It's a great time to be in railroading

The Transportation Research Board is holding its 91st Annual Meeting this week in Washington, D.C., and I’m here looking for ideas for technology columns, seeing old friends, and meeting new contacts who can help bring the latest in the rail industry to Trains’ pages. Just yesterday morning I met a man from the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center who’s been reading Trains for years. I asked him to keep in touch and let me know if he has any news I can share with you.

A quick tour of the exhibit floor yielded future column ideas. For instance, did you know that coal ash has a dual role in railroading? The first is obvious, in that railroads carry more coal than any other commodity. But the second role, which came as a surprise to me, is that it’s also a component used in making concrete rail ties. Granted, more of it goes into concrete bridges and structures, but it’s in the ties, too. I also talked with a project engineer who has taken a wealth of data, written algorithms, and developed an appliance to monitor rail conditions, track changes, and alert railroads when a buckle is imminent but not yet happened. More importantly, this company is collecting the data it gathers through the monitoring and creating a comprehensive database to zero in on predictive maintenance. I also met an industry professional whose name I’ve seen for years. Turns out she’s working on a special project taking all the safety data FRA has gathered and put it in one place in a more understandable format. This information is already available to the public, but the hope is that by making it more accessible, companies and individuals will be better able to use it in their research, for creating new products, even new apps. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about these in the coming year.

Of the sessions I attended today, the best was Freight Rail Innovation: Opportunities and Challenges. First Joe Szabo, FRA administrator, reminded attendees that the U.S. expects to have 100 million more people by 2050, and the freight transportation system moves 40 tons of freight per person per year. That means that by 2050, 4 billion tons more of freight will be in the system. How on earth is it going to get where it’s going? There’s no question the nation needs to address capacity and efficiency now.

Currently, FRA and the Association of American Railroads are collaborating on eight projects, with each contributing $2 million each. Among them are researching wheel failure root causes, cracks in rail joints, ground-penetrating radar, machine vision, and, of course,
positive train control.

Finally, he stated the keys are in public/private collaborations and cooperation; maintaining flexibility to leverage public investment for infrastructure projects, and seek solutions that will benefit both freight and passenger rail.

Edward Hamberger, AAR president and CEO, spoke next, and said that he believed one of the major challenge facing railroads today is getting new people to enter the workforce, citing lifestyle and perception as the main deterrents. The industry will need to fill 67,000 jobs in the next five years, just to meet what’s lost to attrition. Figure another 20-25 percent on top of that to meet the expected growth.

Hamberger also pointed out that the railroads have come to agreements with 12 of their 13 unions, but one remains to be resolved. He also cited the implementation of PTC, and the threat of reregulation as challenges he believes the industry has yet to face in the coming years.

Finally, Jim Young, Union Pacific chairman and CEO spoke. He echoed Hamberger’s concern in hiring enough workers. Last year UP hired 4,500 people, yet lost 4,000 to attrition. He said that UP realized that this generation learns more visually than past had. Therefore, UP bought a company that conducts training using simulators and avatars. It’s interesting, and I’d like to see more of it someday. Then he told us about a fascinating app that helps conductors predict when they’ll go to work and sends it to their smart phone. If this works as well as it
sounds, it could do a lot to help make the “railroad lifestyle” a bit more palatable to newcomers.

It’s a fascinating industry, and I always value learning more what’s coming down the pike. Railroads are safer and more efficient than ever. And using the latest technologies to improve even more. It’s a great time to be in railroading.