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

• 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

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…

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

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