Get Ready Now for Clear Rails During Icy Weather
Rail transit authorities often prioritize railway maintenance during the summer months to prepare for the harsh conditions of winter. Proactively addressing maintenance needs can help mitigate the risks associated with winter weather challenges. Here are several reasons for this planning, along with statistics emphasizing the cost of not paying attention now … and having to pay later.
Reasons for Railway Summer Maintenance Planning
Preventing Rail Degradation: Summer months provide a very convenient (think warm weather, ease of access to tracks) window of opportunity to inspect and maintain tracks before winter induces additional stress. Rails can expand and contract significantly with temperature fluctuations, leading to misalignments or fractures if not properly maintained.
Addressing Weather-Induced Weaknesses: Heavy rainfall during summer can weaken substructures, which are critical for supporting rail systems. Conducting maintenance allows for timely repairs while the conditions are favorable, thereby preventing issues from worsening as winter approaches.
Timely Replacement of Worn Parts: Replacement of worn-out components such as ties, ballast, and tracks can be accomplished more efficiently during summer. These elements are crucial during winter when snow and ice can exacerbate already compromised structures.
Equipment Readiness: Maintenance on machinery and equipment used in rail operations can be performed during the summer months. Properly maintaining snowplows, de-icing machines, and other necessary equipment will ensure they function effectively when needed in winter.
Improving Safety and Reliability: Ensuring that trains operate safely during winter months is paramount. By conducting maintenance during the summer and fall, agencies reduce the likelihood of failures related to infrastructure deterioration, which can affect service reliability.
Budget Considerations: Planning maintenance during favorable weather periods is often more cost-effective. It helps avoid emergency repairs in winter, which not only lead to higher costs due to urgency but can also result in service disruptions.
Costs of Winter Failures
Weather disruptions, including snow and ice, have been reported to cost the rail industry countless time, money, and resources annually in lost productivity, delays, and emergency repairs.
As we mention in this prior blog, preparing for winter is one of the highest costs for rail companies. A substantial portion of the over $23 billion invested annually by railways goes towards restoring, upgrading, and acquiring new winter-related equipment and technologies. [i]
Rail Infrastructure
In a rail infrastructure report done by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), they share details such as this: “Along our nation’s busiest passenger rail corridor, the Northeast Corridor, infrastructure-related issues caused 328,000 train-delay minutes, or the equivalent of roughly 700 Northeast Regional train trips from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C.”
They further report this: “Private railroads reinvest close to 20% of their operating revenue into infrastructure, and in 2017, $11.5 billion was budgeted for capital expenditures by Class I railroads.” And later added, “Class II and III railroads reinvest an average of 25% to 33% of annual revenues in capital expenditures and maintenance-of-way costs.” In the years just prior to this study, Amtrak spent $713 million on state-of-good-repair projects.
This isn’t even factoring in the repair and replacement costs that catastrophic or disruptive events may cause. This “report card” study, which rated U.S. railroads a “C” grade, was from three years ago—the costs have likely increased. And either way, this represents billions of dollars that you want to ensure are being spent as wisely as possible.
The ASCE reported that deferred maintenance exacerbated by harsh winter conditions could lead to costs exceeding $1 billion per year, as infrastructure degrades faster without adequate upkeep. In this article, they tell us, “There were 22 weather and climate disasters in the U.S. that cost at least $1 billion in 2020, the most in history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
When incidents occur, whether attributed to rail infrastructure or external conditions, they will impact indirect costs through lost revenue from delays, repairs, and potential fines. For rail operators, these expenses can multiply significantly in winter months, affecting finances and impacting public perception of the reliability of the rail system.
Investing in maintenance during milder seasons is a proactive strategy for rail transit authorities, helping prevent costly failures during winter months. With the potential costs running into billions due to lost productivity and infrastructure failures, planning for winter challenges during the warmer months can lead to safer, more reliable rail service for the public.
Customized Railway Heaters for Transit Requirements
Precision heating, tight tolerances, and extreme reliability are all characteristics that need to be custom designed into solutions for your critical applications. You can be assured that Backer Hotwatt engineers will work in close collaboration with your team to meet all performance, physical, and regulatory requirements to ensure a successful product launch and commercialization.
Backer Hotwatt helps make winter prep and maintenance more efficient and cost effective. We offer a comprehensive selection of rail heaters and components, fully customizable to your specifications. Read more about our dedication to the railroad and rail transit sectors on this comprehensive resource page. And if you have a heater that need replacing, we got you covered! Download a full production specification document here.
Our solutions include:
Flat Tubular Switch Point Heaters
Round Tubular Switch Point Heaters
Crib Heaters (Switch Rod Heaters)
Built using high-quality materials and proprietary manufacturing techniques, our heaters are designed to last dependably through many seasons.
Backer Hotwatt solves challenging problems with unique solutions that our competitors won’t or can’t provide. We’re here to help you design and manufacture the best heater for your demanding and precise needs. We excel at custom manufacturing of heaters for railways.
This means:
- We build heaters to any length and size
- We have largest selection of diameters and alloys available
- Transit customers—both in the freight and passenger rail segments—buy directly from us
- You receive better technical support and more customizable options than standard heating offerings elsewhere
How can we help you now with your next heating project? Contact an engineer today to set up an exploration consultation. We look forward to helping you soon.