System-Wide
Weekly Update #3
29
April 2004
The RJ Corman Company completed the rail
laying around Cobden on Thursday the 22nd and then completed the
welding of the mile of rail in the Cobden bridge project on Sunday the 25th.
The rail gang will return on Sunday the 2nd of May to start the
second section of cwr on the DM&E between Volga and Lake Preston. Tie
installation is slightly ahead of schedule with more than 32,000 ties installed
to date. Ten more ballast cars again came on line within the last week and
surfacing progress has continued with over 57 pass miles completed. Dirt work
at the Cobden siding started yesterday the 28th with the tentative
completion date scheduled for mid- October. The new connection switch at
Owatonna was installed on Tuesday the 27th and the new east switch
for the Tracy siding was installed on Wednesday the 28th. A few points of interest --
¨
Only
some very minor equipment delays being reported
¨
Material
continues to be readily available except bridge – there is concern that with
the speed the rail gang is moving and the scarcity of available gondolas we may
eventually run into problems with our cleanup efforts behind the crew.
¨
The
remaining 14 ballast cars should be coming at the rate of 6 to 10 per week.
¨
A
major shortage of gondolas is causing concern for the removal of scrap and
usable material from construction sites.
¨
Birmingham
Diamonds are completed and will be delivered the week of May 11. Expected to be installed while the Ford
plant shut down during July 4th week.
¨
Tracy
Siding is ahead of expectations. The first switch arrived on April 26th
and was installed on the 28th.
¨
Relocation
of DM&E / IC&E connection switch at Owatonna was completed on April 27th.