Related Links: FRA May 16 statement on safety directives Amtrak May 16 blog post, incl. train-control system background and update Under new Federal Railroad Administration directives, Amtrak is making safety improvements on its Northeast Corridor line, including expanding its use of technology to control train speeds.The orders, which FRA announced on May 16, came four days after Amtrak train No. 188 derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight passengers and injuring scores of others.According to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, northbound train No. 188 was running at 102 miles per hour—more than double the speed limit—when it
NTSB Scrutiny of May 12 Amtrak train crash near Philadelphia has turned to positive-train-control systems, which can reduce speed on curves automatically. Prior to the crash, Amtrak had PTC equipment installed but not activated, pending tests. Amtrak President Joseph Boardman pledged to have a system in operation by year-end. Related Links: NTSB May 13 briefing on Amtrak accident Fact sheet on Senate commerce-committee rail bill As the investigation continues into the May 12 Amtrak crash that claimed at least eight lives and injured scores of others, increased scrutiny is falling on positive train control, or PTC, a system that can
Photo by Todd Harrell/National Guard Geotechnical engineering project won kudos upon 2008 completion but failed in 2015. Related Links: Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Negligence on W. Va. Airport VIDEO: Landslide at airport (WTAE Pittsburgh) The failure in March of a geosynthetically reinforced runway extension at Charleston, W.Va.'s Yeager International Airport has triggered a lengthy dispute among the facility's insurance carrier, designer Triad Engineering and contractor that will involve millions in damages.The damage liability involving insurer AIG Aero, Triad Engineering, Scott Depot, W. Va., and Pennsylvania contractor Cast and Baker now is estimated at $16 million to $26 million."It's been 55 days
Related Links: Infrastructure Week Audio of Biden's May 11 infrastructure speech (remarks start at approx 55 minute mark on the timeline) Government, industry and labor-union officials on May 11-15 marked the third-annual Infrastructure Week by speaking about the economic importance of highways, rail lines, waterways, ports and other public works at events held around the U.S. But hovering over all the speeches was deep frustration over the lack of progress in Congress on infrastructure advocates' prime goal: a long-term surface-transportation bill.At the program's May 11 Washington, D.C., kickoff event, attendees heard Vice President Joe Biden declare, "We have to have
Photo by JR Long for ENR Tuned mass rail dampers (above) use steel and rubber plates to reduce vibration. Crews install precast concrete panels at rail crossings (below). Photo Courtesy Sacramento RT Related Links: $1.5-Billion Light Rail Line Takes Shape In LA The 10 Longest Urban Metro Transit Systems in the World Tight space constraints along a 4.3-mile light-rail expansion for the Sacramento Regional Transit District, or Sacramento RT, required engineers to modify plans and adopt new rail-damping technology to reduce noise in residential areas.And crews with joint-venture contractor Balfour Beatty and Teichart must meet a strict time line to
Related Links: Contractor Placing World's Largest FRP Deck, After Settling Dispute With Owner Dozens of Test Projects Later, Advocates Still Have Durable Dreams In the bucolic town of Brookfield, Vt., crews are finishing work on the world's first composite floating bridge. It is the eighth iteration of the original log bridge built in 1820, after a town resident fell through ice and drowned in what is now called Sunset Lake.The 318-ft x 20-ft, single-lane Brookfield Bridge, which carries Vermont Route 65 across the lake, employs a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) flotation system with a 100-year design life. Construction of the $2.4-million
Related Links: Edmonton Bridge Contractors Straighten Buckled Girders Story and Slide Show: Girders Give Edmonton Bridge Team Big Headache Steel girder sections that deflected during construction of an Edmonton, Alberta, bridge are being shipped back to the project's locally based fabricator and erector, Supreme Steel.A structural engineering team will then decide whether the girder sections on the bridge at 102 Avenue over Groat Road must be repaired or replaced entirely, city transportation officials said in a press statement.Sections of four girders suddenly underwent torsional lateral buckling, three by several feet, in the early morning hours of March 16, after they
Photo Courtesy Dan McNichol Related Links: Restoring a 1949 Hudson To Get It on the Road Again: A Slide Show Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure Infrastructure Megaprojects: Looking For Legacies "Go low and slow, dude," suggested a man from Los Angeles, referring to my 1949 lead sled, a Detroit original. I was in Big Sur on the Pacific Coast Highway, in 2014, circumnavigating America to explore the nation’s infrastructure. As I headed south to L.A. on the last leg of my 14,000-mile journey, the phrase "low and slow" stuck in my craw.In a couple of weeks, Aileen Cho, senior
Related Links: How One Old Car Became a Metaphor for America's Infrastructure Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure It took quite a bit of work to get "Mrs. Martin," a 1949 Hudson Commodore, from curious eBay listing to cross-country driving machine. Author Dan McNichol and his mechanic Dr. Per Christiansen—"The Hudson Whisperer"—restored the car to working order so it may serve as a rolling metaphor for America's aging infrastructure. Click the image to begin the slide show.
Enlarge The proposed route across America's infrastructure. Click to enlarge. Related Links: Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure: An ENR Special Report Two strangers get into a 65-year-old car and set off across the U.S., looking for projects, plows and professionals dedicated to our nation’s infrastructure. This is what happens when two transportation infrastructure writers who’d never met, talk for an hour on the phone: Low and Slow Across America’s Infrastructure.ENR’s senior transportation editor Aileen Cho and author Dan McNichol are setting off in mid-May on a real-time documentary "road trip" in a vintage 1949 Hudson automobile that symbolizes the