Union Pacific (UP) is spending more than $20 million to improve the nearly 25-mile rail line that runs from west of Grand Island, Neb., to Gibbon, Neb. Work began June 20 and is scheduled to be completed in late July.
The project includes removing and installing new rail and more than 64,500 concrete ties. Crews also will spread more than 84,000 tons of rock ballast, renew the roadway surfaces at 26 crossings and install six switches.
A track renewal train, the TRT 909, is being used to install rail and concrete ties in one pass. The TRT can install up to 5,000 ties in a 12-hour day. The track renewal train consists of approximately 30 rail cars, with each car capable of carrying 210 concrete ties. Three sets of gantry cranes move the concrete ties forward for the TRT to drop into place and the machine then threads the new rail onto the ties. The old wooden ties are picked up and discarded rail is threaded out as the machine works its way down the track. A conveyor positions the removed ties for the gantry cranes to load them onto railcars for movement to a facility for sorting.