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A southbound ‘Acela’ races across a stretch of positive train control trackage on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor at Perryville, Md., on June 5, 2011. Michael T. Burkhart This story first appeared in the October 2011 issue of Trains Magazine. The Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System highlighted here was not active at the time of the of […]
Confidential Close Call reporting basics A New Jersey Transit train zips northward from Atlantic City to New York’s Penn Station on Jan. 23, 2010. If the crew were to err, they could report the close call and be part of a bigger program to improve safety, rather than be punished. Dennis A. Livesay photograph Confidential […]
Positive Train Control Tick, tock. U.S. railroads have collectively spent decades and billions of dollars on positive train control research. Tick. Public outcry after a 2008 commuter crash that killed 25 people — a crash that a Federal safety panel says PTC could have prevented — pushed Congress to act. Tock. With a Congressional deadline […]
Intelligent Grade Crossings will warn motorists and trains that approach is imminent. Federal Railroad Administration Train crews and motorists may have the ability to “see” one another earlier than ever thanks to “Intelligent Grade Crossings” currently under development through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Research and Development Office. Since the dawn of railroading, one of the […]
Northbound CSX Transportation aggregates train K944 is seen meeting intermodal train Q145 at Opelika, Ala., in 2010. Class I railroads use different kinds of schedules to keep their networks fluid and profitable, even on single-track lines. Frank Orona What time will the train depart? When will it arrive? While most people associate schedules with passenger […]
A Canadian National train heads north through Wisconsin over a bridge in 2015. Regardless of the location or railroad, bridges pose problems for track. Steve Sweeney Track can sag, bounce, and shift a bit, within reason. It flexes under the weight of heavy freight trains, but bridge ends don’t. And that’s a problem. When most […]
Horns are typically placed near the middle of the locomotive to minimize noise to the crew. New Canadian National ET44AC No. 3062 shows off its Nathan K5HLR2. Chris Guss A horn is one of the many safety appliances installed on a locomotive and is used to warn both the general public and railroad employees while […]
Auxiliary power units can be installed in a variety of locations, but are typically installed in the rear of the long hood, like this one on a Montana Rail Link locomotive. Tom Danneman Idling locomotives have been a regular part of the railroad industry since the switch from steam to diesel in the 1950s. Locomotives […]
Northshore Mining SD40 No. 651 leads a quartet of locomotives and iron ore near Toimi, Minn., in December 2010. Cold temperatures that make metal contract and ice expand are just the start of problems in winter railroading. Max Medlin “People and metal do not like cold weather,” says Mike Smith, vice president of network operations […]
Beena Vision System’s TrainView inspects an entire freight train at speeds up to 60 mph at a testing facility in Pueblo, Colo. Beena Vision Systems Inc., Transportation Technology Center Inc. On BNSF Railway’s main line through Cajon Pass in California, poles and sensors pop up along the side of an S-curve. As a group, the […]
The manufacture and maintenance of rail is as old as railroading — and so are broken rails. Though today’s rail is much harder, stronger, and of higher quality than rail made even 40 years ago, railroads and metallurgists have just recently begun to understand why rails still are breaking. As railroads installed new rail in […]
Hydraulic flange greasers are activated when a wheel rolls over an actuator, as shown on CSX’s Indianapolis Line Subdivision. Two photos, Eric Powell Forgive the pun, but it’s a slippery slope that railroads have to deal with, in terms of rail and flange lubrication. Too much or too little grease on the track can cause […]
