What's on m/w shopping lists for '03? Railroads big and small are mostly holding steady on capital spending for this year, but several properties are actually increasing m/w budgets - Illustration

Railway Track and Structures, Jan, 2003 by Tom Judge

While most railroads don't expect huge bottom line increases in 2003, they are keeping the engineering capital budgets about the same, with several showing moderate increases to ensure safe and efficient operation for another year.

All seven Class 1 railroads, as well as Amtrak, two shortlines and a regional railroad, provided responses to the 2003 RT&S Capital Forecast survey.

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe plans to spend $1.520 million in 2003 for engineering m/w, up from $1.516 million last year. This includes installation of 120,997 tons of rail, up from 116,690. In addition, BNSF will install 40,629 tons of relay rail, virtually the same as this past year.

BNSF plans to install 1,902,930 wood crossties, 224,197 concrete ties and 2,686 plastic or alternative ties. In 2002, the final numbers were 1,996,588, 236,591 and 1,700. The railroad will also put in 24,259 relay ties, down from 26,511.

Track surfacing will total 10,800 miles, down from 11,426.

Canadian National's $629.5-million budget is up from 2002's $593 million. The total will break down into approximately 55,000 tons of new rail, up from 43,200; 24,000 tons of relay rail, down from 33,800; 950,000 new wood ties and 21,000 concrete ties, up from 750,000 and 18,000, and 6,500 miles of surfacing, up from 6,000.

Canadian Pacific Railway expects an increase. New rail should total 58,550 tons this year and relay rail 17,940 tons, up from last year's 57,080 and 14,390. Crossties on CPR should total 740,000 wood and 1,200 steel compared to 700,000 and 1,200 in 2002. Relay ties will total 50,000 in 2003, up from 40,000. CPR plans to surface 400 miles, the same as in 2002.

CSX Transportation expects its m/w capital and operating expenses to be $813,000, almost the same as $814,000 spent in 2002. That includes 88,419 tons of new rail and 33,593 tons of relay rail, virtually the same as 2002. Crossties are also virtually the same as in 2002 with 2,980,000 wood ties, 35,000 concrete ties and 1,000 plastic/alternative ties. Surfacing should total 7,800 miles this year, up from 7,700 last year.

Kansas City Southern plans to spend $90 million, the same as in 2002. That includes 1,830 tons of new rail and 2,951 tons of relay rail compared to 4,253 and 450 in 2002, and 250,000 wood crossties, the same as last year. KCS plans to surface 1,800 miles, up from 1,500.

Norfolk Southern also anticipates a 2003 budget very close to 2002's total of $623 million. That will include 33,460 tons of new and 5,200 tons of relay rail, about 2.7 million new and relay wood crossties and 4,900 miles of track surfacing.

Union Pacific expects its budget to climb from $1.58 billion to $1.635 billion this year. UP plans to lay 156,000 tons of new rail and 98,000 tons of relay rail, close to last year's total of 257,000 tons. Crossties will see a big jump from 3.676 million to 4.6 million, including 4.16 million wood ties, 385,000 new concrete ties and 55,000 plastic ties, all new. In 2002, the comparable numbers were 3.45 million, 203,000 and 23,000.

UP also plans to surface 2,684 miles of track compared to 2,228 in 2002.

Amtrak's m/w budget for 2003 is $168.4 million, up from $156.7 million. That includes installing 720 tons of new rails, down from 980 last year, and 3,120 tons of relay rail after none in 2002. The railroad will put in 69,140 wood ties, a big jump from 19,796, and surface 450 miles, a slight dip from 485 last year.

On the regional railroad side, Montana Rail Link will keep approximately the same budget of $27.1 million, compared to $28 million. The railroad will install 1,800 tons of new rail, down from 2,100 last year, and 90,000 wood crossties, down from 93,000 in 2002. MRL also plans to surface 190 miles of track.

Among shortlines, BC Rail Ltd. plans a 2003 budget of $54 million, down from $62 million in 2002. BC Rail plans to install 4,400 tons of rail, 2,000 new and 2,400 relay, down from 4,049 new and 791 relay in 2002. The railroad also plans to put in 119,000 new wood ties and 27,500 relay ties, up from 140,508. Surfacing programs call for doing 300 miles in 2003 compared to 354 this past year.

Florida East Coast's 2003 budget is $22.9 million compared to $23.4 in 2002. This year's plans include 1,000 tons of new rail compared to 1,600 new and 200 relay last year. Crossties should total 32,600 this year compared to 43,850 in 2002. That breaks down to 14,100 wood ties, 18,000 concrete ties and 500 plastic/alternative ties compared to 18,285, 23,235 and 2,330, respectively, this past year. FEC plans to surface 300 miles of track in 2003, up from 285 in 2002.

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Breakdown of tie usage by material Est. 2003


concrete                  4.62%
steel                      .03%
plastic and alternative    .39%
relay                     1.53%
wood                     94%

Note: Table made from pie chart

MAINTENANCE-OF-WAY PROGRAMS FOR 10 RAILROADS

                                        1999        2000        2001


RAIL

NEW RAIL LAID                         506,153     515,138     528,075
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS                 489,136     509,589     515,856
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS      17,017       5,549       6,316

RELAY RAIL LAID (NET TONS)            187,331     203,771     187,272
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS                 185,420     200,560     185,989
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS       1,911       3,211       1,283

CROSSTIES

NEW CROSSTIES INSTALLED            10,595,792  11,081,599  11,361,073
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS              10,145,985  10,662,552  11,016,973
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS     449,807     419,047     344,100

RELAY TIES INSTALLED

ELEVEN RAILROADS                      288,571      99,567     149,012

TOTAL TIES, NEW AND RELAY          10,884,363  11,181,166  11,510,085

SURFACING (TRACK MILES)

TOTAL SURFACING                        30,109      30,712      37,613
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS                  28,598      29,354      36,441
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS       1,511       1,358       1,172

                                      2002         2003
                                   (ESTIMATED)  (ESTIMATED)

RAIL

NEW RAIL LAID                         529,989      516,947
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS                 520,660      512,427
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS       9,329        4,520

RELAY RAIL LAID (NET TONS)            204,903      221,777
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS                 203,112      224,897
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS       1,791        5,520

CROSSTIES

NEW CROSSTIES INSTALLED            14,102,793   15,085,673
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS               13,566739   14,541,133
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS     536,054      544,540

RELAY TIES INSTALLED

ELEVEN RAILROADS                      180,511      210,759

TOTAL TIES, NEW AND RELAY          14,283,304   15,296,432

SURFACING (TRACK MILES)

TOTAL SURFACING                        36,035       37,237
SEVEN MAJOR RAILROADS                  33,231       34,287
FOUR REGIONAL/SHORTLINE RAILROADS       2,804        3,040