Working on the railroad

TEXRail is a billion-dollar 27.2mi commuter rail system that will operate between Dallas Forth Worth international airport and downtown Fort Worth in Texas.

Much of the new line runs parallel to existing rail lines, on overhead bridge beams supported on pillars. Davis Motor Crane Service of Irving, Texas was selected as the contractor for placing the beams.

“We needed a 250t crane that could walk with a load,” said Wes Dowd, operations superintendent for Davis. “Multiple rail closures and tight setups also meant that we could not use a crane that needed the time and space to set outriggers. The final requirement was a crane that gave us the necessary headroom clearance under existing overpasses,”They used two Link-Belt TCCs. “Adding the 110USt (100t) TCC-1100 was an eye opener to the telecrawler market for us” said Dowd. “We quickly saw the advantages. So when the 250USt (230t) TCC-2500 came available we did our homework and checked and double checked our measurements and added it to our fleet.”

Davis divided the job into three segments. The first segment, from northeast of downtown Fort Worth, involved setting beams parallel to the existing Burlington Southern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail lines. Tandem picks were made with the two crawler cranes, which lifted at a steady pace of 16 beams per day on four consecutive days to complete the section.

Right-of-way space required by the existing rail companies meant that Davis Cranes had a narrow boundary zone to set up, unload and place the 90ft (27.4m) long, 98,000lb (44,452 kg) beams.

“We started out with the trucks bringing the beams coming close to the rail, and the TCCs tying into the beams. Because of the small road we had to coordinate how to get the cranes in here, position with the trucks, and then set the beams,” said Davis Cranes’ TCC-2500 operator, Lucas Williams.

The second segment, although at four miles the shortest, was considered the most difficult.

Winding through downtown Forth Worth it passes through a highly technical spot called the “hole in the wall” where four Union Pacific and Burlington Southern Santa Fe rail lines and the TX 280 highway all intersect.

“Taking into account the existing right of way from the other rail companies, crossing multiple bridges—both over and under—and adding to that manoeuvering around existing utilities to form foundations for the piers in spots where the rail is elevated – this stretch kept us busy,” said Joseph Coke, quality control inspector for jointventure Archer Western – Herzog, contractors for the project.

Placing four 68ft long, 120,000lb concrete box beams below eight lanes of TX 280, parallel to and above active Union Pacific rail lines may have been more appropriately dubbed “threading the needle.” It meant first closing the Union Pacific line for a four-hour window from 4am to 8am.

“They backed the beams down the hill as far as they could over the tracks and then I scoped out with the TCC-2500 and the TCC-1100 grabbed hold on his side as we lifted up,” said Williams.

Williams and Davis Crane Service had a very tight margin of room to work in, between the overhead bridge at 48ft (14.6m) above grade and the newly built pier caps at 22ft (6.7m).

“We worked together to lift up, suck in, boom up and track back so that we could clear the caps to get the booms set. We had probably 5 or 6ft of head clearance by the time we got the beams on top of the caps. We had about two and a half hours for the job so that the contactor could come in and pull the boards off the rails for the trains to start running again,” said Williams.

According to Williams one of the most difficult parts of the “hole in the wall” job was actually travelling down the makeshift road to get down into the hole.

“It was a really tight fi t, and I didn’t have a whole lot of room to manoeuvre back and forth on my end. That’s why we put the bigger crane on my side so that I could reach across the tracks and grab the beams. The TCC-1100 had a little bit more room to walk back and forth if he had to. Pretty much once I got down in there I could only travel about 10 feet forward and backwards,” said Williams.

“I’ve always been impressed with Link-Belt’s crawlers. Their lower has always been stout. I’ve run some other cranes and their torque won’t climb up hills or get through spots like these.”