Amtrak track!

[Anonymous]

a Few weeks ago i rode an amtrak train with my mom and dad and the track was horible! It rocked the train about 3 feet each way going at high speeds! what is wrong with this?

[Anonymous]

What Railroad where you on!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainman2244

a Few weeks ago i rode an amtrak train with my mom and dad and the track was horible! It rocked the train about 3 feet each way going at high speeds! what is wrong with this?

Could be any one or more of several things. If you were on jointed ("stick") rail you may have achieved harmonic speed causing the rocking. You might have been passing over a series of low joints in the rail or it may have been a number of switches or diamonds. Also some of the motion may have been csused by age or maintenance issues with the Amtrak equipment. Or any one of a dozen other reasons. MC?

LC

[Anonymous]

trainman2244--

Sounds like it's time for the host RR do get a surfacing gang out there and do a surface/line job on the track. These are usually scheduled to be done at specific time intervals, depending on a lot of variables such as weight and type of rail, tie life, and subgrade and ballast conditions (like what kind of soil the track is sitting on).

When they do this, they will bring one or more large track machines out that can pull and insert ties, pull and insert spikes or track fasteners, add, remove and regulate the amount of ballast, lift the track, tamp new ballast under the ties and line the rails and ties back up so they are level both in the direction of the track (eliminating dips that cause the cars to nose up and down in the direction of travel) and in the direction across the track (cross-level, which results in car sway from side to side). If it's jointed rail, they will usually also tighten the bolts on the angle bars on the end of the rails that hold the rails together end-to-end, and they'll probably replace some ties so that the track will hold its gauge. They may cut out bad sections of rail and replace it by either bolting or welding it into place. The work won't get done in the order I've shown here--tie replacement or partial ballast removal likely will be first.

In some cases they will bring a rail grinding train through a smooth the top surface of the railheads, which gets rough with use.

Here are a couple of links that talk about the process and show you some of the large and very impressive equipment used:

http://showroom.creative.co.at/en/p_tamping/0916dynacat.htm
http://showroom.creative.co.at/en/p_cleaning/vm170jumbo.htm
http://www.wsorrailroad.com/mow1a/ballast1a.html
http://www.freightcar.com/images/maintenance_main.jpg
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/at/work/tamper/pix.html
http://www.newmanmachinery.com/
http://www.nordco.com/product.htm

The type of equipment and size of the gang depends on the type of track, number and type of trains using it (mainlines get a lot more attention than branch lines), and work to be done.

Watch the mainline railroads in the area where you live and you are likely to see a track maintenance gang come through, usually in the spring or summer (but not always) to do major maintenance on the track. If they are, get your dad to go with you and watch, but stay well away from the track and equipment. I think you will be quite impressed with what has to be done to get a smooth ride for the freight and for Amtrak.

There is a poster on this forum named "mudchicken" who does this kind of track engineering work for BNSF. He is very knowledgeable in topics relating to track, and his posts on that subject will give you probably more information than you imagined.

Hope this info is useful to you.

[jchnhtfd]

As BNSF noted -- what railroad were you on? Except for the northeast corridor, all Amtrak trains run on someone else's track... and you probably hit a rough patch. Or were at just the wrong speed...

[morseman]

to trainman 2244 look in the amtrak system timetable there are several pages indicating which host railroads amtrak uses on its routes between various cities.

[morseman]

to trainman 2244 look in the amtrak system timetable there are several pages indicating which host railroads amtrak uses on its routes between various cities.

[AntonioFP45]

Last time I rode over CSX track on Amtrak, it was a tad rough at 70 mph. One must consider that today's freight trains, which are so much heavier than in years past, will beat up freshly laid track within a short time. Railroad maintenance frequency levels are nowhere near what they were even back in the early 70s when many railroads were in decline.

[daveklepper]

How is Amtrak doing with the Corridor track?

[Anonymous]

The NEC track is in much better shape than most of the rest of the nation's tracks... At least the ride is smooth on the Acelas..... Elsewhere, its a 50-50 chance you'll bang your knees in a railroad car.....

[CSXrules4eva]

I agree w/ mr donclark there. The NEC tracks are fanominal I think. Every time I get on the NEC the ride is very smooth even at Acela's top speed with in limits 135mph. Yet again the NEC rarely sees heavy loaded or unloaded freight traffic, that would beat up the rails. Out of my years going to the NEC which is only 15mins from my house, if've only seen three loaded freights use the line (UP, CSX, Conrail), they have a speed restriction of 35mph.

[mustanggt]

the track between north station in boston to portland, maine is really smooth . runs over guilford trackage. on a book of maps I have it says the trackage is owned by csx. is this incorrect? because Im pretty sure everything out of north station is guilford, and the south is amtrak

[daveklepper]

I think the track from North Station to Haverall (spelling?) is owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and then from there to Portland by Guklford Transportation. I doubt CSX has anything to do with the operation. I don't think they even have trackage rights or a haulage agreement. As far as I know they interchange fright with Guilford at Palmer or Sommerville (when they have a choice and assuming the "Grand Junction" at-grade line through Cambrdige and right by MIT still is used) or at Selkirk (when Guilford calls the tune).