(The following story by Tom Mast appeared on the Casper Star-Tribune website on May 8, 2010.)
CASPER, Wyo. A Union Pacific train that replaces rails and ties in one pass has been deployed on a 26-mile stretch of track between Manville and Lusk.
Theyre able to do literally double the amount of work in half the time, UP spokesman Mark Davis said.
A track renewal train is installing new rail and more than 67,000 concrete ties.
It can install up to 5,000 new ties in a 12-hour day. Crews will also use more than 86,000 tons on rock ballast to reinforce the roadbed.
The work began on May 4 and is expected to be completed in mid-June at a cost of more than $20 million.
Davis said UP started testing concrete ties about a decade ago. They last longer than wood, but more importantly, concrete ties are better able to withstand heavy loads like coal trains.
Such ties are now common between Omaha and the Powder River Basin. About 65 trains per day, almost all involved in coal traffic, travel between Shawnee Junction and South Morrill, Neb.
Davis said long sections of new rails are laid beside existing track. The track renewal train, which includes about 30 cars and generates its own electricity, uses three sets of gantry cranes to move the concrete ties forward so the train can drop them into place. New rail then is threaded onto the ties.
The old wooden ties are picked up, and discarded rail is threaded out as the train works its way down the track.
A conveyor positions the removed ties so the gantry cranes can load them onto railcars.
Its almost like a roller, Davis said. Youll have the old rail coming out. And as the train progresses, its grabbing this new rail and bringing it into the center of the track.
The train uses laser technology to determine proper tie positioning and spacing. When the ties are down, the rail is moved into final position and secured.
Now youre doing it all at once, so your maintenance program isnt disrupting traffic as much, Davis said, although on the track between Manville and Lusk, UP has extra capacity that further mitigates traffic impacts.
In 2010, UP plans to spend more than $54 million in Wyoming on capital investment projects. Rail will account for $14.6 million, ties $24.4 million, ballast replacement $7 million and switches $2.6 million. Last year, the railroad had 879 miles of track in the state and 1,262 employees.
On Thursday, UP increased its dividend 22 percent and decided to increase its capital budget by $100 million this year.
The railroads board approved increasing its capital budget for the year to $2.6 billion to buy additional shipping equipment.
UP CEO Jim Young said he was confident about the railroads prospects, because shipping volumes continue to grow.
UP said first-quarter business volumes, as measured by total revenue carloads, increased by 13 percent from a year earlier.
Five of six business groups reported quarterly growth, with only energy volumes registering a decline.
