DUE DILIGENCE Surrounding Shared Use Rail Corridors 8th Annual Southwestern Rail Conference Jim Blaze at Harsco Rail –

1. WE HELP BUILD THE WORLD DUE DILIGENCE Surrounding Shared Use Rail Corridors 8th Annual Southwestern Rail Conference Jim Blaze at Harsco Rail – Zeta Tech Dallas TX | January 27, 2012 blaze@zetatech.com +1 856 340-8671

2. Safety Briefing “Don’t try this at home”

3. SUCCESS requires attention to details…

4. DUE DILIGENCE Surrounding Shared Use Rail Corridors • Shared Corridors exist and are possible • But there are physical and scientific challenges with the proposed Texas rail corridors • Big technology freight trains diverting highway trucks • Versus higher speed passenger trains/public benefits This presentation is a brief reminder of those challenges

5. SAFTEY should be your Overriding Theme • Regardless of the design, there is a potential for accidents • There are minimum federal government safety regulations that must be followed • Where private investment is involved, safety design perhaps should be more than the minimums

6. Where private investment is involved, safety design perhaps should be more than the minimums • What amount of risk exposure do you want? • How do the parties “share” risk? And pay for it • The highest risk is to passengers and not cargo

7. Examples of the fundamental laws of safety • Start with the question: • “How do you accommodate two completely different types of equipment, weights, and speeds”? • On curves in a common corridor, the degree of curvature could be 1 degree to 6 degrees • Typical solution is to bank or super-elevate the curves

8. Simple view of super elevation and the forces to be balanced • Center of Gravity • Forward Speed • Centrifugal Force • Inward Force • Gravity • Resultant Force -- should be “balanced”

9. Zero or limited super-elevation is a problem for higher speed passenger trains • US government rules set by the FRA govern these engineering parameters • Shared Use plans might require putting the super elevation back in • BUT… …too much elevation could be a ‘rail wear problem” for heavy freight trains A solution is required http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/

10. All that force between the head of the rail and the wheel sits on about a dimes worth of space… For freights, up to 78,000 pounds of pressure On a quarter of a square inch…

11. You want that wheel centered on the rail head Contact patch for the rail and wheel

12. On a right hand curve, allow for “curving forces” that can result in low side face wear or rail crushing High Side Gauge Face Wear LS HS

13. In summary, you need a well designed plan on curves with shared track to correct for: • HEAVY PAYLOAD on low side of the curve • Center of gravity of the railway vehicle • Amount of super elevation for desired speed • Over and under balance of the rail vehicle

14. Freight Railroads have spent millions to become profitable by eliminating super elevated curves • Because freight rail profits come with modest trains speeds in the 65 mph top range

15. Without public subsidy the US freight railroads have taken trucks off the highways • About 12 million intermodal rail units last year

16. Curvature wear is just one commercial “tension” between the shared track parties • Excess track elevation has cost consequences Excess elevation can result in • Low Rail “crushing” • High rail gauge corner damage wear • Increased damage to ties • Faster degradation of the track surface

17. Image examples of higher damage risks and expenses • “Crushed” main line rail head

18. The track sharing parties need to measure and maintain high speed track to very tight tolerances Maintaining very tight engineering tolerances on track for higher speeds is MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE…

19. A FEW GEOMETRY MEASUREMENTS LIMITS • Track runoffin any 31 feet of rail at the end of a raise IS RESTRICTED IN FRACTIONS OF INCHES For FRA Class 4 freights @ 1 ½ inches For FRA Class 6 for 110 mph passenger trains @ 1 inch Class 9 track for 200 mph @ ½ inch • Wide gauge for FRA Track Class 3 can be as much as 1 and 3/4 inch For Class 3 @ 1 ¾ inches For Class 4 and 5 @ 1 ½ inches For Class 6 to 8 @ 1 ¼ inches For 200 mph at Class 9 @ 1 inch wide

20. Other high speed geometry restrictions applicable: • The deviation from uniform profile on rail at the mid-ordinate of a 62-foot chord • Variation in cross level on spirals in any 31 feet • Difference in cross level between any two points less than 62 feet apart on tangents and curves Review FRA Regulations for specifics

21. The point is that these higher speed tolerances are expensive to maintain • HOW IS THIS FIXED? There is a need to “tamp” and “surface” more often… which adds cost

22. So, yes you can go faster on shared tracks • Subject to US Govt. FRA limitations These are the maximum allowed freight train speeds

23. Yes you can go faster on shared TRACKS… • Subject to US (FRA) limitations Passenger train want to go faster

24. Notice that the freight trains will get no higher speed benefit … The higher speed TGV like passenger trains have a 17 ton axle load restriction

25. WHAT IS THE COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE IN THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR? • AMTRAK “owns” that Shared Corridor • They found that freights did more damage to their high speed tracks • The result was to discourage freight traffic

26. In the Northeast Corridor • In the 1970’s, Amtrak started charging Conrail $1 a car mile for using their Washington to Newark tracks • The alternative fee for freight on freight tracks was 25 cents • In addition to a charge 4 times normal, freights were limited to about 30 ton axle loads

27. The commercial result…. CONRAIL re-routed more than 70% of the freight business to longer but cheaper all freight corridors By-pass freight routes

28. Some corridors cannot co-exist with these heavy axle “TRUCK KILLERS”… 33 to 35 MT axle loadings

29. WILL TRACK CAPITAL & TRACK MAINTENANCE COST INCREASE ON HIGHER SPEED SHARED CORRIDOR TRACK? Yes $ $$$$$

30. How Much More Cost to Maintain Track? • ZETA-TECH has engineering models that can calculate the expected cost & the changes One example on existing FRA Class 4 Freight Train track Up to 15,000,000 gross tons per year train volume Freights go 60 mph maximum Passenger trains can go 80 mph maximum There are LIGHT CURVES (4 degree or less) SHIFT to Mixed Use with Higher Speed Passenger Trains - Same freight tonnage - FRA Class 6 Tracks for Passenger trains @110 mph Matrix 24 versus Matrix 3

31. About 5 times more expensive per track mile to maintain the track for a 30 mph speed increase to 110 mph from 79 Estimated cost Per YearPer Mile Bridge & Signal Costs are Additional costs

32. There are other costs for higher speed trains • Shift to “SEALED CORRIDORS” • Sealed Corridors are being implemented today in North Carolina on NS shared lines at highway crossings • GOAL to eliminate rail-highway at-grade crossings This is being phased in as shown above – but is costly and slow Question – how many highway-rail at-grade crossings are there on the NEC?

33. Other robust improvements for high speed passenger trains • Faster trains suggest the safety installation of what is called “SEALED CORRIDORS” • Includes “Quad Gates”

34. My mission today was to remind everyone of the technical issues. I am not here to discourage you To succeed in your goal of a modern shared corridor high speed network, you will need to address these challenges realistically

35. Places like this just may not be a good idea for shared track… Texas photo by Donald J Hagen

36. In some markets…33 to 35 metric ton axle loads just do NOT mix with 17 ton high speed trains • Sometimes, the best solution might be to have a physical separation between the tracks for freights and the tracks for passenger trains Photo by Jean-Marc Frybourg .. Go to Rail Pictures Net for details

37. 50 ft How much track separation in a Shared Corridor? • That brings us back to your tolerance for “risk” • 26 feet track center to track center spacing is a absolute safety minimum • 50 feet reduces “risk” from derailed cars on adjacent tracks as shown in derailment diagram below

38. If you remember these laws of physics and certain federal safety rules… • You and the private railroad companies should be able to find solutions to these creative tension between your commercial interests • EXAMPLE: You can use our track models to estimate short term and long term capital and maintenance costs • How can I help you? jblaze@harsco.com OR blaze@zetatech.com

39. ANSWER: Grade crossings on the NEC? • The answer to question on slide #31 is that there are about 11 at grade crossings