WASHINGTON — The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association has announced its 2019 award winners, to be honored at the 2020 NRC convention in Coronado, Calif., Jan. 5-8.
R.J. Corman received the Large Project of the Year award for its BNSF Napier Project dealing with midwestern flooding. Massman Construction Co. received the Small Project of the Year for another flood-related project, the Norfolk Southern Grand River Bridge near Brunswick, Mo.
Shelby Conrad, track manager for Skansak USA Civil West, received the Field Employee of the Year award. Harold Brace, Scott Brace, and Bill Stout were named to the NRC Hall of Fame.
Project winners
R.J. Corman crews worked for 16 weeks on 77 miles of BNSF track between Pacific Junction, Iowa to St. Joseph, Mo., clearing debris, protect the right-of-way with rip-rap, raise the roadbed by up to 2 feet, install drainage, replace ties, realign track, install track panels, and tamp ballast. In all, 261 employees from 38 divisions of five different R.J. Corman companies worked 131,362 hour, injury free, using 276 pieces of its own equipment and 70 pieces of subcontracted equipment.
The NS Grand River bridge was knocked out by debris from heavy rains on Oct. 2, and returned to service Oct. 28 [see “NS Missouri bridge to return to service Monday night,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 28, 2019]. Massman Construction was on site within three days with equipment including two large floating cranes, multiple barges, a tugboat, and pile-driving equipment. Working with NS personnel and its consulting engineer, it designed a repair using available equipment, including NS existing surplus bridge spans and Massman’s use of precast caps.
Individual awards
Conrad has worked with Skanska for 35 years. His recent work on LA Metro’s Expo Line Phase II helped the project finish on time, reach one million man-hours without a lost-time incident, and become the first U.S. transit project to be certified Envison Platinum. David Walker, senior director of construction management at LA Metro, says Conrad is “great with managing contract schedules and organizing his staff. If Shelby tells you that he will get something done, you can take it to the bank.”
Harold Brace purchased Lakeville, Minn.-based Railroad Services Inc. in 1974 with a coworker from the company’s previous owner, Blacktop Services. His early involvement with the NRC was crucial to the organization’s development. He led the specifications committee, putting together the first set of comprehensive track specifications, which led to numerous other NRC initiatives.
Scott Brace began his railway construction career at age 15, working for the family business, Railroad Services, and took over the company in 1989. In 1998, he became part of the 15 founding companies now known as RailWorks. He helped RailWorks Track Systems work with Class I, short lines, and industry, and led completion transit projects including Florida’s SunRail, the Tucson (Ariz.) streetcar, and Dallas Area Rapid Transit Blue Line. He served as NRC chairman in 2000 and 2001.
Stout, of Atlas Railroad Construction, is one of five brothers who built the company started by their father in 1954, joining the company at age 15 as a track laborer. He became full owner of Atlas in 1986 and led its growth into one of the nation’s largest track construction firms until his retirement in 2010. Active in the NRC since its inception in 1978, he served on its board from 2006 to 2010.
Trains News Wire will be providing coverage from this year’s convention at the Hotel del Coronado.
