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“The nice thing about RailWorks is that they do have good dependable equipment. And the personnel are reliable. They catch on to what you want right off. …We’ve just had real good luck with them.”

Pat Lawless
General Supervisor of Welding
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway

“We’ve got guys who can stand over the track and tell you exactly what needs to be done. That comes from years of training, practice and getting different ideas from different people.”

Bill Walls
Vice President of Operations
RailWorks Rail Products and Services

“We’ve had so many things that have just come up (with customers), and we’ve just been on the spot. That’s a testament to the people we have. Our customers have confidence that we can deliver.”

Bill Walls
Vice President of Operations
RailWorks Rail Products and Services

With its fleet of seven rail grinders, RailWorks performs rail grinding services for Class I and short line railroads and rail-transit lines in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Rail Grinding Program

Customers
Primarily Class I and short line railroads and rail-transit lines

Location
United States, Canada and Mexico

RailWorks Company/Division Involved
Rail Grinding is a service of RailWorks Rail Products and Services

Program Managers
Bill Walls, Vice President of Operations
Jerry Statler, General Manager of Rail Grinding
Elton Kibel, Field Service Engineer

Program Scope
Rail grinding took off in the ‘80s when railroads discovered its cost advantages compared to premature rail replacement or expensive track work. Rail grinding extends the life of rail by maintaining a smooth contact surface for locomotive and railcar wheels. By maintaining a predetermined profile on the head of the rail and a smooth running surface, grinding maximizes the life of rail. This also minimizes rolling resistance, which reduces wheel wear and locomotive fuel usage.

Railworks’ operation focuses on grinding switches, crossings and curves, which require extra maintenance. It features a fleet of seven SCG-23 grinders -- six equipped with 20 grinding motors, and one with 24 grinding motors.

Program Challenges and RailWorks Solutions

Reliable Employees Are a Key
Bill Walls, RailWorks vice president of operations, says RailWorks has earned a reputation for dependable employees.

“Reliability is the key in this business,” Walls says. “That’s where we really stand out. Last year we ran at 99 percent uptime on the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway), and that gained us tremendous credibility. And we went 99.17 percent on the CSX last year, which was phenomenal.” Walls credits his supervisors with selecting the right people and training them well, noting the rail grinding operation has had minimal employee turnover.

Fleet Is in Top Working Order
Being reliable means having not only dependable workers but also dependable machinery. “After every work shift we do a minimum of two to three hours of preventive maintenance,” Walls says. “Going through, preventing leaks, replacing motors – there are constantly eyes on that piece of equipment. We make the good decisions to replace parts ahead of time instead of when they break, which can cause delays. You get only so many days a year to grind, and you can’t get those days back.”

“They Asked For It, and We Did It”
BNSF has parts of some switches that they’ve had to grind by hand. The railroad asked RailWorks what it could do to make this process more efficient. RailWorks’ answer was to build a new machine with 24 grinding stones and room to add four more. The added stones can operate at a 90-degree angle, grinding the hard-to-reach places.

In Walls’ view, designing a new grinder demonstrates RailWorks’ responsiveness. “They asked for it,” he says, “and we did it.”

RailWorks Rail Products and Services
RailWorks Rail Products and Services is a subsidiary of RailWorks Corporation. It offers a range of services to the rail and rail-transit industry including rail grinding, railroad tie pickup and disposal solutions and tie-generated boiler fuel sales.