Grade crossings: from concrete and wood to rubber, steel and composite, manufacturers continue to look for new materials and new products to make crossings better

Railway Track and Structures, June, 2004 by Mischa Wanek

With the economy still attempting to pick up, Floyd Bowlby, marketing director of Burke-Parsons-Bowlby, believes the recent move back to timber crossings has a lot to do with his products' cost-per-track-foot advantage over concrete and rubber crossings.

"The weaker economy has made purchasers of crossing surfaces want to utilize the dollars more effectively, thus favoring the timber crossing over other crossing surfaces, which has resulted in increased demand for timber crossings," said Bowlby.

Flangeway filler

Polycorp Ltd. manufactures Epflex Railseal Interface that can be used with asphalt, concrete or timber surfaces. The company has added a rail boot to its line of rail interface products. Polycorp has combined the technology of the Original Railseal Interface technology and the boot to create a hybrid system that can be effectively used in many applications for maximum life and optimal value.

"Polycorp has a specialized team that fully understands the problems encountered at the rail-road intersection," said Bruce Burkhardt, Polycorp's general sales manager.

RELATED ARTICLE: FRA's interim train horn rule and its possible effect

The Federal Railroad Administration published an Interim Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings in December 2003. The rule provides communities nationwide the first opportunity, ever, to establish quiet zones in which locomotive horns will no longer be routinely sounded at public grade crossings. In preparation of the final rule's publication later this year, here is a look at what communities are doing to implement quiet zones, how it may affect railroads and what sort of fine-tuning issues are associated with it.

Communities

Warren Flatau, spokesperson for the FRA, says there is a lot of focus on traffic dividers, i.e., medians, as well as wayside horns and turning crossings into one-way streets, due to a reduction in exposure, while other communities are focusing heavily on alternative safety measures, i.e., sustained public education or increased law enforcement options. Flatau also notes that, although the FRA hasn't seen much on photo enforcement, it isn't inconceivable that communities will start to use it.

"The rule specifically allows the states and communities to come up with other supplementary or alternative safety measures," said Flatau. "As long as the Federal Highway Administration and the state DOT will approve them, there are other configurations or possibilities here."

Fine-tuning

"So high has the level of public interest been in some places that we thought we couldn't possibly put out a final rule without giving interested parties another opportunity to submit comments," said Flatau. "This is exactly why the FRA published an interim rule. Everything that was received [in reference to] the interim final rule is being examined and taken into consideration. The target is to get the final rule out before the end of the year, which I'm very confident we'll be able to do."

Those sentiments are echoed in FRA Administrator Alan Rutter's comments. "We intend to issue a final rule that effectively balances quality of life issues with public safety, just as Congress directed us to do."