(The following story by Christina Sessions appeared on the Alaska Journal of Commerce website on November 10.)
ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Railroad Corp. opened a new section of track on Fort Richardson Oct. 29, culminating more than a year’s worth of work. The new alignment eliminates many of the curves of the original route.
“Historically, the greatest degree of derailments has been on these curves,” said Ernie Piper, assistant vice president of operating safety for the railroad.
A bridge replacement project near Healy closed the track on Oct. 29, creating an 18-hour window for crews to tie-in the old alignment with the new. The project involved a crew of 22 replacing four 200-foot sections of track. The four sections were located where the two alignments tied together on the north and south ends, and two spots in between where the alignments intersected.
Crews began work long before the crack of dawn to complete the project before the next train came through the corridor later that night.
“It’s like taking the roof off your house,” said Piper. “Once it’s off, you have to finish everything you have to do during your window.”
The result was 10,000 feet of new, straightened track.
The project involved moving mountains of dirt. Work began last summer and required moving about 1.2 million cubic yards of earth to level the rail bed. The earth work was contracted to Kiewit Companies. The railroad then laid the sections of track that did not interfere with the operational rail.
The straightening is part of an ongoing track rehabilitation project from Wasilla to Anchorage. Through the corridor, the railroad will implement a new method of rail construction where the rail is continuously welded rather than bolted together. Bolt holes have been a source of weakness in the rail due to extra pressure on the joints. The pressure causes fractures in the joints and can lead to misalignment in the rail, derailing trains in extreme cases.
Curves are another problematic spot for the railroad. The weight leaning to the inside creates a lot of pressure on rail.
“The wear on the rail is tremendous” said Piper.
The rehabilitation has several benefits, railroad officials said. First, it improves fuel efficiency because the locomotives do not have to work as hard to pull the cars over the smoother, straighter rail. It also drives down maintenance time and costs, and provides a safer operating arena.
One thing unique to Alaska is lack of access to the rail, said Pat Flynn, public affairs officer. Less maintenance on the track reduces the problem of how to access the rail, he said.
The corridor between Anchorage and Wasilla is the busiest for the railroad. Nearly every train runs through that section of track.
“The more you can improve this corridor, the more you affect the entire railroad,” said Flynn.