NRC Scholarship Program Applications Due August 30

The NRC Scholarship Program application period is open to children or grandchildren of NRC members. The tuition assistance scholarships are in Memoriam of Vinnie Vaccarello  (former NRC Board Member and Co-President of All Railroad Services Corp.) and Patsy Crisafi (former NRC Safety Committee Member and Executive Vice President of Roadway Worker Training)

AMOUNT OF AWARDS: three scholarships will be awarded as follows: the first place applicant will receive $8,000, the second place applicant will receive $4,000, and the third place applicant will receive $2,000. 

Scholarship funds will be sent directly to the student at the beginning of the next term of study. Students must be in attendance for a full year following receipt of the award.

To be eligible for consideration, an applicant must:

• be a son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter of a current employee of an NRC member company; and
• be enrolled at the time of application as a full-time college student at an accredited two-year college offering an associate's degree or an accredited college or university offering a bachelor's degree

APPLICATION DEADLINE - August 30, 2014

A complete application and all accompanying materials must be sent via email no later than August 30, 2014 for consideration for the following academic term. Click here to download and view the NRC Scholarship application and criteria.

To make a donation to the NRC Scholarship Program in Memoriam of Vinnie Vaccarello and Patsy Crisafi, please make checks payable to "NRC Scholarship Fund" and send to: NRC, 500 New Jersey Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20001

The NRC thanks past contributors to the Scholarship Program:  

ARS Corp.

Richard J. Zemencik & Nancy L. Zemencik (ARS Corp)

Land Clearing Specialists, Inc.

Roadway Worker Training

Van R. Sorrells (Dixie Precast)

William E. Tarvin & Karen L. Tarvin  

Click Here to Return to the Top  

CTA Awards Contract in Next Phase of Upgrades to Brown and Purple Lines  

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) awarded a $40.3m contract to Kiewit Infrastructure to upgrade track along a section of the Brown and Purple Line as part of the second phase of the $71m Ravenswood Connector rehabilitation project.

Kiewit crews will begin improving track along the connector in the spring, which carries about 700 Brown and Purple Line trains each weekday. The crews will upgrade the track between Armitage and the Merchandise Mart to eliminate slow zones and create a smoother ride.

This project has been in progress for nearly a year. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

Source: Progressive Railroading 

Click Here to Return to the Top  

CAHSR: Fresno-Bakersfield Segment Approved; Contract Awarded to ARCADIS

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) earlier this week approved California's plan for a 114-mile high speed rail line between Fresno and Bakersfield. This segment will be the second phase of the state's larger high-speed rail line that would extend 500 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

The STB's authorization is subject to certain environmental mitigation conditions, including a condition that the authority build the high-speed line designated by the Federal Railroad Administration as the environmentally preferable route.

Separately, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) board awarded a project and construction management contract to ARCADIS U.S. Inc. The contract covers a 60-mile section of rail from Fresno to the Tulare-Kern County line.

The authority is now soliciting bids from construction teams vying for a contract to design and build the segment -- work that the agency estimates will cost $1.5b to $2b. Bids are due in October, with awards projected to be issued by the end of this year.

ARCADIS will work with the authority and the yet-to-be-selected design-build contractor to identify, manage and mitigate project risks and ensure technical and contract requirements are met. Under the contract, ARCADIS could receive up to $71.9m based on actual work performed over a five-year period.

Port of New Orleans Contracts Hard Rock Construction for Intermodal Terminal Project

The Port of New Orleans Board of Commissioners has awarded a $13.3m contract to Hard Rock Construction L.L.C. for the Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal project.

Scheduled for completion in February 2016, the project calls for constructing a rail yard with 10,000 linear feet of track and five acres of heavy-duty paving for transferring containers at the port, which is served by six Class Is. The rail yard will be reconfigured and modernized into an intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF). Existing rail lines will be removed after new tracks are completed so intermodal service at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal won't be interrupted.

The Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal project's total cost is estimated at $21m including new terminal equipment projected to cost $3.5m and engineering and project management services provided by AECOM.

FRA Amends Rail Failure Prevention Program Guidance from RSAC Working Group

The FRA RSAC Rail Failure Working Group (RFWG) recently developed a consensus document describing an enhanced Rail Failure Prevention Program. The document was approved by the full RSAC on April 15, 2014, and was issued to the industry by FRA Administrator Szabo on August 8, 2014. The intent of this document by the RFWG was to provide the industry with recommended guidance and best practices for proper rail maintenance in an effort to prevent rail failure.

• To view the FRA's Rail Failure Prevention Guidance Document, click here.

• To view letters sent from FRA to the heads of APTA, AAR, and ASLRRA, click here.

In the consensus document the RFWG refers to rail maintenance guidance that would include Class 2-5 track, with exclusion for Class 2 and 3 track located entirely within yard limits. After much review and consideration FRA has determined the language excluding Class 2 and 3 tracks within yard limits should be removed from the guidance document. FRA's decision to remove the language results from situations where yard limits would supposedly require the use of Restricted Speed, and that the limitations of Restricted Speed will never allow the train speed to increase above 20 mph. However, for operating purposes, Restricted Speed may only apply until the head-end of a train reaches the far limits.

For example, a train that is operating in yard limits may have 120 cars of crude oil and be on a main track that is Class 3 with a timetable speed of 40 mph. When the head-end reaches the far limits and the train has authority to proceed on the main track beyond yard limits, the train can accelerate to the maximum 40 mph speed even though most of the train is still in the area of yard limits.  Hypothetically, in this situation the rear of the train can be at 40 mph while still on the track that is designated within the yard limits.  

The intent of the guidance is to provide a rail maintenance best practice that would reduce the event of rail failure and possibly catastrophic derailment. FRA feels that it would be detrimental to railroad safety to exclude track where the speed limit exceeded the known speed that can result in a crude oil tank car puncture and possibly cause harm to local citizens. The consensus text and the revised text showing the change are both listed below.

Consensus Text:

• Class 2 track not within yard limits with annual tonnage of at least 25 MGT, or is a HAZMAT route
• Class 3 track not within yard limits with annual tonnage of at least 25 MGT, is a HAZMAT route, or has regularly scheduled passenger service
• Class 4 and 5 track

Revised Text:

• Class 2 track with allowable speeds over 20 mph and annual tonnage of at least 25 MGT, or in a HAZMAT route
• Class 3 track with annual tonnage of at least 25 MGT, in a HAZMAT route, or supporting regularly scheduled passenger service
• Class 4 and 5 track