619

(—3.75%)

Maintenance-of-way and structures

35,382(—0.72%)

Employment continues to slipRail employment fell 8.45% in June compared with year-agofigures, according to the Surface Transportation Board,though total employment was down just 1.27% from the pre-vious month. As in previous months, transportation (otherthan train and engine) held firm, this time gaining 3.46%.Executives, officials, and staff assistants slid a modest0.02%, while maintenance-of-way and structures dipped0.72%. The three other job categories categorized by STBshowed more significant losses.

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www.railwayage.com AUGUST 2009 RAILWAY AGE 3

How far will $13 billion go in moving the United States into the world of high speed rail? We’re about to find out.

page 14

Cover photo by Bombardier Transportation

––––––––––––––

How far will $13 billion go in moving the United States into the world of high

RailwayAge

Departments 1 Industry Indicators 6 Industry Outlook 7 Market36 Letters37 People37 Meetings37 100 Years Ago38 Advertising Index39 Website Directory40 Professional Directory41 Classified

News/Columns4 From the Editor

8 Update44 Short Line/Regional Perspective

visit us at www.railwayage.com

AUGUST 2009CONTENTS

18 34

Features14 Getting America up to speed

28 Shades of green

34 Seminar series benefits Web customers

25

44 RRAAIILLWWAAYY AAGGEE AUGUST 2009 www.railwayage.com

editorWilliam C. Vantuono

from the

Those of you who have beeninvolved in the high speed railbusiness for a while may recall,with acid reflux, Herb Kelleher,

the man who, with some creative legalshenanigans, single-handedly succeededin killing the Texas TGV in the early1990s. Let’s go back to Don Itzkoff’s“High Speed Currents” column in theJuly 1991 issue of Railway Age (p. 14) forsome perspective:

“[Its] emergence into the nationalspotlight parallels a new, broader accep-tance of high speed ground transporta-tion as a significant future travel optionfor Americans. But recent events in Austin. . . teach a lesson in reality as well—thatchanging the entrenched domestic, polit-ical, economic, and institutional order toaccommodate new high speed groundtransportation systems will not be easy.

“In Texas, the opposition came fromSouthwest Airlines. Southwest, whichitself was an upstart carrier when it chal-lenged the established majors two decadesago, tried to prevent both high speed railfranchise applicants, Texas TGV andFasTrac, and the Texas High Speed RailAuthority from continuing the applicationprocess (in part on the terms that theAuthority’s directors were improperlystaggered) and succeeded in postponinghearings for a week. Southwest attorneysalso interposed literally hundreds ofobjections to evidence introduced byboth applicants and other parties, creatingsuch disruptions that FasTrac moved thatSouthwest be fined for abuse of process.At the Authority’s hearing that com-menced on March 25, a small army ofSouthwest lawyers assaulted the applica-tions of both prospective franchises onevery conceivable front.”

It gets better: “Not content to leavethe battle solely to his lawyers, SouthwestChairman Herb Kelleher waded into thefray, too. Kelleher derided high speedtrains as ‘gussied-up prairie schooners,’

called the concept a ‘somersault backwardinto the 19th century,’ and threatened tomove Southwest’s corporate headquartersout of the state of Texas entirely. TheTexas High Speed Rail Authority ulti-mately rejected the arguments of Kelleherand his lawyers, voting unanimously toaward the franchise to Texas TGV. ButSouthwest drew blood through its cam-paign of attrition, and the battle may onlybe beginning.”

Kelleher proved quite shrewd. Heprobably knew that, just like the TGV’seffect on French domestic air service,200-mph trains streaking across the Texasprairies would send his airline, which atthat time was still a mostly regional carri-er, crashing and burning. His tenacitypaid off for him. The Texas TGV died, asdid other high speed rail projects, such asFlorida Overland eXpress (killed byanother Texan).

It has taken nearly 20 years to over-come the entrenched order that DonItzkoff so eloquently talked about in thesepages. We now have an enlightenedAdministration in Washington (thankyou, Mr. President, for this month’s“leaner-meaner-cleaner” cover line), and asupportive Congress. It’s going to take alot more money than Obama’s initial $13billion to build a high speed network inthis country, but it’s a good start, $13 bil-lion more than we’ve ever had.

Favorable opinions on high speed railare coming from unexpected places.Commenting on the state of America’sautomotive industry in the July 2009

issue of Car & Driver Magazine, David E.Davis Jr.—the dean of automotive jour-nalists—said: “If I were [Obama’s] carczar, I would strongly suggest that we canhave no national automotive policy untilwe have fully comprehensive transporta-tion and energy policies. This is seriousbusiness. We desperately need high speedtranscontinental trains based on theEuropean and Japanese models, just as weneed some modern version of the oldinterurban rail systems.”

I had to take off my bifocals and holdCar & Driver up to my nose to make sureI wasn’t imagining things, especially sinceI’d gotten used to reading silly anti-pas-senger-rail rants from (thankfully) now-retired columnist Patrick Bedard, whoonce called the New York City subway the“electric sewer.”

Then there’s this from Association ofAmerican Railroads President and CEOEd Hamberger: “America’s freight rail-roads support the goal of increased pas-senger rail investment. It’s good for oureconomy and the environment whenmore people and goods move faster byrail.” Our privately owned freight rail net-work, he said, “is the literal foundationfor high speed rail in America.” And ofcourse (and we agree): “We are criticalstakeholders that need to be engagedfrom the very beginning of project plan-ning and development. Passenger andfreight efforts to grow and expand mustcomplement, not compromise, oneanother.”

See our special report on high speedrail beginning on p. 14. And be sure toattend our 16th Annual Passenger Trainson Freight Railroads Conference, Oct.19-20 in Washington. See pp. 22-23 fordetails, or go to http://www.rail-wayage.com/conferences/passenger-trains-on-freight-railroads.html.

“Gussied-up prairie schooners”

The airline that heapedscorn on a high speedproject in Texas and

helped kill it isn’t goingto get the last laugh.


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industryoutlookAnalyst survey: Pricing practices not out of line

Railroad shippers anticipate an average base rate increase of 3.3% duringthe next six to twelve months, according to a new survey conducted byNew York-based investment bank Dahlman Rose & Co. The 2009 2QRail Shipper Survey finds railroads expecting to continue facing pricingpressure in the upcoming months. The projected increase is lower than inpast quarterly surveys—3.6% was expected in the first quarter of 2009 and3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Survey respondents were U.S. compa-nies that use rail to transport a range of materials, including metals, petro-leum, and chemicals, as well as building, consumer, and paper products,said Dahlman Rose Director of Rail, Trucking, and Air Freight Research

and Railway Age Contributing Editor Jason H. Seidl (pictured): “Although the near-term out-look remains bleak for railroads, shippers expect their businesses to pick up and grow 4% on aver-age across multiple industries in the next year. The results show that agricultural products, metals,and petroleum products are leading the way for best anticipated growth; chemicals, buildingproducts, and consumer products expect lower growth. The results bode well for the railroadsand the broader market in the long term. It is clear from our survey that pricing pressure exists inthe marketplace. However, if shipper optimism for business growth turns out to be well-founded,this could relieve the pressure. The survey also indicates that a majority of shippers do not plan tofile any rate action against a railroad during the next 12 months. The results, compared to lastquarter’s, suggest that shippers believe that current pricing practices are not out of line.”

FRA issues PTC Notice of Proposed RulemakingThe Federal Railroad Administration last month announced proposed rules designed to preventtrain-to-train collisions through the use of Positive Train Control (PTC). The Notice of ProposedRulemaking (NPRM) prescribes how railroads must use PTC systems. FRA noted that, underthe Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, major freight railroads and intercity and regional railoperators must submit PTC plans to FRA for approval by April, 16, 2010. PTC must be fully inplace by the end of 2015. The proposed rules will specify how technically complex PTC systemsmust function and indicate how FRA will assess a PTC plan before it can become operational.“FRA is setting the bar high interms of design, construction, and oversight of PTC technologiesamong different railroads,” said FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo. “FRA will continue to advo-cate for ways to strengthen safety standards in the railroad industry.” FRA is coordinating effortswith the Federal Communications Commission to make a sufficient amount of radio frequencyspectrum available, which it said is essential for PTC to function properly. FRA said this develop-ment will allow PTC to send and receive a constant stream of wireless signals regarding the loca-tion and speed of passenger and freight trains moving along rail lines.

NS’s Moorman: PPPs create capacityNorfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman described to the National Gover-nors Association last month how public-private partnerships “can createadditional capacity in our rail transportation network, with public benefitsof jobs creation, less highway congestion, lower environmental emissions,and fuel savings.” Addressing a meeting at Biloxi, Miss., Moorman citedthe Heartland Corridor between the Port of Virginia and Columbus,Ohio, and Chicago, and the Crescent Corridor linking New Jersey toNew Orleans and Memphis, Tenn. He said the Crescent Corridor alonewill create 41,000 “green jobs over the next decade and shift more than a

million trucks a year off the highways and onto rails, saving more than 150 million gallons of fuelannually as well as reducing carbon emissions by nearly two million tons a year.” It will take morestrategic initiatives like these, Moorman said, to prepare the railroads to handle their share offreight volumes that transportation economists predict will grow 86% by 2035. “Our nation’stransportation network is a complex, interdependent system that demands our combined creativeefforts to operate it most efficiently,” Moorman said. “Our experience at Norfolk Southern hasshown that by working together in public-private partnerships, we can achieve far more in far lesstime and with far greater public benefits than any of us can by working alone.”

North AmericaAmtrak: Selected engineering, architec-ture, and planning firm TKDA to pro-vide design services for the new Cascadesmaintenance building, warehouse, andadministrative and health/welfare build-ing at the King Street coach yard in Seat-tle, Wash. The King Street facility servic-es Amtrak’s long distance Empire Builderpassenger trains and Sound Transitregional trains. Before Amtrak, theEmpire Builder was operated by theGreat Northern Railway (now part ofBNSF), which TKDA’s founders helpedconstruct more than 100 years ago.

Commonwealth Railway (Suffolk, Va.):Will be incorporating RailComm’s TrackWarrant Control functionality into itsexisting Domain Operations ControllerSystem (DOC®). Commonwealth hasdispatched trains within CTC territoryby accessing RailComm’s web-enabledSoftware-as-a-Service (SaaS) “pay-as-you-go” delivery model, eliminating capitalequipment procurement constraints.Through SaaS, Commonwealth Railwayis remotely dispatched by parent Genesee& Wyoming’s Portland & Western Rail-road, Salem, Ore.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit: Awarded acontract to Parsons Brinckerhoff to pro-vide engineering design services for a

design-build expansion of DART’s BlueLine light rail system. PB is a subcontrac-tor to Austin Bridge & Road LP, theproject’s lead. The extension runs 4.5miles from DART’s existing DowntownDallas Garland station to a new Down-town Rowlett station. Revenue service isscheduled for December 2012.

MTA Metro-North Railroad: Awarded acontract to London-based DeltaRailGroup Ltd. to supply the WheelChex®

wheel impact load measuring system,which is being installed in the four-trackPark Avenue Tunnel serving Grand Cen-tral Terminal in New York City. M-Nalso awarded Ansaldo STS USA an $8.7million contract to design and furnish38 pre-wired signal houses and cases fora portion of Metro-North’s New HavenLine, spanning 17 miles, from Wood-lawn, N.Y., to Riverside, Conn.

The contract is the third ASTS USA hasreceived in recent years from Metro-North to replace the railroad’s relay-based signaling control system with themicroprocessor-based MicroLok II® con-trol system, interconnected over afiberoptic communications network.

State of Wisconsin: Will purchase two14-car, 420-passenger trainsets from LasRozas, Spain-based Patentes Talgo S.A.for Amtrak’s Hiawatha between Milwau-kee and Chicago. The agreementincludes an option to buy two moretrainsets if the state gets federal stimulusmoney to extend rail service from Mil-waukee to Madison. Talgo will performfinal assembly at facilities to be built inWisconsin. Amtrak currently operatesTalgo equipment on its Cascades servicein the Pacific Northwest; Talgo sub-sidiary Talgo, Inc., is based in Seattle.

market


RUSSIAN CARBUILDER TAPS U.S. DESIGNER

Starfire Engineering & Technologies, Inc. has provided designs for three freight cars to TikhvinRailway Car Building for use in Russia and Eastern Europe. Starfire has designed a covered hop-per, container flat (pictured), and gondola to date.To build these cars,Tikhvin has established an$800 million, 728,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on a former Transmash site 125 mileseast of St. Petersburg, Russia. Developed by ICT Group, the facility employs 3,500 people. Freightcar series production is scheduled to begin in 2010, with an annual capacity of 10,000 cars.Thefirst cars to be completed are Type 12-9761 76.5-ton bottom-discharge open hoppers.Tikhvin sayssimilar cars account for about 40% of the Russian fleet; around half of these are scheduled forreplacement.Tikhvin will also produce heavy castings for contract customers, and a wheel plantwith an annual capacity of 50,000 wheelsets is planned.


UpdateSecond-quarter financials

Have we reached the bottom?

IIncreasing numbers of Wall Street analysts seem to have redis-covered Class I railroads, or at least their collective freighttraffic, as a leading economic indicator (though some, such as

Dahlman Rose & Co. director Jason Seidl, also ContributingEditor to Railway Age, staked out the terrain long ago). Someof those analysts insist the industry hasn’t yet hit its low. Thoughcautious, Class I railroad executives largely think differently.

On July 20, Canadian National Chairman, President, andCEO E. Hunter Harrison, commenting on CN’s earnings, stat-ed, “I think we’ve seen the bottom.” CN reported second-quar-ter profit fell 16%, with net income at C$387 million (US$350million), or 82 Canadian cents per diluted share, compared withC$459 million, or 95 Canadian cents per diluted share, in thecomparable 2008 quarter. Operating income fell 18% to C$583million. Its revenue declined 15% to C$1.8 billion (US$1.6 bil-lion). But operating expenses fell 14% due to cost-containmentmeasures and a “significant reduction” in fuel prices comparedwith the comparable quarter, CN said. CN's operating ratioincreased by one percentage point to 67.3%.

Said Harrison, “The second quarter of 2009 saw a continua-tion of significant weakness in most of our commodity groups asa result of the current recession in North America and difficultglobal economic conditions, with all groups but coal registeringdouble-digit declines in carloadings.”

On July 14, CSX led off the earnings reports, noting a sec-ond-quarter earnings decline of 20% that nonetheless beat WallStreet consensus estimates, as the company announced earnings

of $308 million, or 78 cents per share, compared with $385 mil-lion, or 93 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2008. Revenuefell 25% to $2.19 billion. Earnings beat the consensus estimateof 62 to 64 cents per share. “While the economy continues tosignificantly impact our business, there are some signs that wemay be seeing the bottom in many markets,” said CSX Chair-man, President, and CEO Michael J. Ward, presaging Harrison’ssimilar observation six days later.

Union Pacific Corp. July 23 said its second-quarter profit wasbetter than expected despite lower freight volumes and revenue.CEO Jim Young noted, “Although we expect it will be sometime before the economy recovers, it appears that volume levelsmay have hit the bottom as the economy seems to have stabi-lized.” UP’s net income of $468 million, or 92 cents per share,was down 12% from the second quarter of 2008, when itnotched $531 million, or $1.02 per share. Excluding a one-timebenefit from a $72 million land sale, UP reported earnings pershare of 78 cents, better than the consensus estimate of 74 centsanticipated by Wall Street. Quarterly revenue fell to $3.30 billionfrom $4.57 billion in the comparable 2008 period; analysts hadexpected $3.38 billion. Freight volume fell 22%.

Crediting cost control measures and lower fuel prices, BNSFthe same day reported that second-quarter earnings rose to $404million, or $1.18 per diluted share, compared with second-quar-ter 2008 earnings of $350 million, or $1.00 per diluted share.The 2008 earnings figures included a 31 cent per-share chargerelated to environmental matters in Montana. Earnings results

Of like mind (left to right): CN’s Hunter Harrison, CSX’s Michael Ward, BNSF’s Matt Rose, and Union Pacific’s Jim Young,though cautious, believe freight rail traffic volumes may have hit their recessionary lows. They and other railroad executivesdon’t forecast a quick turnaround, however, and note they’ll continue to implement cost control measures.


California’s Department of Trans-portation last month dedicated anF59PHI locomotive, originallybuilt by EMD in 2001, as part ofits Amtrak California service“green” fleet. EMD has installedits 710ECO™Repower upgradepackage with the latest micro-processor-controlled locomotiveengine technology for lower emis-sions, increased fuel economy,greater reliability, and predictablemaintenance costs.The upgradedlocomotive will now achieve EPATier 2 emissions performance,two levels cleaner than requiredfor this model, Caltrans said.

Toronto Transit Commission hasfinalized its C$851million (US$735million) deal with BombardierTransportation for 204 100% low-floor Flexity streetcars.The carswill be delivered beginning in2012 through 2018, with finalassembly taking place at Bom-bardier’s facility in Thunder Bay,Ontario.The agreement allows foran additional 400 vehicles to beordered later as part of Toronto’s“Transit City Plan” to expand thestreetcar system with nearly 75miles of new routes. Overall, thecontract represents the largestsingle order ever for light railvehicles worldwide, Bombardiersays. In the U.S., Phoenix hasawarded contracts worth $255million to Bombardier for the

EMD

Supply Briefssoundly surpassed analyst earnings-per-share expecta-tions of $1.00. BNSF said operating expenses for thequarter declined $1.25 billion, or 33%, to $2.52 bil-lion, compared with second-quarter 2008 operatingexpenses of $3.76 billion. Freight revenue fell $1.13billion, or 26%, to $3.22 billion in the quarter com-pared with $4.35 billion a year ago. BNSF attributedthe decline in part to a decrease in fuel surcharges ofabout $600 million.

Said BNSF Chairman, President, and Chief Exec-utive Officer Matthew K. Rose, “We are beginningto see BNSF’s volumes stabilize in our more eco-nomically sensitive businesses, and because of ourcontinued focus on productivity combined with ourlong-term market opportunities, we are well posi-tioned to benefit when the economy recovers.”

Norfolk Southern July 28 reported second-quar-ter net income of $247 million, or 66 cents per dilut-ed share, compared with $453 million, or $1.18 perdiluted share, for the second quarter of 2008. Thatexceeded by two cents per share analyst EPS esti-mates of 64 cents, though after the report analystsnoted the outcome was boosted by a one-time mea-sure. Analysts also praised NS’s cost control mea-sures, noting operating expenses for the quarter were$1.4 billion, down 29% from the same period a yearago. Norfolk Southern’s operating ratio was 74.8%,up from 71.1% during the second-quarter of 2008.Operating revenue was $1.9 billion, down 33%.

Said NS CEO Wick Moorman, “[T]he measureswe are taking to control expenses while maintainingour industry-leading service levels have enabled us topost solid second-quarter results, while at the sametime we continue to invest in projects that position usfor the eventual economic recovery.”

On July 30 both Kansas City Southern and Cana-dian Pacific reported, with different results. KCSreported second-quarter net income declined morethan 86% to $6.7 million, 7 cents per share, com-pared with $50.5 million, or 56 cents a share, in thesecond quarter of 2008. That fell short of Wall Streetanalyst projections of 8 cents a share. CP, crediting aone-time gain from the sale of a share of the DetroitRiver Tunnel Partnership, saw quarterly net profitrise to C$157.3 million ($145 million), or 93 Cana-dian cents a share, compared with C$154.7 million,or C$1, in the comparable 2008 quarter.

BOMBARDIER

design, supply, operation, andmaintenance of an INOVIA auto-mated people mover (APM) at SkyHarbor International Airport. Adesign-build contract is valued at$186 million; under a separate,$69 million contract, Bombardierwill operate and maintain the 2.2-mile PHX Sky Train for 10 yearsfollowing its scheduled comple-tion in 2012. "This is the largestnew-start APM contract in NorthAmerica in a decade, and we areconfident it will serve as themodel for other cities and air-ports seeking modern transit solu-tion," said Michael Fetsko, vicepresident APM, Systems Division,Bombardier Transportation.

RailComm will provide a wirelessremote control yard system atCSX’s Osborn Yard in Louisville,Ky. RailComm’s Domain OperationsController (DOC®) system willoffer remote control to severalGETS HydraSwitch machines.DOC® will be configured to controlall switches individually as wellas provide eNtrance eXit (NX)routing functionality.

L.B. Foster Co. is supplying transitrail and associated products forCTA's Dearborn Subway Projectunder a $6.5 million contract,delivering 80-foot rail sections,direct fixation fasteners, insulat-ed joints, and rail insulators.

RAILCOMM

L.B. FOSTER

10 RAILWAY AGE AUGUST 2009 www.railwayage.com

Update

Talk to U.S. passenger rail advocates about the best regional railroad“brands,” and two names pop up as exemplars of marrying marketing toperformance: Chicago’s Metra, and New York’s Metro-North.

Says Metra Marketing Director Jim Bonistalli, “You can have the best mar-keting program, but if the train is late, it doesn’t matter.” Says Metro-NorthPresident Howard Permut, “The centerpiece of all our marketing discussionshas always been how to get more customers on a train.”

That’s not a matter of simple addition. Both Metra and Metro-North haveto constantly cope with ridership turnover, as established riders move out oftheir service area or, more recently, lose their jobs. “Ridership turns over everyyear; we probably turn 15% to 18% of our customer base over every year,” Bon-istalli notes. “We’re constantly building from an eroding customer base.”

Both railroads for years have pursued a broader service reach. Permut pointsto Metro-North’s early discovery in the 1980s of life beyond Grand CentralTerminal “Once we figured where those ‘other’ riders were going, we decidedto take some chances; we said, ‘Let’s add some trains to Stamford (Conn.), toWhite Plains, and fill empty seats on deadhead runs.’” In so doing, Metro-North took a radical step: It was willing, almost eager, to tinker with operationsdramatically “because we had a marketing opportunity,” Permut says. Middlemanagement was encouraged to take chances. “If you’re right, you keep going;if you’re wrong, you make a change.”

Metra’s Bonistalli concurs. “Our primary customer is the traditional worktrip to the Chicago CBD. [But] even if ridership there is only stable, we’ll seegrowth through non-traditional sources. The recreational market is a growingmarket for us, and we’ve sold the experience of a train ride.” Here, Metra lever-ages marketing tools liberally. “The existing summer program we have person-alizes the trip, which helps make it a seamless trip.” Via Metra’s website, poten-tial customers can access connecting services, event planners, and walkingtours. “On average, we’re receiving 1,000 requests a week, so we’re tappinginto people who aren’t the traditional users of the system,” Bonistalli says.Metra also welcomed bikes on trains beginning in 2006. “Though we are lim-ited to some degree, we do tout that on our website and our public train sched-ules: which trains carry bikes and the number they will carry,” Bonistalli says.And Metra employs direct response programs, and a new residents program

Transit: Marketing does matter

A Metro-North Hudson Line train plies the rails on its way to both old andnew Yankee Stadiums (top center), but the railroad now also uses the wyeto deliver riders to and from the new ballpark from both the Harlem andNew Haven lines, as well, bypassing traditional endpoint Grand CentralTerminal.


schooling potential new customers on Metra’s offerings, in con-junction with realtors, which Bonistalli says operates “as a quasi-sales force for us” in areas Metra serves.

Permut says Metro-North unashamedly tests “other people’sgood ideas,” including one from Virginia Railway Express, and avalet parking service option developed in southern California.But the railroad isn’t simply a follower. Touting “brand new”handheld ticketing machines Metro-North conductors nowcarry on board, Permut says, “We’re the only railroad in Ameri-ca, I believe, that has done away with duplexes, in cooperationwith our unions—they helped design it—and it was done in-house by our information technology people. The marketingangle to all this is twofold: People can read their receipts.” Thetechnology gives Metro-North a quick, exact report of ticketsales each day, allowing it to see where customers are going and,perhaps, where they might wish to go.

In Chicagoland, Metra struck gold with potential weekendriders in spectacular fashion, generating marketing buzz nation-wide: “A $5 weekend pass, an unlimited ride pass, that we put inplace in 1992,” Bonistalli says. He adds pointedly, “We still haveit at the same price. It helps grow recreational ridership, and it’stied to our family program, where kids 11 and under ride free.”

Indeed, the program’s success has come at a price; capacity isdecreasing as demand increases. Metra is willing to accept that,Bonistalli says, because “we become part of their transportationthought process, an option. We’ve broken down some of thosemindsets that the train is only to and from work.” But those rid-ers often require more; Metra’s summer package “promotesCTA connecting services” required for specific events. JointCTA/Metra brochures are also a staple marketing tool, says

Bonistalli. Other Metra partners include PACE, which providesbus and paratransit service to six Chicagoland counties (includ-ing its namesake county). “It’s a significant market; the revenuegenerated now is a real factor,” he says.

A better marketing mindset is important within the rail ranksthemselves, Permut says. Metro-North’s latest effort in thisregard: Rail service for New York Yankees games via the newYankee Stadium Station, which opened in May. The railroadcould have just stopped existing trains previously bypassing thesite on its Hudson Line. It opted instead to provide direct ser-vice to the new station on game days from the Harlem and NewHaven lines, as well, via the wye at Mott Haven Junction in theBronx (see photo). The change in operations was challengingenough; Permut notes that while the railroad can plan its extraservice to coincide with a targeted ballgame start, “after thegame, there’s no schedule,” and departing trains enter theMetro-North system jockeying for position with regularly sched-uled consists—in traditional terms, an operational headache.

Customer service and marketing emphasis make the painsworth it, Permut says. “We are carrying 10% of people going tothe game, and we think it will continue to grow.”

Metra’s recent new starts also “have been a success from amarketing standpoint,” Bonistalli says. With service linkingUnion Station to O’Hare International Airport, and extension ofthe Union Pacific line from Geneva to Auburn, for example,Metra’s service reach has expanded; it’s touted that vigorously.

For both Metra and Metro-North, the goals change as theplaying conditions do, save one: making sure the riding cus-tomer gets the value of the service each railroad markets.

—Douglas John Bowen


Update

With an international corps ofreporters aboard, Russia’s new,Siemens Transportation Systems-builthigh speed train, the EVS1 Sapsan(top, in tow), made a demonstrationrun between Moscow and St. Peters-burg on July 30 at a top speed of 155mph.

In regular service, the EVS1 Sap-san, an electric train of the Velaro RUSseries, will cut travel time between thetwo cities to 3 hours 45 minutes. Cur-rently the fastest train travel time is 4hours 30 minutes (bottom, with olderequipment). The average time for airtravel from Moscow to St. Petersburg(including trips to and from the air-port, flight registration, and flyingtime) is at least 5 hours.

“The involvement of Russian scientists and spe-cialists in the Sapsan production project provides agood impetus to the introduction of cutting-edge,innovative technology to Russian industry,” saidRussian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin. Hesaid that foreign producers have declared their will-ingness to shift train production to Russia if ordersfor trains are increased.

Sapsan is Russian for “Peregrine Falcon.”

The Russians are moving, the Russians are moving—fast!


ARRA funds for transit securityOn July 29, the Department of Homeland Security awardednearly $78 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment ActTransit Security Grant Program funding for approximately 240new law enforcement officers at 15 U.S. transit systems. In addi-tion to hiring new officers, police departments with dedicatedtransit bureaus will hire anti-terrorism personnel, purchase anti-terrorism equipment, and obtain and train explosive-detectingcanines. The following agencies will receive the funding:

• Amtrak: $6,343,500• Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

(WMATA): $9,650,064.• Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA):

$685,980.• Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) for Chicago Police

Department: $4,869,000.• Northeast Illinois Commuter Railroad Corporation

(Metra): $1,670,988.• Metro Transit (Twin Cities): $1,328,700.• Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA, Buffa-

lo): $2,234,070.• New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (for

NYPD): $35,904,000.• Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA):

$1,396,830.• Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA): $2,085,000.• Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

(SEPTA): $4,458,870.• Puerto Rico Department of Transportation & Public

Works: $965,193.• Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART): $1,362,690.• Houston Metro: $3,040,560.• King County (Wash.) Department of Transportation:

$1,906,530.

IBM signed a new five-year information technology (IT) agreement withAmtrak to provide data center services including mainframe, mid-rangeserver, security services, asset management and desktop support ser-vices for 10,000 workstations nationwide.The contract continues arelationship dating back to 1994. IBM services include support of theinfrastructure for Amtrak’s reservation system as well as the corpora-tion’s entire computing infrastructure.“IBM’s strong record of deliveryexcellence for Amtrak has allowed them to reduce operational costs andincrease productivity while focusing on their core business and cus-tomers,” said IBM Global Technology Services Vice President,Travel andTransportation Industry Steve Welsh.

New York’s MTA has released both its 2010 Preliminary Budget and pro-posed Four-Year Financial Plan for 2010-2013.The MTA Board will notconsider a final budget until December, but MTA says the release allowsfor an extended period of public discussion about the MTA's financesand budget proposals.The 2010 budget, as released, includes no servicecuts or fare increases beyond those already planned, MTA said, addingthat projected cash balances were $29 million in 2009, $39 million in2010, and $1 million in 2011.“Manageable” deficits are projected for2012 and 2013. MTA also cited “significant” spending restraints con-tributing to save $64 million in 2010.These savings grow to $279 millionby 2013.The financial plan anticipates a continued falloff in real estatetax revenue and ridership due to recession. It also includes the 2009Mid-Year Forecast, which reflects changes from the February 2009 planresulting from the passage of legislation to stabilize the MTA's short-term finances. The plan includes a 7.5% fare increase in both 2011 and2013.

MTA Metro-North Railroad has awarded a $7.9 million contract toProgress Rail Services to overhaul six 3,000-hp F40PH locomotives in useon its West of Hudson service (NJ Transit’s Port Jervis and Pascack Val-ley lines). Both lines originate at NJT’S Hoboken Terminal and are operat-ed by NJT. Work will be performed at Progress Rail Services’ Mayfield,Ky., facility. The overhaul includes rebuilt main diesel engines and mainand auxiliary generators, and new HEP generator sets for passengercoach lighting, heating and air conditioning. Planned engine modificationswill meet the January 2010 EPA emission requirements for newly reman-ufactured engines to reduce PM (particulate matter) and NOx (nitrogenoxide) emissions. Progress Rail Services will also replace the locomo-tives’ 1,800 gallon fuel tanks with 2,500 gallon tanks to reduce theamount of time they need to be out of service for fueling at HobokenTerminal. Completion is set for December 2011.The contract has a $2.6million option to overhaul two additional F40 locomotives by June 2012.Metro-North’s West of Hudson locomotive fleet consists of 15 units—eight F40PHs and seven GP40s.The latter were overhauled by theMotivePower Division of Wabtec, Boise, Idaho, between 2006 and July2008 at a cost of $8.1 million.

Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) has awarded athree-year, $20 million contract to RailPros, Inc. for on-call project man-agement, construction management, and staff augmentation services.RailPros will provide services for such projects as Positive Train Control,the Orange County Service Expansion Program, the Perris Valley Line,and Maintenance-of-Way Information Systems.

AMTRAK

NEW YORK MTA

MTA METRO-NORTH RAILROAD

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL RAIL AUTH.

Transit BriefsPortec sees positive signsin challenging quarterPortec Rail Products, Inc., has reported reduced revenues andearnings for both the second quarter and the first half of 2009,but President and Chief Executive Officer Richard J. Jarosinskisaid he was “pleased with our overall performance in what con-tinues to be a tough economic climate.” He said demand hascome from “a wide range of freight and transit customers, whofind value in our ability to significantly reduce their operatingexpenses. Our friction management product group continues tolead our performance with significant growth in the currentquarter and year-to-date periods. Despite a challenging econom-ic environment, we are satisfied with the performance of ourtrack component and wayside data management groups.”

Portec reported net income of $2.2 million or $0.23 pershare for the three months ended June 30, 2009, and $3.3 mil-lion or $0.35 per share for the six months ended June 30, 2009.These compare to unaudited net income of $2.4 million or$0.25 per share, and $3.8 million or $0.39 per share, for thethree and six months ended June 30, 2008, respectively. Averagebasic and diluted shares outstanding were 9.6 million for all peri-ods presented. Net sales for the three and six months ended June30, 2009 were $26.5 million and $48.7 million, respectively,while net sales for the three and six months ended June 30, 2008were $30.2 million and $55.0 million, respectively.


SPECIAL REPORT ON HIGH SPEED RAIL

Getting America up to speedTHE UNITED STATES BOASTS THE WORLD’S MOST EFFICIENT FREIGHT RAILsystem—privately operated, privately built and maintained, and produc-ing profits, even in the gloom of recession.

The U.S. is also home to a ragged passenger train system, pub-licly and penuriously funded, that is viewed even by some of itsdevoted friends as more third-world than world-class.

Now, after many a false start, it appears that radical change iscoming to the passenger scene. A milestone initiative launched earlythis year by the Obama Administration—and just getting up to speed,administratively—is designed to begin the process of moving theU.S. into the expanding universe of high speed passenger rail.

What Americans can now aspire to, over the long term, is whatmuch of Europe and Asia have already grown accustomed to—fleetsof futuristic trains speeding between major cities at 186 mph to 214mph and capturing markets long controlled by air carriers.

What Americans are likely to get, for the short term, is “highspeed” in a relative sense: the current working definition encompass-es 100- to 110-mph trains that would be a huge advance in much ofthe country where the top speed is often 79 mph. Call it “incremen-tal high speed”—an approach that Railway Age Editor William C. Van-

tuono has vigorously promoted for the past 18 years, in the pages ofthis magazine as well as in annual, sold-out conferences on the sub-ject that he conducts annually in Washington D.C. It’s a realistic viewof what appears to be immediately possible with the $13 billionoffered by the Administration.

The Obama plan is a strong start, and it may well triggerpublic/private partnerships that will generate many more billions. Butfor now, what $13 billion will pay for is resignaled and upgradedtrack in a limited number of existing corridors, for incrementallyfaster service, as well as preliminary work on such visionary projectsas a planned California system that all by itself will consume an esti-mated $44 billion.

In the pages that follow, International Railway Journal Editor-in-Chief David Briginshaw fills you in on the world picture; Railway AgeManaging Editor Douglas John Bowen describes the scramble amongthe states for a piece of the starter money; IRJ Associate EditorKeith Barrow describes one of the latest examples of high speedtechnology; and Engineering Editor Tom Judge outlines what incre-mental high speed improvements could cost.

—Luther S. Miller, Senior Editorial Consultant

How far will $13 billion go in moving the United States into theworld of high speed rail? We’re about to find out.

By David Briginshaw, Editor-in-Chief, International Railway Journal

T he current surge of interest in highspeed rail has taken a long time togather momentum since the world’s

first dedicated high speed railway, theTokaido Shinkansen, opened in Japan in1964. Today, a real network is rapidlyemerging in Europe, currently involvingseven countries but with several morewaiting in the wings. In Asia, Japan hasexpanded its network to around 1,500miles, Korea has built its first line, andChina is well on the way to having theworld’s largest high speed network.

All the countries that have built highspeed railways so far, already had well-developed national passengerrail services. But now highspeed development is shiftingto countries with only rudi-mentary or even no long-dis-tance passenger rail. Theseinclude Saudi Arabia,Argentina, and Brazil.

What is driving this trend?There are several factors. Theimage of a Japanese Bullettrain streaking past MountFuji quickly became a symbolof modernity in the 1960s,and helped to change publicperception of rail transporta-tion as an outmoded relic ofthe steam age. This was rein-forced in the 1980s by the

French TGV and a decade later by theICE in Germany. This century has seen acomplete reversal of attitudes to rail bythe public and politicians, which nowregard rail as the mode with the brightestfuture because of its green credentialsand its ability to help solve congestionproblems.

But it is not simply the appeal of highspeed rail that is winning people over.The investment required is too great forthat to be the case and relatively poorcountries like Morocco and Turkey couldnot afford to build high speed lines onthese grounds alone. It is the proven abil-ity of high speed rail to get people toswitch from road and air to rail.

High speed rail is dealing a real blowto airlines in Europe. There are virtually

no flights anymore between Paris andBrussels, and Air France has suspendedflights between Paris and a number ofFrench cities. Rail now has 90% of theParis-Lyon market and 70% of the Paris-Bordeaux market. Air France has becomeso worried about the onslaught from railon its short-haul routes that it is planningto become a high speed rail operator


Time to climb on board

High speed around the worldIn operation Under construction Planned Maximum speed

(miles) (mph)(km/h)Europe 3,649 1,989 5,283 218 350Turkey 128 335 1,042 155 250Japan 1,524 367 362 186 300China Mainland 2,940* 2,067 3,146 218 350China Taiwan 214 186 300Korea 205 51 186 300India 1,646 UndecidedIran 308 155 250Saudi Arabia 342 186 300Morocco 423 186 300U.S. 225 802 150 240Argentina 441 200 320Brazil 310 186 300* Includes lines opening later this year or early in 2010

when the European market opens up to competition at the endof this year.

French National Railways (SNCF) used to regard a three-hour journey time as the upper limit for rail to compete effec-tively with air. But a rail trip time of four hours or even longeris now sufficient to get airline passengers to switch to rail. Thisis because of increased congestion at airports, the additionaltime it takes to pass through airport security measures, and poorreliability, which have all combined to make air travel less attrac-tive. Conversely, passengers appreciate the uninterrupted natureof rail travel downtown-to-downtown, because it allows themto use their travel time more effectively and less stressfully thanflying or driving permits.

Rail’s environmental credentials are second to none. Accord-ing to the International Union of Railways (UIC), traveling byrail is on average three to 10 times less CO2 intensive comparedwith road or air transportation, and two to five times moreenergy efficient. Strategically, an electrified railway is the onlyform of land transportation that can be powered by any fuel,something that politicians need to take seriously.

Technical advances are allowing high speed trains to travelfaster without generating more noise or CO2 emissions, andwithout increasing energy consumption. A few years ago, 186mph was regarded as the upper limit for economical operationof high speed trains. Indeed, SNCF did not think it desirable oreconomically viable to run trains faster than this. But reductions

in train weight, improved aerodynamics, and the introductionof more compact and more efficient traction equipment (seeIRJ Associate Editor Keith Barrow’s story on the AGV, p. 21)has made it viable to increase the operating speed to 200 mphin France, and now 218 mph in China and Spain.

Higher operating speeds are also extending the reach of highspeed rail. For example, the 820-mile high speed line nowunder construction from Beijing to Shanghai will have a maxi-mum speed of 218 mph.

One thing is clear as far as the infrastructure is concerned: Ifthe decision is made to build a high speed line, then it must bebuilt to the highest and most modern standards. A railroad builttoday will probably still be in operation 150 years from now. Soideally, it should be engineered for 250 mph operation.

What exactly do we mean by high speed rail? The baseline is



normally regarded as 125 mph. Up tothis speed, conventional rail technology isperfectly adequate, though in the U.S. itwill need to be supplemented with Posi-tive Train Control on corridors sharedwith freight trains. But to operate trainsabove 125 mph demands special mea-sures. For example, electric tractionbecomes mandatory because diesel tech-nology has not evolved beyond 125 mphoperation. Some form of cab signaling isnecessary. The trains themselves need tobe built to higher standards, with specialattention being paid to reducing noiseboth inside and outside the train,strengthening the suspension and brakingsystems, and at the same time reducingthe axle load. In Europe, an 18.7-tonaxle load has become the norm, butAlstom’s new AGV will improve on this.The Japanese 700-Series trains have a12.5-ton axle load. A low axle load isvital to minimize energy consumptionand reduce the impact on the track ofhigh speed operation.

Why build a high speed line, whensurely it would be cheaper to upgrade anexisting line and get most of the benefits?Unfortunately, the answer is not thatsimple. The first question that needs tobe asked is, what should the journey timebe to offer a commercially-attractive ser-vice between the cities that need to beconnected by rail? German Rail (DB) hasa good rule of thumb: The train needs tohalf as fast as the airplane but twice as fastas the automobile. The desired journeyfor a given distance will determine themaximum speed, which can then be usedto decide whether upgrading is sufficientor new construction is required.

However, the the cost of upgradingan existing line can be frighteninglyexpensive, and unlikely to solve capacityproblems unless a lot of extra tracks arelaid in the process. Indeed, upgradingcould reduce capacity on a mixed-trafficline. Widening the gap between the slow-est and fastest trains eats up capacity, andrequires highly-disciplined traffic controlto manage trains efficiently.

So, America, what are you waiting for?Rekindle that pioneering spirit, takeadvantage of the political window ofopportunity that has opened, and startbuilding. Whether it is incrementalimprovements or dedicated high speed, itwill be long overdue.


By Douglas John Bowen, Managing Editor

The railroad supply community already hasvoted: It sees a huge potential businessmarket being generated by the Obama

Administration’s $8 billion “down payment”to finally get U.S. high speed rail moving—“ormoving again,” one industry observer notescautiously.

Just who enters the HSR sweepstakes isn’tcritical to the big players. Equipment supplierssuch as Bombardier, Siemens, Alstom, andAnsaldo STS make it clear they’ll be in a bid-ding war for any given U.S. HSR project, ifnot every one. Even dark horses such asMadrid, Spain-based Patentes Talgo SA can’tbe counted out, given the builder’s U.S. pres-ence in the Pacific Northwest (throughAmtrak’s Cascades service) and its recent con-tract with the state of Wisconsin.

“I guarantee those companies that havebeen involved in high speed rail in Asia andEurope are in America right now meetingthose folks that are putting proposals togetherto tap into our $8 billion,” Transportation Sec-retary Ray LaHood has noted.

So, too, does it go for planners and contrac-tors. Throughout 2009 heavyweight contrac-tor Parsons Brinckerhoff has added several peo-ple with conspicuous experience with HSRand/or with government. Others, such as

AECOM, have beefed up staff in similar fash-ion.

But where will the players play? TheAdministration says its geographic choices forHSR will be made on merit, not politics, buteven polite skeptics note it’s possible to satisfythe first criterion while not slighting the poten-tial political payback. Few industry voices willgo on record predicting the rise of one U.S.HSR choice over another, but of the 10 candi-dates (11, counting the Northeast Corridor),four strong options have emerged as likely win-ners, based on industry comments encapsulat-ing the current handicapping done behind thescenes—an evaluation that could go out thewindow once the Federal Railroad Administra-tion makes its recommendations this fall.

CCaalliiffoorrnniiaa CCoorrrriiddoorr: Budget crisis extraordi-naire or not, Californians last fall committed$9.9 billion in state bonding capability to helpfund a high speed route linking the Bay Areawith Los Angeles and San Diego—the largeststate commitment within the U.S. to date, andcertain to sway the minds of sympathetic feder-al representatives, including House SpeakerNancy Pelosi and the state’s U.S. Sens. BarbaraBoxer and Dianne Feinstein, who have pledgedto capture part of the $8 billion federal pie.Moreover, the state’s actual HSR planningprocess is in advanced stages. Finally, Califor-nia’s geographic position is a clear counter-weight to the Northeast Corridor, the sole

The Federal RailroadAdministration hasreceived 278 pre-applica-tions for high speed railgrant funding totaling$102 billion. “Theresponse has beentremendous and showsthat the country is readyfor high speed rail,” Sec-retary of TransportationRay LaHood said.

The desire to investoutstrips current fiscalability, since the pre-applications’ fiscalrequests far exceed the$8 billion coming fromthe American Recoveryand Reinvestment Act(ARRA), more commonlyknown as the federalstimulus package, for theHigh-Speed Intercity Pas-senger Rail competitivegrant program. Evenincluding the pledge bythe Obama Administra-tion to back an addition-al $5 billion for highspeed rail funding incoming years throughthe Congressional appro-priations process, bol-stering the amount avail-able to $13 billion, thecurrent supply of fundsmeasures only 12.7% ofthe submitted demand.

Pent-up demand?An under-

statement!


Handicapping U.S. high speed rail


U.S. passenger rail route that ranks by some (if not all) mea-sures as “high speed.”

CChhiiccaaggoo HHuubb NNeettwwoorrkk: President Obama’s “home turf” can-didate also carries several real advantages: The hub route servesseveral states, with numerous origin/destination pairs and arecognition of current rail service, however paltry, on many ofthe routes now served by Amtrak. Incremental improvements,such as raising speed limits on portions of the Chicago-St. Louisroute from 5 mph to 40 mph, offer a large if unglamorousreturn on investment that could make “HSR” look good. TheHub also has benefited from solid and steady marketing leg-work by the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, a 501(c)3not-for-profit organization.

FFlloorriiddaa CCoorrrriiddoorr: The Sunshine State has flubbed at least twoattempts to implement a HSR network, with state officials over-riding public sentiment in at least one instance and an earlyattempt at public-private partnership funding falling through.But the concept refuses to go away, and “they’ll get it right oneof these days,” one observer notes. Add to that some realpoli-tik—President Obama carried Florida in the 2008 election, butjust barely—and Florida’s candidacy becomes a real possibility.

NNoorrtthheeaasstt CCoorrrriiddoorr: It’s technically not a “candidate” forHSR, since by some measures it already measures up. But theDepartment of Transportation has acknowledged “opportuni-ties for the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston to

compete for funds,” and though the NEC suffers from at least a$3 billion backlog in infrastructure needs, a million here andthere could offer demonstrable improvements to Amtrak’sshowcase.

Those evaluating the remaining candidate routes are quick tonote that all are feasible from a physical standpoint, but in manycases are burdened with a history of local disinterest, overcomeonly lately by state governments smelling federal funding andclaiming they wanted HSR all along. Among these:


PPaacciiffiicc NNoorrtthhwweesstt CCoorrrriiddoorr: Residentsof Washington and Oregon, known forbeing environmentally conscious, havesupported passenger rail and show a will-ingness to step up to HSR. But the corri-dor foresees Vancouver, British Colum-bia, as one anchor, and the two states,along with Amtrak, only resolved customsissues this summer with Canada on

Amtrak’s existing skeletal service linkingthe two nations. International coopera-tion for HSR is possible, but problematic.

SSoouutthheeaasstt CCoorrrriiddoorr: It would servethe Southeast, but its best chance forimplementation may be to “look north”to link with Amtrak’s Northeast Corri-dor. The ambititous size of the proposedroute, stretching from Washington, D.C.

to Jacksonville, Fla., and also to Atlanta,strikes some as too large a route struc-ture. But its northern end, backed bypro-rail North Carolina and by Virginia,no stranger to federal largesse or to resid-ual business benefits from the NEC,could bode well for part of the route.

EEmmppiirree CCoorrrriiddoorr: New York State hasapproached CSX to seek a third tracklinking Buffalo and Albany, tieing thestretch to its “near-HSR” Albany-to-NewYork route. But the state has its ownbudget woes, and has postponed orshunned more modest increases for theroute since the late 1980s.

KKeeyyssttoonnee CCoorrrriiddoorr: Amtrak trains alsooffer “near HSR” service betweenPhiladelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylva-nia’s capital, and ridership has risen—proof that incremental improvements canbolster demand. But a realistic upgradeto HSR standards of the mountainousroute between Harrisburg and Pittsburghis problematic from a physical standpoint,even if cooperation with owner NorfolkSouthern was locked in.

SSoouutthh CCeennttrraall CCoorrrriiddoorr: The Texas-based candidate suddenly has backingfrom businesses with clout, reportedlyincluding Southwest Airlines. But theTexas legislature has been notably hostileto funding passenger rail in any capacity,including this current year, and meetsonly every other year. Lacking leadershipfrom Texas, any HSR effort involving theLone State State, Arkansas, and Okla-homa appears unlikely in the short term.

GGuullff CCooaasstt CCoorrrriiddoorr: “I don’t see it,”two separate sources told Railway Age. AHouston-New Orleans-Atlanta HSReffort would dovetail with the SoutheastCorridor, but given the other, higher vis-ibility HSR opportunities for both Flori-da and Texas, the likelihood of such aroute being led by Louisiana, Mississippi,and/or Alabama appear dim at best.Amtrak’s Sunset Limited may finallyreturn to this route this October—a stepup, but nowhere near HSR.

Northern New England Corridor: AnAlbany-Boston-Montreal routing appeastortured on amap, faces internationalcoordination issues similar to the PacificNorthwest Corridor, and also competi-tion from the venerable NEC, whichoffers a less risky opportunity to generaterail ridership in New England.




First the TGV, now the AGV

Alstom’s next-generation high-speed train, the Automotrice à Grande Vitesse (AGV), isset to make its debut in Italy in 2011. International Railway Journal Associate EditorKeith Barrow reports from the Velim test track in the Czech Republic, where Alstom ispreparing the prototype AGV for the start of testing on the Italian network.

Situated around an hour’s drive east of Prague, CzechRepublic, the eight-mile Velim test circuit is one of onlya handful of places in the world where trains can be test-

ed at 125 mph without venturing onto the main line. Velim isplaying a central role in the testing of Alstom’s new-generationhigh-speed train, the AGV, which is currently being preparedfor use in Italy where the first trains will enter service in 2011.

The 225 mph AGV is the culmination of nearly 10 years’development work by Alstom, and builds on almost threedecades of experience in the very-high-speed sector, whichbegan with the delivery of the first TGV trains for FrenchNational Railways (SNCF) in 1981. Since February 2008, theprototype seven-car train has undergone a program of rigorousstatic and dynamic testing in France and the Czech Republic.

Like all previous generations of Alstom high speed trains,AGV is articulated, meaning a seven-car train runs on eighttrucks. However, the time-honored TGV configuration ofpower cars and articulated trailers has given way to a fully-artic-ulated design with distributed power, and for this reason AGVis configured in groups of three cars, or “triplets.” The outervehicle of each triplet is the driving car, which is equipped witha power truck and transformer, while the other two vehiclescarry power equipment, with a second power truck on the innervehicle. On a seven-car train, two triplets sandwich a central“key” vehicle, which carries auxiliary equipment.

The triplet and key car configuration results in a train that istruly modular, ranging from a seven-car, 433-foot-long train toa 14-car, 826-foot formation, although Alstom says it has evenexamined the possibility of producing a 26-car version forChina. Even before the first train was unveiled in February2008, the capabilities of the distributed power system hadalready been demonstrated to good effect. In April 2007, a spe-cially-adapted train formed of two TGV power cars and three

double-deck trailers fitted with AGV trucks and part of its trac-tion system shattered the world speed record for conventionalrail, reaching 357 mph on the Paris-Strasbourg TGV Est highspeed line. The series of tests carried out in the run up to therecord-breaking run in April 2007 gave Alstom a unique oppor-tunity to measure and validate the aerodynamic, acoustic, andvibratory performance of many aspects of the new train.

After a period of static and low-speed testing at Alstom’s LaRochelle facility in western France, the first dynamic testingphase took place at Velim between May and September 2008,when speeds were gradually raised to 125 mph. These tests cov-ered wheel/rail and pantograph/catenary dynamics as well astraction system and aerodynamic performance. Alstom also test-ed acoustics and the performance of the braking system undernormal and reduced adhesion conditions at different speeds. InNovember 2008, testing moved to TGV Est in France, whereover 12 nights AGV traveled more than 4,660 miles at speedsup to 225 mph. This allowed Alstom to test the dynamic behav-ior of the train and its components on a line used for commer-cial operations.

In June, the test program returned once more to Velim,where the AGV will complete 6,200 miles of running beforemoving to Italy for the start of main line testing, which will takeplace on the Rome-Florence line between October 2009 andMarch 2010. VUZ, the Czech company that operates the Velimtest track, has certification from the Italian Railway Authority(Cesifer) for testing rolling stock, which means many of therequirements for certification can be met before the train arrivesin Italy. AGV’s permanent magnet synchronous motors give apower/weight ratio of around 30 hp/ton, compared witharound 25 hp/ton for previous generations of TGV. Thesemotors are extremely compact, occupying a third less space thanasynchronous motors, and the use of magnets, which create the

A two-day conference devoted to developing common ground among passenger and freight rail interests.

Matt Rose, BNSFChairman, President and CEO, BNSFKeynote Address

Joseph C. SzaboFederal Railroad Administrator

Joseph H. BoardmanPresident and CEO, Amtrak

Washington Marriott Hotel • Washington, D.C. October 19-20, 2009

passengerfreight railroads

trains on Sixteenth Annual Conference

Conference topicstapping the experts for solutions to challenging problems• Passenger growth on freight rail: How soon and how much?• Higher speed or high speed rail: should we jog before we run?• should liability laws be changed?• Passenger/freight cost sharing• Lessons learned from the european high speed experience

North America’s freight rail system plays host to a growing network of regional, inter-city, and light rail passenger services. Passenger and freight rail interests must deal with issues of compensation, liability, grade crossing safety, signaling and train control requirements, capacity constraints, and maintaining the integrity of freight service. Finding common ground can be problematic. These issues have taken on greater signifi cance with the Obama Administration’s focus on passenger rail development and high speed services.

presented by

CONFERENCE FEE AND HOTEL: The registration fee for Passenger Trains on Freight Railroads is $825, which includes admission to all conference sessions, conference documentation containing all available proceedings, and social events. The Washington Marriott Hotel has set aside a block of rooms at $259 single/double for conference attendees. These will be held until 30 days prior to the conference; those reserving after that date will rely upon room availability. We sug-gest that you contact the hotel directly at (202) 872-1500 for room reservations (mention group code “Railway Age”). You will receive room confirmation directly from the Washington Marriott Hotel. CANCELLATION POLICY: Confirmed registrants who cancel less than one week prior to the conference are subject to a $250 service charge. Registrants who fail to attend are liable for the entire fee unless they notify Railway Age in writing prior to the conference.

REGISTER ON THE INTERNET: www.railwayage.comSPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE: Contact Jane Poterala at (212) 620-7209; [email protected]

Monday, October 19Registration

Continental Breakfast sponsored by Veolia Transportation

Keynote AddressMatt Rose, Chairman, President and CEO, BNSF Railway

New Challenges for Freight RailroadsModerator: William C. Vantuono, Editor, Railway AgePanelists: Jay Westbrook, AVP-Passenger and Commuter Operations, CSX; H. Craig Lewis, VP, Corporate Affairs, Norfolk Southern; DJ Mitchell, AVP-Passenger Operations, BNSF; Tom Mulligan, Director-Passenger Operations, Union Pacific

Coffee Break sponsored by Oliver Wyman

High(er) Speed Rail: How Soon?Moderator and Speaker: Al Engel, VP and High-Speed Rail Director, AECOMPanelists: David Carol, Market Leader, High Speed Rail, Parsons Brinckerhoff; Kevin Sheys, K&L Gates LLP; Pete Sklannik, Senior Manager, Planning & Special Projects, Parsons Brinckerhoff;Roelof van Ark, Vice President-North America, Alstom Transport

Luncheon co-sponsored by Norfolk Southernand HNTB Corp.Guest speaker: Joseph Szabo, Federal Railroad Administrator

New Directions in Rail SafetyModerator: Jim Michel, Senior Program Manager-Railroads, HNTB CorporationPanelists: Michael Long, Deputy Regional Administrator, FRA; additional panelists TBA

Energy Break sponsored by HDR

A Change in Liability Law?Tim Gillespie, Independent Consultant; Bill Newman, VP-Government Relations, Conrail (retired). Panelists from AAR and APTA TBA

FRA Non-Compliant Vehicles: Operational and Safety ChallengesPaul Stangas, Director-Systems Engineering & Design, New Starts Projects, NJ Transit; Al Fazio, General Manager, Services, Bombardier Transportation North America

Cocktail Reception sponsored by Herzog Transit Services, Inc.

Tuesday, October 20Continental Breakfast sponsored by Parsons Brinckerhoff

Keynote AddressJoseph Boardman, President and CEO, Amtrak

Freight Trains on Passenger RailroadsModerator: Roy Blanchard, Principal, The Blanchard CompanyPanelists: Paul Vilter, AVP Host Railroads, Amtrak; Josh Putterman, Vice President, Operating Strategy, RailAmerica; Reilly McCarren, Chairman, Arkansas & Missouri Railroad

Coffee Break sponsored by PTMW, Inc.

Capitol Corridor Chapter X: Building On-Time ReliabilityGene Skoropowski, Managing Director, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority

Program TBA

Luncheon co-sponsored by Amtrak and CSX TransportationPresentation of Railway Age’s W. Graham Claytor Jr. Award for Distinguished Service to Passenger Transportation

The European High Speed Rail ExperienceKevin Foy, MultiModal Practice, Oliver Wyman

Passenger and Freight Cost Sharing in the United KingdomJohn Tunna, AVP Passenger Rail, TTCI

How it All Comes Together: Thinking IntermodallyGil Carmichael, Founding Member, University of Denver Intermodal Transportation Institute

Adjourn

Speaker Gifts sponsored by B&I TransportationOnline Conference Proceedings sponsored by AllRail, Inc.Name Tag Lanyards sponsored by RailCommDelegate Gifts sponsored by Bombardier TransportationPens sponsored by Alstom Transport

Program subject to change/augmentation

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agenda

magnetic field for the motor to function,makes them more energy efficient thantheir predecessors.

The test train is equipped to operateon all four power systems commonlyfound in Europe—1.5kV d.c., 3kV d.c.,15kV a.c. and 25kV a.c. AGV has alreadybeen extensively tested on all of these sys-tems except 15kV a.c., and Alstom is nowfocusing on achieving optimum perfor-mance under the 3kV d.c. and 25kV a.c.systems used in Italy.

Particular attention is being given tothe interface between the contact wireand the pantograph at this stage. Thepantographs are situated on either side ofthe connection between the driving vehi-cle and the center vehicle of each triplet,meaning they are particularly exposed toturbulence from the nose of the train.Roof-mounted cameras have beeninstalled to observe the behavior of thepantograph. The prototype train is alsoequipped with the Italian software pack-age, and drivers cabs carry screens for theItalian SCMT signaling system for opera-

tion on the conventional network as wellas the European Rail Traffic ManagementSystem (ERTMS) is used on high speedlines.

AGV will make its debut in 2011 withNuevo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), theworld’s first open-access high speed trainoperator. NTV is investing $1.26 billionin its high speed services, which willoperate from Turin, Milan, and Venice inthe north to Naples, Salerno, and Bari inthe south, with an hourly service on thecore Milan-Bologna-Rome-Naples corri-dor. NTV’s fleet of 25 11-car AGV trainsis being funded through a 12-year leasingcontract, and Alstom will maintain thetrains for 30 years.

Assembly NTV’s first production vehi-cle was completed in July at La Rochelle,where the first two production trains willbe assembled, with the first being deliv-ered next year. The remaining 23 will beassembled at Alstom’s Savigliano site inItaly. A contract was also signed in Junefor construction of a $126 million main-tenance depot at Nola, near Naples.




D edicated (“true”) high speed or incremental (“higherspeed”) using existing rights-of-way? With the exceptionof California, most proposed HSR projects around the

nation are of the latter variety. The Obama Administration isproviding funds for HSR projects, and states are scrambling toget a share of those billions (p. 18). How can realistic mainte-nance costs for incremental projects bedetermined? How much per-mile cost istoo much?

ZETA-TECH Associates, Inc., undercontract to the Federal Railroad Adminis-tration, has been developing HSR costingmethods for several years, using the fol-lowing guidelines:

• Use numerical figures as much as pos-sible, rather than mathematical symbols.

• Start with known wear-and-tear andfatigue metrics.

• Consider using the continuing cost ofupkeep as a “steady-state” shared cost.

ZETA-TECH developed some exam-ples of a steady-state maintenance programbased on regional passenger rail infrastruc-

ture using a typical 2007 cost day. The totals shown in the tableon this page are cost per mile in a warm, damp climate within a15-MGT-density range. Costs will be higher for FRA Class 5(80 mph freight/90 mph passenger) and Class 6 (110 mph)track because of tighter geometry and engineering tolerances,and because of projected higher 2010 material and labor prices.

ZETA-TECH prepared a case studyusing the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative(MWRRI). The MWRRI proposes a net-work of routes linking Chicago with otherMidwestern cities. The proposal calls for16 to 60 passenger trains per day—farfewer trains than in the Northeast Corri-dor—but MWRRI routes would have any-where from 6 to perhaps 35 or morefreight trains on some of the suggestedHSR route segments. The maximum pas-senger speed will be 110 mph, withfreight at less than 70 mph.

What are the likely resulting sharedmaintenance costs per mile? “ZETA-TECH estimated costs are allocated intwo ways,” says Director-Economics,


Incremental HSR

Hot trains, cold calculations

• Surfacing $7,000• Rail & welding 3,600• Ties 3,500• Switch & road

crossing ties 13,000• Ballast 900• Drainage, brush

and weeds 10,800• Track inspection 2,400• Vehicles 6,200• Overheads 12,600•• TToottaall $$6600,,000000

Standard maintenancecosts per mile of track

By Tom Judge, Engineering Editor


Operations, and Strategic Planning Jim Blaze. “First, we used awork unit model. This calculates quantities of maintenanceactivity as a function of various operating parameters, and thenassigns a cost per work unit. Next, we used a bottom-up analysisconstruct. This process builds track maintenance costs up anduses the quantities of workers and materials required. We devel-oped this model with HNTB. Both methods include m/woperating expenses and cyclic capital costs such as regularrenewal of rail, ties, ballast, and so on.”

The work unit model was developed in cooperation withBNSF. It calculates work unit costs for each track segment as afunction of:

• Track-miles (main, branch, siding, yard).• Miles of curves, by severity.• Traffic, both annual MGT and number of trains.• Number of turnouts, diamonds, and highway crossings.• CWR (continuous welded rail) mileage.• Rail defects per mile, TQI (Track Quality Index).• Climate and accessibility.The bottom-up cost calculation uses Amtrak maintenance

practices and standards. It sums up costs from the number ofworkers and quantities of materials.

“ZETA-TECH estimated the likely costs and the likely costallocations for the MWRRI high speed passenger network,”Blaze notes. “We calculated annual per-mile maintenance costsfor several scenarios. The work was undertaken for the FRA. We

calculated the allocation of those costs for three strategic oper-ating scenarios using engineering maintenance models and aspecial allocation model called TrackShare™. The allocation usedseveral traffic densities on each of three scenarios between lessthan 5 MGT and greater than 30 MGT annual density.” Table1 (opposite page), “Four key variables for allocation,” summa-rizes important variables. Blaze points out this is a shortened3x4 matrix version. The actual results cover a 9x9 matrix of 81cells.

“To simplify, let’s reduce this to an examination of just twotrack density and track class allocation case studies, using thetop and bottom section,” he says. “Detailed likely costs at an80% freight/20% passenger train mix are reflected in Table 2.These numbers are the minimum expected cost per track-mileusing 2003 prices.” (ZETA-TECH does have a process for sub-stituting current 2009 or projected-year prices.)

Table 3 shows the maximum costs expected at 80% freightand 20% passenger trains with four different traffic densitygroups. What if there were 80% passenger trains on the line?Table 4 shows the minimum expected cost per track-mile using2003 prices; Table 5 shows the maximum expected cost pertrack-mile, again using 2003 prices. Because there are so manypassenger trains in this scenario, there is less traffic density onsuch tracks as the paths available for freight trains would bemuch less with such intensive passenger train use.

“Now, maintenance costs for sharing high speed and moder-


ate high speed track can be estimated ahead of time based uponthis detailed 2004 study,” Blaze says. “These maintenance costshave to be adjusted to reflect 2009 prices of materials and laborand projected into future-year operating expenses.”

New-construction or upgrade costs can also be estimatedusing other models. ZETA-TECH expects that all new con-struction of an FRA Class 5 or 6 track parallel to an existingslower speed freight track would price out at a broad range of$3.5 million to $8 million per mile to build. The higher costsreflect allowances for track flyovers and crossing protectionbeing added for a new set of parallel tracks above FRA Class 4.ZETA-TECH concludes that it is practical for freight and high-er speed passenger trains to continue to share rights-of-way inthe U.S. As illustrated here, the cost of shared trackage can becalculated using relatively inexpensive models like TrackShare™

to set equitable cost sharing for the much more track-intensivehigh speed trainsets.


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Table 1: Four key variables for allocationAnnual tonnage Traffic mix Curvature FRA Class<5 MGT 80% freight Light Class 4

20% passenger5 -15 MGT Equal Moderate Class 515- 30 MGT 80% passenger Severe Class 6

20% freight

Table 2: Minimum expected cost per track-mile,80% freight/20% passenger

FRA Class <5 MGT 5-15 MGT 15-30 MGT >30 MGT4 $27, 107 $32,107 $43,460 $63,1365 $19,846 $35, 523 $48,484 $71,4426 $33,808 $40,662 $55,807 $83,442

Table 3: Maximum expected cost per track-mile, 80% freight/20% passenger

FRA Class <5 MGT 5-15 MGT 15-30 MGT >30 MGT4 $39,362 $49,283 $69,464 $102,3565 $43,255 $54,323 $76,619 $114,1896 $49,184 $62,253 $87,856 $132,603

Table 4: Minimum expected cost per track-mile, 80% passenger/20% freight

FRA Class <5 MGT 5-15 MGT 15-30 MGT >30 MGT4 $32, 691 $48,955 * *5 $35,537 $54,049 * *6 $38,612 $60,319 * *

Table 5: Maximum expected cost per track-mile, 80% passenger/20% freight

FRA Class <5 MGT 5-15 MGT 15-30 MGT >30 MGT4 $47,909 $74,677 * *5 $51,650 $82,421 * *6 $56,497 $82,006 * *

Incremental HSR m/w cost calculations


Railroads may be the most environmentally benigntransportation mode, but they still face serious emis-sions compliance challenges. It wasn’t too long agothat locomotive builders and diesel engine manufactur-

ers cleared a relatively large hurdle, the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency’s Tier 2 standards. Now, the stricter Tier 3 islooming, and Tier 4 will soon follow. Tier 3 is effective forlocomotives manufactured in 2012; Tier 4 is effective in 2015.Tier 3 standards for new locomotives, like previous standards,will most likely to be met by engine modifications and adjust-ments. Tier 4, however, will require specialized—and costly—equipment, some of which will decrease fuel efficiency.

The “green” lingo that not all that long ago seemed foreignto railroads has, like communications and signals, added moreacronyms to the industry’s vocabulary: PM (particulate matter),NOx (nitrogen oxide), SCR (selective catalytic reduction), DPF(diesel particulate filter), AECD (auxiliary emissions control

device), CO (carbon dioxide), and HC (unburned hydrocar-bons) are now part of everyday locomotive language.

There are numerous ways to get to the brightest shade ofgreen, and building compliant equipment boils down to choic-es—and tradeoffs. The most challenging is the tradeoff betweenNOx and PM. “Tune for one, or cleanup for the other?” saysElectro-Motive Diesel Manager-Emissions Compliance DavidBrann. Advancing ignition timing, though it improves fueleconomy and lowers PM due to better combustion efficiency,increases NOx levels. Retarding ignition drops NOx, but raisesPM as combustion efficiency and fuel economy suffer. Theindustry’s principal locomotive builders and engine manufactur-ers—EMD, GE Transportation, National Railway EquipmentCompany, MotivePower division of Wabtec. R.J. CormanRailPower, Brookville, Cummins, Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel—are searching for middle ground.

Tier 4 is intended to force after-treatment, as it requires a

Shades of greenThere’s more than one way to tame a diesel engine

to meet the EPA’s increasingly strict emissions rules.

By William C. Vantuono, Editor

EM

D

Cummins Inc.,Box 3005, Columbus, IN 47202-3005, USA

Tel: 1-800-DIESELS (1-800-343-7357)

Email: [email protected]

www.everytime.cummins.com

Every TrackWith over 13,000 rail engines in operation worldwide and a product range from 60-3300hp

Cummins has the experience and technology to provide the right engine for your installation.

The latest addition to the range is the QSK50. Its 50 liter V16 configuration delivers clean

power with exceptional durability, reliability and low life cycle costs, making it the perfect

choice for Ultra Low Emission Locomotives. Its proven power cylinder, one-piece cast iron

block, heavy duty crankshaft and connecting rods provide a long life to overhaul of up to

875,000 gallons of fuel burned, with no mid-life overhaul required.

The QSK50 is available from 1800–2000hp for line-haul locomotive and switcher applications,

with EPA Tier 2 and CARB ULEL certifications.

Get Cummins power working for you!

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90% reduction in NOx and a 93% reduc-tion in PM from uncontrolled levels. PMcan be cleaned through use of a DPF,and NOx can be lowered with an SCR,but here again there are tradeoffs.“There’s not a lot of real estate on boarda locomotive for extra equipment,”according to R.J. Corman Railpower VicePresident-Locomotives Mitch Gillispie.DPFs and SCRs take up extra space, andhave unique maintenance requirements,he notes. Favoring optimized combus-tion requires an SCR, which doesn’trequire maintenance—but does requirereplacement. A DPF, which uses a sub-strate material to absorb PM, is self-cleaning, but only to a certain degree.For high-horsepower road locomotivesequipped with a large diesel engine, aDPF can be a massive, clumsy piece ofequipment, but an SCR scales up betterfor a large engine. “It’s like squeezingJello in your hand,” says Gillispie. “Allcombustion byproducts have to go some-where.”

As with Tier 2, Tiers 3 and 4 “willrequire most locomotives to meet stan-dards on a long-haul line-haul cycle thatemphasizes high-load operation, and aswitch cycle that emphasizes idle andlow-load operation,” says David Brann.

“Switching operations and emissions ofline-haul locomotives in yards and con-gested areas are included.” Some of theEPA’s rulings may need continual adjust-ment. For example, an AECD equippedwith GPS can automatically adjust igni-tion timing as a locomotive enters orleaves territories with varying local emis-sions standards, but the EPA is beingrather strict with how this device isdeployed. BNSF and Union Pacific havean EPA-certified memorandum of under-standing with the California AirResources Board that permits them tooperate AECD-equipped EMD and GEroad locomotives in California’s SouthCoast (Los Angeles) Air Basin. However,the EPA has so far refused to grant a cer-tificate for AECD-equipped locomotivesto operate into Mexico, which has noemissions standards. EMD and GE havefiled comments with the EPA requestingthis be changed.

One newer EPA requirement is thatall locomotives complying with Tiers 3and 4 be equipped with idle reductiondevices, either when new or before theyare placed back into service after an over-haul. Engines must be shut down after amaximum 30 minutes idling, and can berestarted only to protect the engine, keep


GE Transportation’s Trip Optimizer fuel management system works much likecruise control on an automobile. It’s described as an energy management systemthat optimizes fuel consumption. It uses GPS, a digital track database, and trackalgorithms that automatically learn the train’s characteristics. It calculates a fuel-optimal speed profile for the trip and then automatically controls the throttle tomaintain that planned speed. Train crews retain responsibility for safe operation ofthe train and can engage or disengage the system at any time.

LOCOMOTIVE EMISSIONS

GE

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batteries charged or compressed air supplies up, or to accom-modate crew comfort or safety. Equipment that does this, alongwith the means to continuously monitor performance, is avail-able from companies like Hotstart® Manufacturing, ZTR, Lat-Lon, Railhead, and Wi-Tronix. These suppliers and others havebeen able to combine their technologies.

The development of genset (or “engine-dominant hybrid”)locomotives offered by NREC, MotivePower, and Railpower,and rebuild/upgrade products like EMD’s 710ECO™ Repower,are rapidly changing the locomotive landscape. Engine manu-

facturers like Caterpillar and Cummins have been able toexpand their rail industry offerings. For example, Cummins hascertified its new, 16-cylinder, 50-litre QSK50 locomotiveengine to meet U.S. EPA 40CFR Part 1033 Tier 2 and Euro-pean Union Stage IIIA rules. “The engine achieves the requiredline-haul composite NOx of 4.0g/hp-hr and is recognized byCARB as a ULEL (ultra-low-emissions locomotive) engine,”says Cummins Rail Business Marketing Director Chris Riley.“Our MRCS (Modular Common Rail System), Quantum elec-tronics, and advanced combustion expertise have been utilized

on the QSK50 to meet these emissionslevels. The QSK50 builds on the successof the Cummins QSK19 in ULEL appli-cations and is an excellent choice for rail-roads that need a 2,000-hp, singleengine, low-emissions locomotive.”

The V-16, 50-liter QSK engine fea-tures ratings from 1,800-2,000 hp forline-haul locomotive and switcher appli-cations and provides “over 45% reductionin NOx compared to Tier 1,” says Riley.“It uses the same power cylinder and fuelsystem as the 700-hp inline-6 QSK19and the 1,500-horsepower V-12 QSK38.The MCRS fuel system maintains highinjection pressures regardless of enginespeed, for exceptional performance atevery rpm, raising fuel economy and low-ering operating costs, all while providingimproved response and load pickup withlower noise and vibration compared tocompetitive unit injection-style systems.Quantum electronics offers programma-ble features that optimize engine perfor-mance to specific duty cycles and jobrequirements, provide continuous moni-toring of engine conditions, and adjustfor peak operation.”

Save fuel, lower emissionsAn optimally running diesel engine willconserve fuel and, by extension, reduceemissions. Operating a locomotive opti-mally can do the same, and a host of sys-tems to assist locomotive engineers with“hitting that sweet spot,” like New YorkAir Brake’s LEADER, have been devel-oped.

One of the newest technologies is GETransportation’s Trip Optimizer fuelmanagement system, described by Prod-uct Manager David Eldredge as a cruisecontrol system (much like that in anautomobile or aircraft, where the opera-tor is always in complete control) for alocomotive.

Trip Optimizer, a product of

LOCOMOTIVE EMISSIONS


EcoimginationSM, is described as “anadvanced energy management systemthat optimizes fuel consumption basedon a specific train’s makeup and route.”It uses GPS, a digital track database, andadvanced track algorithms that automati-cally learn the train’s characteristicsthroughout the trip. It evaluates trainlength, weight, grade, track conditions,weather, and locomotive performance “tocalculate the most efficient way of run-ning the train while maintaining smoothtrain handling. It calculates a fuel-optimalspeed profile for the trip and then auto-matically controls the throttle to maintainthat planned speed. Train crews retainresponsibility for safe operation of thetrain and can engage or disengage thesystem at any time.” Trip Optimizer canbe deployed on Evolution Series locomo-tives as a turnkey system, and can becombined with GE LOCOTROL® Dis-tributed Power. “There’s lots of energyto be saved,” says Eldredge. “Fuel sav-ings has a direct correlation to reducedemissions.” Besides long-haul running,Trip Optimizer can be used in applica-tions like slow-speed control at a mine,for loading freight cars.

GE tested Trip Optimizer on 19Canadian Pacific GE Evolution® Serieslocomotives in three subdivisions withsignificantly different geographical char-acteristics. Revenue-service tests showedfuel savings ranging from 6% to 10%,depending on territory. GE is now equip-ping 200 CP locomotives.

Here’s an unusual way to conservefuel and cut down on emissions: Changeyour light bulbs—not the headlamps, butthe 17 or so incandescent bulbs found ona locomotive carbody (interior generalpurpose, marker boards, step lights)—with LEDs. Railhead’s Locomotive LEDBulbs, which have a 50,000-hour lifeexpectancy, run on 4 watts instead of 50,lowering the electrical load on the loco-motive, thus reducing fuel consumptionand emissions.

Railhead’s Tom Poulsen estimatesthat, a fuel cost savings of $1,400 to$4,000 annually per locomotive is possi-ble. For large railroads like UP, NS, CSX,and BNSF, which can each burn throughup to a quarter-million incandescentbulbs annually, the potential carbon foot-print reduction is huge.


RA

In the present challenging economic environment, where busi-ness travel has been curtailed, GE Capital-Rail Services “isopening its doors virtually to customers across North

America,” according to Communications Leader Farrah Aper.“In past years, traditional shop open houses were hosted,enabling customers to network among industry professionals,share best practices, and tour maintenance facilities. This year,we’ve been leveraging virtual web technology through a newwebinar series, ‘Managing Your Rail Fleet Through ToughTimes.’”

GE says its primary goal is to help customers identify theirrailcar fleet problems and better understand what can be done tosolve them. Prior to the program’s March 2009 launch, GE sur-veyed customers about their current needs and problems. Threekey themes emerged from the results: managing a highly com-

plex railcar fleet; controlling maintenance costs; and improvingrailcar utilization. Among the topics:

• Railcar Basics: providing overviews on general car types(hoppers), most common components needing repair, and typi-cal preventative maintenance areas.

• Maintenance Management Strategies: making sense out ofdata, trending costs, and developing improved maintenancepractices.

• Industry Changes, including ATSI (The Association ofAmerican Railroads’ Advanced Technology Safety Initiative).

• Shop Talk: shop selection and factors affecting shop cycletime.

Each session is 50 minutes in length, including the presenta-tion and time for questions and answers.

GE Rail Services President and CEO Joe Lattanzio says the GE

CA

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY


Seminar series benefits Web customers

How GE Capital-Rail Services uses technology to assist customers with service and utilization issues.


webinar series “is keeping customers in touch with GE’sapproach to railcar fleet management and encouraging commu-nity engagement. The more someone understands the industryand its nuances, the more effective they are in adapting to theindustry’s ever-changing environment. This is an excellent wayfor us to share our experiences and knowledge from managingone of the largest fleets in North America, and to learn from ourcustomers about issues they confront in managing their ownfleets.” GE, however, will continue to support personalized shopvisits upon customer request.

Executive Vice President-Customer Operations Sameer Gaursays the webinars, described as “value-added virtual face time,”“help us to identify key customer touch points and to betterunderstand concerns.” Adds Executive Vice President-Sales andServices Kareen Gray, “The webinars have provided our teamwith a deeper understanding of the unique challenges faced byour customers and help us to develop creative solutions.”

GE says customers are finding the webinars useful. • Nova Chemical: “We are all managing the same issues, and

the webinars help us to benchmark internally and confirm we aredoing the right things.”

• Sunoco: “Both thorough and simple to follow, the GE RailServices webinars continue to be a good source of informationfor veteran and novice rail shippers. GE provides industry spe-cific information during each seminar while making it simple andinteresting to follow. Also, the webinars allow for more conve-nience during the day, both on time and on travel. We look for-ward to attending more webinars in the future.”

• Evonik Degussa: “These days we are getting more involvedwith the day-to-day operations of fleet management, as compa-nies cut back and our fleets get bigger. Ten years ago, fleet man-agers would focus solely on negotiating rates; today we areexplaining how to use the cars, ordering parts, and auditingrepair bills. The webinars are a great complement to the SayreShop events (opposite page) we have attended in the past. Theymake it easier for us to manage our fleets.”

For additional information, go to www.ge.com/railservicesor email [email protected] to register for a session.

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the July issue underthe headline “FleetMaintenance.com,” which is an automotiveindustry website. We reprint it here for clarification. RA

GE Capital-Rail Services webinar topics include Railcar Basics,Maintenance Management Strategies, Industry Changes, and Shop Talk.

lettersMultiple-unit vs.locomotive-hauledTo the Editor:Your article in the June issue (p. 17) isan important consideration for passengerrailroads. I have been involved in analyz-ing this subject periodically over the past

40 years and would like to share a fewcomments that support some of thecomments made in the article and mayhelp to quantify comparisons.

Multiple-unit consists, in some oper-ating scenarios, will provide shorter sta-tion-to-station times and allow closerheadways than will locomotive-hauledconsists. The underlying mechanics that

result in such performance comparisonsare tractive effort per pound of trainweight and horsepower per ton of trainweight.

Shorter trip times may be achievedwith MU consists most significantly atrelatively short station spacings—lessthan 10 miles and especially at less thanthree miles—by reducing the time toreach maximum speed. At the lowerspeeds, this acceleration may be limitedby available adhesion at the wheel/railinterface or possibly by other factorssuch as propulsion system limits. So ifadhesion is limited, the more axles pow-ered the higher the low-speed accelera-tion.

At higher speeds, available horsepow-er at the rail limits available acceleratingforce. The higher the speed the lowerthe force, since horsepower is propor-tional to force times velocity. So depend-ing on the maximum number of cars tobe powered by one locomotive, and thecomparative horsepowers per ton of MUand locomotive-hauled consists, one willaccelerate better than the other at thehigher speeds.

Potentially shorter headways withMU consists are a result of reducing thetime for the leading train out of the sta-tion to achieve the distance necessary toallow the following train out of the sta-tion to depart.

I agree that life cycle cost and opera-tional considerations are important, asmentioned in the article. For example,the maximum number of cars to be pow-ered by a single locomotive should bepart of such a comparative evaluation.

Diesel MUs, if used exclusively in aconsist, can achieve performance similarto electric MU consists in performance-challenging situations. DMU engine loadrate may limit acceleration at low speedsas compared to that of EMU consists.

Phil Strong, Rail Vehicle ConsultantPS Consulting; Mastic Beach, N.Y.

www.psrailvehicleconsulting.com

“If We Say We’ll Do It, We’ll Do It.”Where we live, a man’s word is gold.When we promised the industry thatwe’d develop the best all-aroundapplications for plugging spike holesand repairing rail seat abrasion onconcrete ties, we kept our promise.

We are the industry leader in providinginnovative new wood and concrete tieremediation products and applicationsystems for today’s railroads.

Our products are the solution of choicefor Burlington Northern Santa Fe,Canadian National, Canadian Pacifi c,CSXT and Norfolk Southern.

Call us today or visit our website:800.333.9826 • wvcorailroad.com


Hill International pro-moted Thomas J.Spearing III toPresident of Hill’sProject ManagementGroup (Americas),Marlton, N.J..Previously, he wasHill’s SVP and ChiefStrategy Officer.Spearing will beresponsible for all proj-

ect management operations throughout theU.S. Spearing has 25 years of operational andbusiness development experience in architec-ture, engineering, and construction manage-ment. Prior to rejoining Hill in 2007, heworked with STV Group, Inc. Before that, hespent 10 years with Hill, most recently as aVice President. Spearing earned his B.B.A. incomputer and information science from TempleUniversity, his B.S. in construction manage-ment and his B.S. in civil engineering fromSpring Garden College, and his M.S. in man-agement from Rosemont College.

Parsons Brinckerhoffhas named CliffordEby, former FRAActing Administratorand DeputyAdministrator, asSenior Vice President,Washington, D.C., withresponsibility forstrategic efforts in railand infrastructure mar-kets, particularly high

speed rail. Eby has over 36 years executive andengineering experience in the railroad industry,including safety, finance and economic regula-tory practices, transportation policy, and infra-structure program design. Eby holds an M.B.A.

SpearingHill International

EbyParsons Brinckerhoff

(AUGUST 1909)Detroit River Tunnel Locomotive

A series of acceptance tests have been com-pleted recently by the General Electric Co.and the Detroit River Tunnel Co., jointly,upon electric locomotive No. 7500—the firstof six locomotives to be operated by theMichigan Central in the tunnel under theDetroit River. The electrical equipment, themost powerful ever designed for operation bydirect current, was built and installed by theGeneral Electric Co. The mechanical equip-ment is the product of the Schenectady worksof the American Locomotive Co.

September 16-18RSI 2009 Expo. Chicago Hilton &Towers, Chicago. Amanda Trainor,(202) 347-4664; Email: [email protected]. Website: www.rail-waysupply.org/convention/announce2009.aspx.

September 20-23AREMA 2009 Annual Conference &Expo. Chicago Hilton & Towers,Chicago. AREMA ConferenceDepartment, (301) 459-3200, ext. 703;Website:www.arema.org/eseries/scriptcon-tent/custom/e_arema/meet-ings/2009Conf/2009_conf_info.html.

September 23-24AREMA Committee 2 TrackMeasuring Systems Fall MeetingHilton Chicago, Chicago, Ill.Denis Zilmer, (763) 478-2282; Email:[email protected].

September 23-242009 Ohio Conference on FreightToledo Hilton Hotel, Toledo, Ohio.Warren Henry, (419) 241-9155, ext.129; Email: [email protected];Website: www.tmacog.org.

October 4-7APTA Annual Meeting. Orlando,Fla. (202) 496-4800. Email: [email protected]; Website:http://www.apta.com/conferences_calendar.

October 19-20Railway Age's 16th AnnualPassenger Trains on FreightRailroads Conference. WashingtonMarriott, Washington, D.C. JanePoterala, (212) 620-7209. Email:[email protected]; Website:http://www.railwayage.com.

October 20-21ASME RTD 2009 Fall TechnicalConference. RenaissanceWorthington Hotel, Fort Worth, Tex.Steven L. Dedmon, (717) 242-4972;Fax: ( (717) 242-4680; Email: [email protected]; Website:www.asmeconferences.org/rtdf09.

October 27-29Railroad Environmental Conference2009, University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign. KimHagemann, (217) 244-0841; Email:hagemann at illinios.edu; Website:http://ict.illinois.edu/railroad/RREC/overview.asp.

October 30-November 1Rail-Volution 2009. MarriottWaterfront Hotel, Boston, Mass.(800) 788-7077; Email:[email protected]; Website:www.railvolution.com.

meetings

HIGH PROFILE

people

UNION PACIFIC—David Giandinoto appointedGeneral Superintendent, Transportation Servicesfor the Chicago Service Unit, replacing RodRichardson, who moves to Superintendent,Intermodal Operations in Oakland, Calif., in turnreplacing Terry Ryan, who is retiring. Kurt Zalarappointed General Superintendent, TransportationServices for the Denver Service Unit, replacingJohn Rourke, who also is retiring. Ruben Lopezreplaces Zalar as Superintendent, TransportationServices for the Wichita Service Unit. JohnHuddleston has been promoted to Superintendent,Transportation Services for the Pocatello, Idaho,Service Unit, replacing Jeff Moore, who has beenappointed to a position at UP’s HarrimanDispatching Center in Omaha.

SUPPLIERSAtlantic Track & Turnout Co. said Thomas R.Jones will retire after 40 years of service and 50years in the railroad industry, effective Dec. 31.

Chicago Freight Car Leasing named JimKennedy a sales director.

HAX Technologies has appointed Glen Dargy toVP-Product Development. He most recently servedas project director and principal engineer withWabtec Railway Electronics.

Hirschmann Automation and Control, Inc.named Cleveland Parker managing director of theECS Division for the Americas.

Mitsui Rail Capital, LLC named Scott Carrolldirector of sales and marketing for the southwest-ern U.S. and Mexico, based in Cincinnati.

Morton Manufacturing Co. promoted Michael K.Ogden to president from executive VP.

Veolia Transportation named Donald Saunderschief operating officer of the Rail Division.

OBITUARYEdward H. Gold, 95, who spent 34 years with TheKerite Co., 1946-1980, died July 3.

100 YEARS AGO IN


in finance and investment from George WashingtonUniversity and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from LehighUniversity.

Greg J. Nazarow was named aVice President with GannettFleming. Nazarow serves as asenior rail operations analystwith Gannett Fleming Transit& Rail Systems, a division ofGannett Fleming specializing intransit and railroad track, sig-nal, communication, and elec-tric traction design. With morethan 17 years of related experi-ence, Nazarow holds a bachelor

of science in mechanical engineering from TuftsUniversity and a master of business administrationfrom Babson College.

NazarowGannett Fleming


Index o

f Adve

rtisers

Company Phone # Fax# Email address Page #

Reader Referral ServiceThis section has been created solely for the convenience of our readers to facilitate

immediate contact with the RAILWAY AGE advertisers in this issue.

The AdvertisersIndex is an editorialfeature maintainedfor the convenienceof readers. It is notpart of the advertiser contractand Railway Ageassumes no responsibility for the correctness.

MAIN OFFICERobert P. DeMarco345 Hudson St., 12th FloorNew York, NY 10014(212) 620-7244Fax: (212) [email protected]

AL, AR, IN, KY, LA, MI, MS, OH, OK, PA (WEST),TN, TXGeorge S. SokulskiGeorge S. SokulskiAssociate Publisher20 South Clark StreetSuite 2450Chicago, IL 60603(312) 683-5025Fax: (312) [email protected]

AK, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, IL, KS, MN, MO, MT, NE,NM, ND, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI, WY, Canada –AB, BC, MB, SKHeather Disabato20 South Clark StreetSuite 2450Chicago, IL 60603(312) 683-5026Fax: (312) [email protected]

CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC,PA (EAST), RI, SC, VT, VA, WV, CANADA – QUE-BEC AND EAST, ONTARIOMark Connolly345 Hudson St., 12th FloorNew York, NY 10014(212) 620-7260Fax: (212) [email protected]

RESPONSIBLE FOR ADVERTISEMENT SALES INALL PARTS OF THE WORLD, EXCEPT ITALY,ITALIAN-SPEAKING SWITZERLAND, JAPAN, ANDNORTH AMERICA. SEE THE CONTACTS BELOWFOR THESE AREASDonna EdwardsSuite K5 & K6The Priory, Syresham GardensHaywards Heath, RH16 3LBUnited KingdomTel: +44-1444-416368Fax: [email protected]

AUSTRALIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, HONG KONG,INDIA, KOREA, MIDDLE EAST, NETHERLANDS,NEW ZEALAND, RUSSIA, SCANDINAVIA, SOUTHAFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA, SPAIN, WORLDWIDERECRUITMENTBenn WoodSuite K5 & K6The Priory, Syresham GardensHaywards Heath, RH16 3LBUnited KingdomTel: +44-1444-416368Fax: [email protected]

ITALY & ITALIAN-SPEAKING SWITZERLANDDr. Fabio PotestaMedia Point & Communications SRLCorte LambruschiniCorso Buenos Aires 8V Piano, Int 916129 Genoa, Italy+39-10-570-4948Fax: [email protected]

JAPANKatsuhiro IshiiAce Media Service, Inc.12-6 4-ChomeNishiiko, Adachi-KuTokyo 121-0824Japan+81-3-5691-3335Fax: [email protected]

CLASSIFIED, PROFESSIONAL, AND EMPLOY-MENTDiane Okon20 South Clark StreetSuite 2450Chicago, IL 60603(312) 683-5022Fax: (312) [email protected]

WEBSITE DIRECTORYJeff Sutley345 Hudson St., 12th FloorNew York, NY 10014(212) 620-7233Fax: (212) [email protected]

Advertising Sales

AREMA 301-459-3200 301-459-8077 [email protected] 24

Balfour Beatty Rail, Inc. 888-250-5746 904-378-7298 [email protected] 27

Cummins +44 1325 556251 — [email protected]

Cyclonaire Corp. 402-362-2000 402-362-2001 [email protected] 10

Danella Rental Systems 610-828-6200 610-828-2260 [email protected] 9

Gross & Janes Co. 636-343-8484 636-343-9793 [email protected] 7

Helm Financial Corp. 415-398-4510, ext. 347 415-398-4816 [email protected] 12

Interstate Diesel Service 800-321-4234 216-881-0805 [email protected] 32

Kim Hotstart 509-536-8667 509-534-4216 [email protected] 31

LTK Engineering Services 215-641-8826 215-540-8627 [email protected] 33

MIRATECH Corporation 918-933-6263 918-622-3928 [email protected] 33

NORDCO 414-766-2180 414-766-2379 [email protected] 35

ORX 814-684-8484 814-684-8400 [email protected] C4

Pandrol USA, Inc. 800-221-CLIP 856-467-2994 [email protected] 20

Penn Machine Co. 412-279-4460 412-279-4465 [email protected] 30

RBT Services 270-763-6649 270-763-6653 [email protected] 17

RailComm, Inc. 585-377-3360 585-377-3341 [email protected] 11

Railpower Technologies Corp. 814-835-2212, ext. 203 814-836-2908 [email protected] C2

Railquip, Inc. 770-458-4157 770-458-5365 [email protected] 19

Railway Educational Bureau, The 402-346-4300 402-346-1783 [email protected] C3

Railworks 866-905-7245 952-469-1926 [email protected] 26

Star Headlight & Lantern 585-226-9500 585-226-2029 [email protected] 24

Sterling Auction Services, LLC. 210-545-3600 210-545-3610 [email protected] 5

TranSystems Corp. 312-669-9601 312-669-9606 [email protected] 16

Vossloh Group 00 49 239 252 273 00 49 239 252 274 [email protected] 2

Western-Cullen-Hayes, Inc. 773-254-9600 773-254-1110 [email protected] 12

Willamette Valley Co. 541-484-9621 541-284-2096 [email protected] 36

BEARINGSBrencowww.brencoqbs.comThe Timken Company www.timken.com

CAR HOISTSMacton Corp. www.macton.comRailquip, Inc. www.railquip.com

CAR MOVERSCentral Manufacturingwww.shuttlewagon.netRailquip, Inc. www.railquip.com

C&S, TRAIN CONTROL10East CorporationBusiness Intelligence Solutionswww.10east.comAlcatel Transport Automation Solutionswww.alcatel.comAlstom Transport Information Solutionswww.transport.alstom.comGE Transportation Systems Global Signalingwww.getransportation.comRailComm, Inc.www.railcomm.comSafetran Systems Corp.www.safetran.comSiemens Transportation Systemswww.mobility.siemens.comWABTEC www.wabtec.com

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENTNebraska Machinery Co.Sales & Rentalswww.nebraskamachinery.com

CONTRACTORSRailWorkswww.railworks.com

CONSULTINGBanks R. L. & Associateswww.rlbadc.comEdwards and Kelceywww.ekcorp.comHDR Engineeringwww.hdrinc.comJacobs Engineering Group Inc.www.jacobs.com

Interfleet Technology LTDwww.interfleet-technology.comLTK Engineering Serviceswww.ltk.comParsons Brinckerhoffwww.pbworld.com

Parsons Transportation Groupwww.parsons.comSavage CANAC, Inc.www.canac.comSTV, Inc.www.stvinc.comSYSTRA Consultingwww.systraconsulting.comTranSystems Corporationwww.transystems.comZeta-Tech Associateswww.zetatech.com

DAMPERSVibratech/Enidine www.enidine.comKONI Railwaywww.koni.comSachs of Americawww.zfsachs.com

DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDERSRailhead Corp.www.railheadcorp.comSafety Visionwww.safetyvision.comWABTEC www.wabtec.com

DISPATCH SYSTEMSRailComm, Inc.www.railcomm.comWABTEC www.wabtec.comDRAFT GEARS, CUSHIONING DEVICESASF-Keystonewww.asfglobal.comProgress Rail Services (FMI)www.progressrail.comIndependent Draft Gearwww.stucki.com

Miner Enterpriseswww.minerent.com WABTEC www.wabtec.com

ENCLOSURESPTMW, Inc.www.ptmw.comEXHIBITS AND TECHNICALCONFERENCESRailway Supply Institutewww.rsiweb.orgELECTRICAL CONNECTORSWAGO Corp.www.wago.comFASTENERSPandrolwww.pandrolusa.comStage 8 Locking Fasteners, Inc.www.stage8.comFRA TEST COMPLIANCE & SCHEDULING10East CorporationBusiness Intelligence Solutionswww.10east.comFREIGHT CAR PARTSAero Transportation Productswww.aerotransportation.comEllcon-National, Inc.www.ellcon-national.comFreightCar Americawww.freightcaramerica.comMiner Enterpriseswww.minerent.com Railway Supply Groupwww.railwaysupplygroup.com Schaefer Equipment Co.www.schaeferequipment.net A. Stucki Companywww.stucki.comWABTEC www.wabtec.com

GRADE CROSSING SURFACESHiRail Corporationwww.hirail.comRail-Way, Inc.www.rail-wayinc.com Transpo Industrieswww.transpo.com

GRADE CROSSING WARNINGSYSTEMS, GATE MECHANISMSAlstom Transport Information Solutionswww.transport.alstom.comGE Transportation SystemsGlobal Signalingwww.getransportation.comSafetran Systems Corp.www.safetran.comUnion Switch & Signal Inc.www.switch.com

Western-Cullen-Hayes, Inc.www.wch.com

INSURANCEZurich North Americawww.zurichna.com/railroadLEASINGCIT Rail Resourceswww.citrail.comFCM Rail, Ltd.www.fcmrail.comFirst Union Railwww.firstunionrail.com

LOAD SECUREMENT SYSTEMSHolland Companywww.hollandco.comPortec Rail Products, Inc.www.portecrail.comLOCOMOTIVE/CAR REPAIR EQUIPMENTMacton Corp. www.macton.comPortec Rail Products, Inc.www.portecrail.comRailquip, Inc.www.railquip.com

LOCOMOTIVE CONTROL SYSTEMSWABTEC www.wabtec.comZTR Control Systemswww.ztr.com

LOCOMOTIVE FUELING SYSTEMSSnyder Equipment Co.www.snyderequip.com

LOCOMOTIVE-HEATING SYSTEMS Kim Hotstart Mfg.www.kimhotstart.com

LUBRICATION-RAIL/WHEELPortec Rail Products, Inc.www.portecrail.comRails Companywww.railsco.com

LOCOMOTIVE SANDING SYSTEMS Cyclonaire Corp.www.cyclonaire.com/railroad.cfmDynamic Air Inc.www.dynamicair.com

METAL FABRICATIONPTMW, Inc.www.ptmw.com

MONITORING DEVICESLat-Lon LLCwww.lat-lon.comRailComm, Inc.www.railcomm.comWABTEC www.wabtec.com

M/W EQUIPMENT-TRACK MAINTENANCEHarsco Track Technologieswww.harscotrack.comNORDCOwww.nordco.comProgress Rail Serviceswww.progressrail.comRailquip, Inc.www.railquip.com

PAINT AND COATINGSCarbolinewww.carboline.com

PASSENGER CAR DOORSAdvanced Structures Corp.www.advancedstructurescorp.com

PRECAST CONCRETE FOUNDATIONSDixie Precast, Inc.www.dixieprecast.com

RAILCAR & LOCOMOTIVEMAINTENANCE EQUIPMENTRailquip, Inc.www.railquip.com

RAILCAR & LOCOMOTIVE REPAIR PARTSProgress Rail Serviceswww.progressrail.comWABTEC www.wabtec.comRAIL GRINDINGLoram Maintenance of Way, Inc.www.loram.comRAIL-NEW AND RELAYA&K Railroad Materials, Inc.www.akrailroad.comL.B. Foster Companywww.lbfoster.comRAIL & TRACKWORKProgress Rail Serviceswww.progressrail.comREMOTE CONTROLCattron-Theimeg, Inc.www.cattron-theimeg.comControl Chief Corp.www.controlchief.comRailComm, Inc.www.railcomm.com

RETARDERSAAA Sales & Engineeringwww.aaase.comSAFETY EQUIPMENTAldon Companywww.aldonco.comRailhead Corp.www.railheadcorp.comSafety Visionwww.safetyvision.com

SCADARailComm, Inc.www.railcomm.comSEATSKustom Seating Unlimited, Inc.www.kustomseating.comSHOCK & VIBRATIONSVibratech/Enidine www.enidine.comSIDE BEARINGSA. Stucki Companywww.stucki.comMiner Enterpriseswww.minerent.com SPILL COLLECTIONSyntechnics www.syntechnics.netSWITCH HEATERSRailComm, Inc.www.railcomm.comRails Companywww.railsco.comTOP-OF-RAIL FRICTION SOLUTIONSFriction Management Services, LLCwww.frictionmanagement.comPortec Rail Products, Inc.www.portecrail.comThe Timken Company www.timken.com

TRANSFER-, DROP-, TURNTABLESMacton Corp. www.macton.comRailquip, Inc.www.railquip.comTURNOUTS & SPECIAL TRACKWORKA&K Railroad Materials, Inc.www.akrailroad.com

UNDERCUTTING–DITCHING EQUIPMENTHarsco Track Technologieswww.harscotrack.comGeorgetown Rail Equipment (GREX)www.georgetownrail.com

WHEELSGriffin Wheelwww.griffinwheel.com

WEBSITE DIRECTORY

Hot links available atwww. railwayage.com List your website on this page. Contact Jeff Sutley, (212) 620-7233, [email protected]

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORYRailway Age Classified Section • Diane Okon • 312-683-5022 • [email protected]

All Major Credit Cards Acceptedrrs TM

EQUIPMENT SALE/LEASING


Kansas City Office(913) 661-2424 www.tcsrailservices.comOTHER SERVICES:• STAFFING• INTERIM MANAGEMENT

STRATEGIC PLANNING:• COMMUTER RAIL TRANSITIONS• FRA COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS• OPERATIONS AUDITING

OPERATIONS TRAINING & CONSULTING:• ENGINEER TRAINING & CERTIFICATION• EXCELLENT HISTORY WITH FRA, NTSB• MECHANICAL & PART 238(QMP)

WANTED TO PURCHASE

Wanting to PurchaseWanting to purchase wheel shop equipment to include:1 only 600 ton mount/demount press1 only wheel boring machine (preferably c.n.c. controlled)1 only axle turning lathe (preferably c.n.c. controlled)

Wanting to HireDiesel mechanic engineer with lots of experience to manage shopand customers.

Request information and send resumes to:2502 Elm Street, Regional Road 35,

PO Box 670 STN B, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 4R6Physical Address: 1 Foundry Road, Sudbury, Ontario, P3A 4R7

Phone: 705.674.5626 • Fax: 705.566.0371 email: [email protected]

www.dieselelectric.ca

LOCOMOTIVE & RAILCAR BROKERS

STERLING AUCTION SERVICES, LLC has active Buyers and Sellers for all of your

Locomotive and Railcar needs and transactions. Contact Robert Mertz at (210)-545-3600

[email protected] License #16399


EQUIPMENT SALE/LEASING

Available For Lease

� 5,150 cu. ft. pressure differen-tial (PD) covered hoppers. Food grade interior linings

� 3,915 cu. ft. pressure differen-tial (PD) covered hoppers. OK for cement, sand or any dry flowable commodity.

For additional information and pricing,please contact John GoodwinPHONE (605) 582-8318 FAX (605) 582-8304www.carmathinc.comE-MAIL [email protected]

Railcars Available for Lease 4650 CF Covered Hoppers Round Hatches3500 CF Covered Hoppers Round Hatches3018 CF Covered Hoppers Round Hatches2931 CF Covered Hoppers Round Hatches3500 CF Pressure Differential Hoppers (286k)3000 CF Pressure Differential Hoppers4000 CF Thrall Built Gondolas3850 CF Rapid Discharge Open Top Hoppers3600 CF Open Top Hoppers33000 Gallon Pressure Cars, Storage Use Only26800 Gallon General Purpose Tank Cars61' 100 ton Bulkhead Flat cars

Wanted for PurchaseAny variety of Freight and Tank Car Portfolios

Full Service & Net Leases Availablewww.trlx.net • Mr. Lynn Hayungs

[email protected] • Tel: 956-630-2723 ext. 206

Texas Railcar Leasing, Co.“You have finally crossed the right track”

SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Texas Railcar Leasing Co.3900 N. 10th, Suite 1080, McAllen, Texas 78501 •

RECRUITMENT

(713) 667-0406FAX (713) 667-1651Web address:www.ednarice.comEmail: [email protected]

6750 West Loop SouthSuite 735Bellaire, Texas 77401-4111

EDNA A. RICE, EXECUTIVE RECRUITER, INCEDNA A. RICE, President

NEED EXPERIENCED RAILROAD VP

PO Box 1090 Plymouth, FL 32768Phone (352) 385-2613

e-mail: [email protected]

Professional Railroad Placement Services, Inc.“Serving the Railroad industry Nationwide”


AUCTIONS SERVICES PRODUCTS & SERVICES

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Reidler can help you comply with the FRA ruling by offer-ing prismatic reflective yellow delineators that meet theirspecifications.

• 4" x 150 fl Rolls (kiss-cut available)• 400 candlepower retroreflection• Application instructions provided

Give us a call at 800-628-7770 for more information

The Leader in Railroad Markings since 1926

Reidler Decal CorporationSt. Clair, PA 17970Fax: [email protected]

The Federal Railroad Administration's proposed new delineator configuration

Let us keep you on track at Diesel Electric Services Inc.!

We are A.A.R. certified and located in Sudbury, Ontario. Let us lookafter your car fleet to avoid delays. We have on staff certified carmen, electricians and mechanics all highly qualified in locomotiverepairs of all types including mandatory inspections.

We have locomotives for sale and lease and a direct access to anyparts required. For your convenience, our facilities are accessed fromC.N., C.P. and the O.V.R. main lines. If you have a problem with anyrolling stock we have the capabilities to get you back on track!

We are also looking to expand our staff and thus looking for a highlyqualified diesel mechanic engineer with lots of experience to manageour shop and customers.

Request information and send resumes to: 2502 Elm Street, RegionalRoad 35, PO Box 670 STN B, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 4R6

Physical Address: 1 Foundry Road, Sudbury, Ontario, P3A 4R7Phone: 705.674.5626 Fax: 705.566.0371

email: [email protected] • www.dieselelectric.ca

www.SterlingRailroadAuctions.comwill feature the most diverse and complete marketplace for

Railroad Equipment and RR Assets of every description.Launches 4th quarter of 2009

A Service of Sterling Auction Services, LLCU.S. Contact: Robert Mertz +1 210 545 3600

[email protected] License #16399

EMPLOYMENT

Watco Transportation Services, a nationwide provider ofshort-line freight transportation, is seeking motivated andexperienced people to join its team.

POSITIONS INCLUDE Train and Engine Service, Maintenance of Way,

Locomotive, Marketing and Management.

All Watco Transportation positions include RailroadRetirement, Health/Dental benefits and 401k. To view adetailed list of all career opportunities with the Watco teamplease visit our website at www.watcocompanies.com andsubmit an online application.

Equal Opportunity Employer


EMPLOYMENT

Locomotive Division ManagerResponsible for expanding business with industrial & railroad loco-motive repairs, servicing, & re-building projects. Experience withaftermarket parts vendors necessary. Individual should be able toidentify used locomotives & components for purchase; and negoti-ate sales/leases of locomotives to end-user. Responsible for P/L &developing strategies to promote business. www.bhamrail.com

Chief Engineer – Corporate

Anacostia Rail Holdings is seeking a Chief Engineer – Corporate. Theposition will be responsible for company-wide engineering staff sup-port and specific line management. Duties include supporting engi-neering safety programs, developing annual engineering budgets andspecial projects; engineering labor agreements; management ofagreements with utilities, contractors, governmental entities, etc.;preparation/review of engineering plans/specifications; administrationof documents pertaining to railroad-owned real estate. Frequenttravel is required in this high visibility, corporate level position.

The qualified candidate will possess at least five to ten years of man-agement and supervisory experience with a railroad and/or railroadcontracting firm, will be familiar with AREMA and FRA standards,have the ability to read and draft railroad engineering documents,possess good communication skills, and have the ability to compre-hend written and oral instructions. A college degree in civil ormechanical engineering is strongly preferred. Competitive salarybased on experience, excellent benefits and bonus potential.

Mail resume to: Yuko Ishikawa

Anacostia Rail Holdings, Inc.53 W. Jackson Boulevard • Chicago, IL 60404

Fax to: 312-431-0828

Vice President/General ManagerFlorida Railroad Operations

Pinsly Railroad Company has an opening for a VicePresident/General Manager of its three Florida short line railroadsand a distribution service company. Position would be responsiblefor management of day-to-day operations for a growing shortlinerailroad and distribution service company as well as meetingstrategic and operating goals. Position would also hold a seat onthe Pinsly Railroad Company leadership team providing strategicgoals and direction for the entire Pinsly organization. Experienceshould include a minimum of 10 years railroad executive manage-ment or general management leadership roles with P&L responsi-bility. Experience in trucking and warehousing industry a plus.Excellent benefit package. Send cover letter and resume to:

Pinsly Railroad CompanyAttn: Angela L. Depalo, Human Resources Director

53 Southampton RoadWestfield, MA 01085

Or e-mail to: [email protected]

ROXTEC – Sales ProfessionalRoxtec Inc. (www.roxtec.com) is the world’s largest manufacturer of modulebased cable and pipe seals. We are currently seeking a sales professional todevelop the Railway segment for Roxtec. This opportunity provides great benefitsand a flexible work environment with a home officeRequirements• 5 years experience calling on Rolling Stock companies, OEMs, Class 1

railroads, engineering firms, and transit authorities preferred• Minimum 3 years experience selling to engineering firms and OEMs

required. • Experience working projects from design to construction• BS/BA degree• Excellent presentation skills and experience presenting to groups of 20 or

more peopleResponsibilities• Develop Railway Industry business segment and increase revenue by

securing design specifications with Transit Authorities, Rolling Stock manufacturers, Engineering Firms, and Class 1 Railroads.

• Attend Railway events, trade shows, and sales meetings (both domesticallyand internationally as needed)

• Travel required (60% of time) mostly domestic but international travel asneeded

• Work individually or in a team environment with National and RegionalManagers and International Sales Managers as well.

• Perform market research focusing on new business opportunities within theRailway Industry

• Provide reports to Industrial Segment Manager including but not limited toinformation on Projects, Quotations, Sales Activities, and Industry Trends

[email protected]: 918.362.0239

10127 E Admiral Place • Tulsa, OK 74116


No organization that pridesitself on performance andmeasurable results can expectto grow and prosper without

dedicated training—for employees, staff,and management, as well as the educationof its customers. This is fundamental toteam building as well as sound and prof-itable railroading. Of course, productivityis an important outcome as well, and oneunquestioned benefit to any training pro-gram is that worker productivity signifi-cantly improves following training.

With the passage of HR. 2095, theRailway Safety Improvement Act of 2008(RSIA), the world of railroading as wehave known and understood it fordecades has changed. This is a more far-reaching collection of changes than theStaggers Act of 1980. Staggers laid thefoundation for the dramatic resurgence offreight railroads during the past 25 years,but the RSIA will have a much greaterimpact on a broader range of areas.

With the new law comes a wave of reg-ulatory requirements that compel signifi-cant changes from many of the currentprocedures now in place, as well asunprecedented new technologies andequipment to be phased in during thenext several years. Other federal govern-ment policy and equipment developmentsunrelated to HR. 2095 also are underway. These momentous changes bring torailroad management serious issues relat-ed to preparing its work force for thefuture to insure employee safety and pro-fessionalism while on the job.

The most effective and profitableorganizations have traditionally embracedsome form of structured employee train-ing that focuses on worker education andskills to enhance knowledge, understand-ing, and the execution of job tasks tospecified standards. The object, of course,is to make certain the employee is safe,productive, and well aware of required

performance standards while serving thelong term interests of the company andits’ customers.

However, for management, the bal-ancing act of beneficial employee trainingwhile accepting costs and an absence dur-ing this training is a difficult tradeoff. Theold on-the-job techniques are not goingto do the job in this new era simplybecause much of what we are workingwith today is too new to rely on seasonedrailroaders to cover all the bases. There islittle question that the most successful

process for educating and training a work-force is through dedicated instruction.This only succeeds, however, if seniormanagement has employee developmentand competence as a priority, and investsthe resources to pursue training programsthat improve employee skills and profes-sionalism. This training approach is not aone-shot concept, but a progressive year-in, year-out program for each employeeaimed at steadily building worker expert-ise and mastery of his field.

Today the railroad industry is begin-ning to capitalize on new educationaltechnologies that make training our workforce achievable without divorcing theemployee from his job for an extendedperiod of time. Online training modulesprepared with short lines in mind areavailable that can prepare the employeefor many of the job demands of the

future. Webinars now address specificaspects of the industry that need clarifica-tion or introduce wholly new subjects orequipment. Class I railroad schools pro-vide the options of attendance or onlinetraining, and some sponsor specializedtraining at state-of-the-art facilities. Anumber of universities now offer railroadcertificate or diploma programs that arestructured for short stays at the university,a return to work followed a month laterby another session at the university.Mobile training classes sponsored by theClass I railroads, ASLRRA, AREMA, andthe FRA make available short, high-inten-sity programs across the country to getrailroaders up to speed on the most cur-rent and important topics and proce-dures. A prime example of this is the widerange of bridge inspection and mainte-nance classes being provided in numerousforums in response to HR 2095. DVDsare now becoming an important compo-nent of training and can be shipped easilyto railroads or individuals for their homestation use. In recent months HazMatand Security DVDs have been provided toASLRRA members.

Excellent educational opportunitiesthat are inexpensive and convenient are athand for those managers that are commit-ted to safety, competence, and profession-alism for their workers. Training lays thefoundation for the future and developsrailroaders with the correct attitudes,knowledge, and skills to adapt to thechanging workplace. Many visionary rail-road leaders have committed to this pro-gressive training approach. Now is thetime for all of us in management to focuson employee professional development tomeet the demands of the future.

Editor’s note: Since 1909, Simmons-Boardman’s Railway Educational Bureauhas been providing training courses andmaterials to the railroad industry. Formore information, see www.transalert.com.

Adapting to a changing railroad environment

short line/regionalperspectiveRichard F. TimmonsPresident, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association

Training and continuing

education are more important

than ever.

To find out more about how

Rcan help you m

eetyour rail transportation needs, visit orxrail.com

.

Railway Age - 08 AUG 2009

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Transcript of Railway Age - 08 AUG 2009