measurement of railway alignment and its impact on railway tamping - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Trimble GEDO Vorsys for pre- measurement of railway alignment and its impact on railway tamping Focus on track renewals and maintenance using worked examples

From trolley to tamper…

Railway alignment measurement  Why measure track alignment in the first place? – It’s about installing track in the right place – Maintaining it’s internal geometry – Doing this in a cost efficient way  Trimble's GEDO Vorsys dual trolley system – Will enhance railway tamping productivity and track quality through use of good survey control  Examples of US projects – Light Rail Project Dallas TX and California

Modern railway grade checking  Highlight significant benefits over traditional methods of railway grade checking – Harsco Rail Absolute Geometry option  Discuss cost reduction, time savings, H&S – Reduced survey layout – Increased production rate of surface, line and dress operations – Discuss as-built quality reports from the GEDO software – Safety of on site rail personnel

What makes Vorsys work?

Risks of poor surveying  How important is good survey control ?  Good survey costs 2 to 3% of project costs  Control must be reliable  Disconnect between design and construction  Surveying issues cost up to $6m

On site survey control  Fixed control points : OCS or ground markers  Easily visible and clearly marked

Track design information  Rail alignment must contain track geometry  3 components = horizontal / vertical / super  Bentley Rail Track generates this information

Trimble GEDO Office  How do we consolidate control points and track alignment data for tamping?

Trimble GEDO Office  Platform for data prep and alignment analysis  Landxml alignment data  Process recorded data  Manage tamping data  Generate quality reports – Relative and absolute – Graphical and numerical – Co-ordinated as-built

Back in the Office…

New Harsco / GEDO exchange  GEDO Office export  Trimble/Harsco Absolute Geometry integration works on MKIII, MKIV and MKVI with the Jupiter control system  Now possible for Harsco Rail tampers to perform track positioning in an automated manner  No input from the machine or operator

GEDO Vorsys and Tamping

Case Study – Dallas light rail project  Regional rail expansion over 90miles by 2014  Downtown Dallas to Northwest Dallas  It heads towards Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 2014  Highlight the gulf between traditional layout methods to GEDO Vorsys

Conventioanal measurement versus GEDO Vorsys  Trimble GEDO Vorsys offers five significant benefits – Safety – Reduced survey layout / stakeout – An increase in production rate of surface / line / dress – Track quality – As-built reports

Safety and daily hazards Unsure GEDO stored in tamper, no need underfoot to carry equipment on ballast conditions shoulder Hi-rail movements GEDO has a dead-man brake With GEDO on track, user only needs to walk on the ties

Reduced survey layout/stakeout  Breakdown of survey costs on a Dallas light rail project  Consists of approx. 5 miles of ballasted twin track  Significant time savings arose due to – Removal of track stakeout – Reduced office calculations – Removal of re-survey – Completion of as-built deliverable

Reduced survey layout/stakeout  Conventional rail measurements – Stakeout pegs/hubs every 25ft or 50ft – Time consuming and prone to errors – Requires re-measure after tamping – Re-calcs – Manual input into tamper – Several tamping passes...

Reduced survey layout/stakeout  Traditional survey method requires – Track layout every 25’ / 50’ intervals using pegs/hubs – Costs include time / equipment for a two man crew – Establish control / provide field layout / time to run calculations for the layout  Field layout = (2,182 Mhr) x ($32.62 Mhr) = $71,177  Office Calcs = (103 Mhr) x ($32.62 Mhr) = $ 3,360  Company Rent = $ 6,410  ST&S = $ 3,960 – TOTAL Cost = $84,907

Reduced survey layout/stakeout  GEDO Vorsys Method requires – Control points established on OCS bases – As-built information not included as it is provided whilst the trolley collects the data  Field layout = (36 Mhr) x ($32.62 Mhr) =$1,175  Office Calcs = (14 Mhr) x ($32.62 Mhr) =$ 457  Company Rent =$ 186  ST&S =$ 132 – TOTAL Cost =$1,950

Reduced survey layout/stakeout  Summary – Reduced amount of stakeout/layout required for Surface / Line and Dress – On the Dallas project - $1.61/TF to $0.04/TF – Essentially eliminates the need for layout – Providing real time data at any point along the track

Production Rate Increase  Primarily due to grade checking  No need to setup multiple lasers  No need to manually check alignment and elevation every 25’ - 50’  No need to use tape measures or plumb bob  No need to manually enter data into tamper  GEDO Vorsys allows user to walk the track / record the data automatically / transfer to tamper

Production Rate Increase  Reported production rates on four projects  Light rail projects all had similar conditions – Job length = 50,000 TF – Track Crew Composition  3 man crew – Labour cost only – Equipment, maintenance, ST&S, fuel etc not included

Production Rate Increase  Traditional method – Total Labour Cost – Dallas TX project_1 : $119,500/$2.39 TF – Salt Lake City UT project : $125,400/$2.51 TF – Portland OR project : $144,900/$2.90 TF  Trimble Trolley System – Total Labour Cost – Dallas TX project_2 : $66,650 / $1.33 TF

Production Rate Increase  Illustrates GEDO Vorsys can provide significant cost savings over the conventional method – $63,300 in labour cost – $0.03 man-hours/Track Foot – $1.27 per TF in average labour costs  Consider the tamper costs – Increased production ensures tamper possession time is reduced – Approximately 30% reduction

Production rate analysis

Enhanced track quality  Exceptional track quality due to long chord measurement – smoothing  Chord based measurement  Automatic recording - human error removed  Data collected at a user defined interval  Trimble S8 1” and SPS930 1” robotic total stations  Synchronised data measurement  Errors reduced by 50% due to measurements in stationing direction only  Direct export into Harsco tampers

As-built reports  Data stored on controller is imported into GEDO Office  Module GEDO Quality produces a variety of relative and absolute reports  Relative and Absolute  Customisable reports  Excel or pre-defined reports  Numerical and Graphical

Case study summary  GEDO Vorsys offers notable advantages over traditional pre-measurement methods – Safer working environment – Improved track quality – Deliverables – Cost savings – Dallas project - GEDO system saved $ 140K – This does not include reduced plant machinery costs with less downtime

Benefits…  Simple workflow from trolley to tamper  Continuous tamping operation  Line blockage reduced  Ballast drop can be estimated in advance  On-site live lift and shift values  Flexibility allows for improved site logistics  Increased use of tamper – up to 30%

GEDO simplicity sells … Hand-back GEDO deliverables Office for Data prep Export for Tamping GEDO Machine Vorsys GEDO Office for Ramps

System critical requirements…  Robust survey control network – Ground markers in concrete – Survey nails in OCS bases – Clearly marked and identifiable – Within proximity of rail corridor <100ft  Landxml track design – Contains horizontal/vertical/super data – Multiple railroads – Can handle station equations – Includes control points

Training & Competency…  Right Person(s) for the job is vital  Training should start early…

Moving forward…  Improved track installation quality – Requires an understanding and collaboration between stakeholders  Client/Sponsor  Track programme  Engineering & Maintenance – Early survey intervention, planning & monitoring are critical to the delivery of robust track quality – The cost benefits of a reduction in re-work, follow ups and extras is beneficial to all