(The following article by Rodney Tanaka was posted on the Pasendena Star-News website on May 25.)
PASEDENA, Calif. — In the wake of four train derailments in six months, Union Pacific Railroad officials demonstrated Tuesday technology and techniques used to ensure safety.
Among the derailments were incidents in North Whittier in October and in Industry and Santa Fe Springs in March.
Having four major derailments within a year is an anomaly and overall the number of derailments has decreased, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said during a demonstration at the railroad’s intermodal facility in Industry.
The Whittier derailment resulted from a break in a joint bar, which holds two rails in place.
As a result, Union Pacific inspects joints every 60 days instead of 90 days, Davis said, shortening the time a problem could develop.
A detector didn’t find the fracture in the joint, so Union Pacific developed a new process to find these defects, said Steve Kenyon, Union Pacific general manager of safety.
The derailment in Industry prompted criticism from county Supervisor Gloria Molina, who called on Union Pacific to immediately review its safety measures.
She also said the company had not been very respectful of the neighborhoods through which its tracks run. Her office worked with National Transportation Safety Board officials investigating the North Whittier derailment.
Union Pacific uses v isual and electronic methods of testing track quality. A geometry car measures rail alignment, rail distance and other factors, listing any defects using five laser printers operating in real time.
The self-propelled car, which cost more than $6 million, tests each main line every seven months. The reports are given to local maintenance crews.
Rail lines also get visual inspections twice a week, Davis said.
Inspectors use ultrasonic devices to pinpoint fractures and fatigue in metal rails.
An inspection crew covering 25 miles per day might find six to eight defects, said Randy Williams, manager of rail welding and track testing for Union Pacific’s Western region.
Within an hour, the faulty piece of track would typically be repaired and replaced, he said.
Union Pacific spends $1.3 billion annually on track, signal and bridge improvements, said David Wickersham, chief engineer for Union Pacific’s Western region, and has spent about $609 million in Southern California since 1997 on such improvements.
But all the inspections can’t stop some people from driving onto the tracks or standing on the tracks. Union Pacific has an education program, Operation Lifesaver, that spreads safety information to schools, community groups and driver’s training classrooms.
“We try to educate the public to not do these types of things that can put them in a dangerous situation,’ said Jerry Hardesty, manager of public safety.