Mexico upgrades: Mexican railroaders are working hard not only to keep up with m/w demands, but also to upgrade and expand their systems

Railway Track and Structures, Dec, 2004

Not all the major track projects in North America are taking place north of the Rio Grande. Mexican railroaders are carrying out a series of track upgrades to increase train speeds, boost capacity, raise reliability and much more.

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One of the main programs undertaken by Ferromex has been the improvement of the Basic Network from Mexico City to Piedras Negras, Irapuato to Manzanillo and Paredon to Monterrey, according to Gonzalo Rivera Diaz, assistant vice president operations-engineering.

Ferromex needed to recondition the route, which handles heavy and long trains carrying up to 120 286,000-pound cars of grains or heavy iron pellets.

The railroad programmed rehabilitation of several segments that were in bad condition with old, worn 100-pound rails and bad order ties that forced low capacity for the route.

Over the past six years, Ferromex invested more than $195 million in the route. The more-important portions of this program were the rehabilitation of three stretches:

* Piedras Negras-Ramos Arizpe, an upgrade of 278 km (172 miles) of track. This included 25,382 tons of 115- and 136-pound new rail, 108,504 concrete ties, 83,332 wooden ties and 211,000 cubic meters (276,000 cubic yards) of ballast.

* Irapuato-Torreon, an upgrade of 341 km (211 miles) of track. The work included installing 27,556 tons of 115-pound new rail, 63,291 concrete ties, 266,740 wooden ties and 238,000 cubic meters (311 cubic yards) of ballast.

* Mexico City-Queretaro, an upgrade of 160 km (99 miles) of track. In the project, Ferromex installed 16,352 tons of 115- and 136-pound new rail, 245,127 concrete ties, 42,048 wooden ties and 180,000 cubic meters (235,000 cubic yards) of ballast.

Ferromex created mechanized gangs for the rail and tie work. All the work was done using traffic windows of about eight hours, on average.

TFM major projects

One of the major projects currently underway on Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana involves ballast removal on the Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo and BF Lines, according to Cesar Polack, chief engineer.

During the original construction of the 288 kilometers (179 miles) that compose the BF Line and the Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo B Line, ballast of calcareous stone was used.

This low-quality ballast, due to the frequent traveling of trains and tons on these tracks, began to be cemented and to generate what is known as "Aguachinamientos" (weakening of the track), and the corresponding problems, such as caution orders, level bumps, more maintenance, wearing out of the components of the track, etc.

TFM decided to change 100 percent of the ballast in these tracks to ballast of basaltic origin using a Plasser under-cutter machine.

Relevant numbers of the project:

Total ballast: 500,000 cubic meters (653,000 cubic yards).

banks: 1,100 km (682 miles).

Beginning: August 2003.

Estimated termination date: January 2006.

Ties to change before the under-cutter passes: 25 percent.

Trains that travel the track: 7,500 trains per year.

Tons: 36 million tons per year.

At the end of 2003, TFM began an intensive program to change wooden and concrete crossties, which will conclude at the beginning of 2005.

This project includes the insertion of 15,000 concrete ties between kilometers F75 and F113 and 15,000 wooden ties between kilometers F175 and F311.

On this line, 3,000 trains travel per year with an average of nine million tons in that same period.

Saltillo-Monterrey rail project

The track between Saltillo B-915 and Monterrey B-1022 is an area with intense traffic. In this track, TFM began a program to change rail from 115- to 136-pound at the beginning of July 2003. This project includes the changing and fixing of 27 km (17 miles) of rail. The work will conclude by mid-January 2005.

On this track, 9,000 trains travel per year, with an average annual tonnage of 40 million tons.

Installation of rail in L Line

Because of its topographical characteristics, the L Line requires a great deal of maintenance, perhaps the highest within the TFM system.

This line has grades of up to three degrees and curves of 21 degrees (U.S.). The line feeds the port of Tampico, which is a chemical port, so many of the trains that travel on this track are chemical trains that contain dangerous materials.

Therefore, it was decided to begin a project of rail change in the most problematic curves, installing 136-pound rail. In total, 37 kilometers (23 miles) of rail were changed.

This line handles about 2,500 trains annually for an annual tonnage of seven million tons.

Challenges of the projects

On the ballast removal project, the nearest ballast bank is located 850 km (527 miles) away from the work site, which demands a great quantity of equipment and complicates logistics for the ballast supply.

The B Line's high train traffic called for train operation to be adjusted to 16 hours per day, with windows that had to be respected, without exception.

In Summer, the road tends to "slip," so the chocking and leveling for each section of the track has to be 100 percent complete, on the same day.