Rail Monthly Update #2

24 May 2006

 

 

 

TWO OF FOUR MAJOR CWR PROJECTS ALREADY COMPLETED!! THIRD UNDERWAY!

 

Four major projects headline the 2006 Rail program that will involve laying more than 60 miles of CWR and over 30 new turnouts.  The first two projects, one of 10 miles on the DM&E near Sanborn and one of 14 miles on the IC&E south of Austin, are completed.  The RJ Corman rail crew is currently working on the third project near Bellevue Iowa on the IC&E.  We expect to have that project completed by early June.  The last “major” project is on the KC sub and is scheduled for later in the year.  A summary of the rail and turnout projects follows:

 

¨       Manager of Projects Tim Meyer supervised the installation of 10 miles of new 136# CWR near Sanborn in early April.  Switches and crossings have been installed and all rail and otm have been cleaned up in the area.  This track was raised to 40 mph on Friday the 19th of May.

¨       Mr. Meyer also supervised the installation of 14 miles of CWR south of Austin on the IC&E.  This project was completed in early May and IC&E forces are cleaning up rail and otm in anticipation of ballasting and surfacing which is scheduled for early June.  This will also be raised to a speed of 40 MPH upon completion.

¨       Our other Manager of Projects, Jack Boxleiter, is supervising the installation of 11 miles of CWR in the Bellevue area of the Marquette sub on the IC&E.  This project began on May 17th and we expect it to be completed on or before June 7th .

¨       Jack will also be assisting with the unloading of the CWR for our curve program for 2006 over the next few weeks.  There are 80 “strings” of rail ( over 10 track miles) in this year’s curve patch program.  This rail will be installed on curves and other areas between Polo Missouri and LaCrescent on the KC, River and Marquette subs and between Marquette and Algona on the Mason City sub.

¨       Jack and Tim are now scheduled to share supervisory responsibilities on the last CWR project.  This project will encompass over 17 track miles between Moseby Jct and Lawson Jct on the Kansas City sub just north of Kansas City.  It is currently scheduled for late in the third or early in the fourth quarter.

¨       We have received and unloaded 4 of the 6 CWR trains which are scheduled to be delivered in 2006.  The fifth train is being unloaded in curve locations as this website is updated.  The last train is scheduled to be delivered on May 25th and will be unloaded that week.

¨       The # 1 major turnout project for the year will be on the double track north of Kansas where over 20 turnouts will be renewed with new premium 136# material.  The power turnouts for this location will be supplied by Progress Rail and the manual turnouts will be supplied by LB Foster Co.  The first two turnouts have been received for this project.  Assembly and installation will be scheduled throughout the next several months.

¨       Two turnouts have been installed on the DM&E’s Sanborn CWR project area and a third turnout has been installed for an ethanol facility in Huron.  Other turnouts will be assembled and installed on the other CWR areas soon

¨       We are also scheduled to replace the diamond at Davis Jct. Illinois and are working with the CN/IC to remove the diamond at Lyle Minnesota.  Both of these projects will eliminate slow orders that are caused by the deteriorated condition of the two diamonds.