(Union Pacific issued the following on March 16, 2011.)
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific Railroad continues improving Houston’s transportation infrastructure with an $18.7 million investment to enhance a rail line that parallels the Hardy Toll Road from Spring to Crosstimbers Street in Houston.
The 17-mile project includes removing and installing new rail, 11 track switches and more than 45,000 concrete ties. Crews also will spread more than 78,000 tons of rock ballast to ensure a stable roadbed and renew the roadway surfaces at seven crossings.
Union Pacific will use a modern track renewal train, the TRT 909, which installs rail and concrete ties in one pass. The TRT can install up to 6,000 ties in a twelve-hour day. The track renewal train consists of approximately 30 rail cars, with each car capable of carrying 210 concrete ties. Three sets of gantry cranes move the concrete ties forward for the TRT to drop into place and the machine then threads the new rail onto the ties. The old wooden ties are picked up and discarded rail is threaded out as the machine works its way down the track. A conveyor moves the removed ties into position for the gantry cranes to load them onto the cars for movement to a facility for sorting.
Last year, Union Pacific completed a $29 million project to improve a second rail line that parallels the Hardy Toll Road from Spring to the Washington Avenue Corridor. Union Pacific plans to spend approximately $3.2 billion in 2011 to support America’s current and future freight transportation needs and enhance the safety and efficiency of the railroad’s 32,000-mile network. Improvement projects such as this are examples of Union Pacific continuing to support its customers’ business through strategic investments.
Improved and additional rail capacity benefits everyone. It allows freight rail service to grow, helping to build a cleaner environment. Union Pacific can move one ton of freight nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, freight trains are nearly four times more fuel efficient than trucks. Motorists also benefit from reduced congestion on highways as a single Union Pacific train can remove up to 300 trucks off the roads.