(The following appeared on the North Platte Telegraph website on April 25, 2010.)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. Union Pacific will improve Nebraska's transportation infrastructure with a $7.5 million investment to improve the rail line that runs from North Platte to O'Fallons.
Work on the nearly 10-mile stretch of railroad track began April 16 and is scheduled to be completed in early May.
The project includes removing and installing new rail and more than 23,600 concrete ties. Crews also will spread more than 31,000 tons of rock ballast to ensure a stable roadbed and renew the roadway surfaces at six crossings.
Union Pacific will use a modern track renewal train, the TRT 909, which installs rail and concrete ties in one pass. The TRT can install up to 5,000 ties in a twelve-hour day. The track renewal train consists of approximately 30 rail cars, with each car capable of carrying 210 concrete ties. Three sets of gantry cranes move the concrete ties forward for the TRT to drop into place and the machine then threads the new rail onto the ties. The old wooden ties are picked up and discarded rail is threaded out as the machine works its way down the track. A conveyor positions the removed ties for the gantry cranes to load them onto railcars for movement to a facility for sorting.
