(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on August 12, 2010.)
Union Pacific Railroad plans to spend $16.5 million to improve a 200-mile line between Arlington and Huntington, Ore.
The project calls for removing and installing new rail on curves, replacing more than 148,000 ties and spreading 62,000 tons of ballast. During the project, 60 to 100 crew members will work together to replace ties using “an assembly line of mechanized equipment,” according to UP.
The maintenance-of-way work is part of the Class I’s $2.6 billion capital budget in 2010.