CROSSTIE OPTIONS: CHOICES AND BENEFITS

With railroads spending more than $700 million annually on crossties, even the smallest improvements to tie life-cycle is considered significant. But ties, like most aspects of the track infrastructure, are not something railroads are typically prone to experiment with. Whether a tie be made of wood, concrete, steel or some type of alternative or recycled material, railroads have to look at its price and life-cycle value before investing in a different option. Wood dominates the North American market, but the western heavy-haulers have been making extensive use of concrete for their heavy-tonnage, high-curvature routes that see significant heavy-axle-load traffic. In addition to concrete, steel is the third 'traditional' material for ties. But while the crosstie market looks very much like it did five years ago, railroads are looking beyond the purely-traditional ways of engineering track, and there are few components more fundamental to that than crossties. The key lies in the zone between performance and price; and railroads will look for that wherever they have to.

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation

    345 Hudson Street
    New York, NY  United States  10014
  • Authors:
    • Brennan, C
    • Kramer, J
  • Publication Date: 1997-10

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Pagination: 6 p.
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00742561
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Nov 19 1997 12:00AM