No More Clickety-Clack : Seamless Rail Laid for Safer ...

The clickety-clack that has mesmerized generations of train travelers is becoming a thing of the past--at least on a 107-mile stretch of track from Fullerton to San Diego.

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Workers have started replacing the old track with a new seamless variety that will smooth out and speed up the ride while lessening the likelihood of mishaps, a railway spokesman said.

The $44-million project is being financed primarily by Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, by Amtrak and by the railroads--Amtrak and the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co., Santa Fe spokesman Michael Martin said from Los Angeles. The balance of the funding is being provided by the state under its transit capital improvement program.

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Enhanced Ride Quality

The improvements are expected to &#;dramatically&#; enhance the ride quality and safety of the trains, said Kim Shultz, project manager for the Santa Ana Transportation Department. There have been four derailments on the Santa Fe line in Orange County since March, .

In addition, travel times will decrease because the trains will be able to speed up slightly, Martin said. The new track is also expected to cut noise, noise-related complaints and maintenance costs.

The four-phase project is expected to be completed by the end of , officials said.

The project&#;s initial phase, in which 12 miles of 40-year-old track from Fullerton through Santa Ana is being revamped, will be completed by the end of September, Martin said.

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&#;The rail there has reached the end of its useful life,&#; he said, adding that he does not anticipate any dramatic rise in the cost of tickets when the project is completed.

Santa Ana city construction crews are installing rubberized crossing pads where the track intersects Fairhaven Avenue, Santa Clara Avenue, Washington Boulevard, Chestnut Avenue, 4th Street, 17th Street, Lyon Street and Grand Avenue, Shultz said. The pads give cars a smoother ride over railroad crossings.

Earlier this month, Santa Fe track replacement crews started to upgrade the main rail.

Some residents have complained about the crews working through the night, but Martin said it is necessary so as not to interrupt Amtrak&#;s day service. He said the rail work progresses about one to two miles per night.

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In addition to installing continuous welded rail, in which the connection rails are fused instead of abutted, the crews have also been replacing worn railroad ties, sifting and re-ballasting the gravel and cleaning and leveling the rail surface.

The rail rehabilitation project is seen as the first step in upgrading commuter rail service along the Los Angeles to San Diego route, which does not run a concentration of trains during the commuter hours.

This project is part of a plan to curb traffic between south Orange County and Los Angeles; it also includes the Santa Ana Freeway Widening and Improvement Project, said Thomas Fortune, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Commission.

Commuter rail service is seen as a long-term solution to the traffic congestion and pollution problems in Southern California because it will reduce the reliance on private automobiles as the primary form of transportation, he said.

Amtrak has posted a 27% increase in ridership on the Los Angeles-San Diego route over the past year, providing not only a jump in revenues but also an indication that expanded rail service would meet with enough paying customers to make the plan profitable, railway officials said.

&#;It doesn&#;t take anyone with super insight to see that when you&#;re sitting on Interstate 5, in bumper-to-bumper traffic, going two miles per hour and an Amtrak train goes by at 90 (m.p.h.) that that&#;s the way to go,&#; Martin said.

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Since Amtrak took over the Los Angeles-San Diego route in , the number of round-trip commuter trains on the route has gone from three to eight, making it second to the New York-Washington line as the most traveled in the nation, Martin said.

&#;The demand&#;s there,&#; Fortune said. &#;There&#;re certainly enough people driving that way.&#;

A similar rail rehabilitation project has recently been completed in the Miami area of Florida, Greene said.

Fortune estimated that a commuter train system linking south Orange County with downtown Los Angeles would be in place by the end of .

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Vehicle noise made by trains

Train noise is vehicle noise made by trains. Noises may be heard inside the train and outside.

Subway systems, light rail transit and freight trains can send loud train noise into neighborhoods. Organizations such as the World Health Organization[1] and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have set guidelines for noise level decibel limits for rapid transit. Noise levels can be reduced by installing noise barriers next to the track.[2] Traditional clickety-clack sounds occur as a result of gaps in the rail to allow for thermal expansion. On most railways, the gaps are opposite each other and if the carriages are about the same length as the rails, an even clickety clack sound is generated. In the USA the rail joints are staggered, so not being opposite each other, a different and irregular sound is heard.

Sources

Several distinct sounds are created by various parts of the train, such as engines, traction motors, brakes, and the wheels rolling on the rails.

• Roughness and irregularities on the wheel and rail surfaces are a source of noise and vibration. Rail joints and squats on the rail cause a familiar "clickety-clack" sound as train wheels roll over them. Rail corrugation (a periodic wear pattern resembling corrugated metal) causes tonal noise and vibration; fine, short-wavelength corrugation is known as "roaring rails" due to its high-pitched sound, whereas coarse, long-wavelength corrugation can cause the ground and nearby buildings to vibrate.

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  Rail roughness and corrugation are treated by grinding the rails. This reduces noise in problem areas although trains make a distinctive tonal sound on freshly-ground track due to the pattern on the rail left by the grinding process, which wears flat over time.
• Rail squeal is a sound caused by a train's wheels slipping under specific conditions, usually around sharp curves.

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• Air displacement of a train in a tunnel can create noise from turbulence.
• Trains also use horns, whistles, bells, and other noise-making devices for both communications and warnings.
• The engines in diesel locomotives and DMUs produce significant amounts of noise. Newer locomotives have become much quieter in recent years due to noise regulations being implemented by countries and regions. However, there are still times that a locomotive may develop a defect in its turbocharger, which produces a whine that can be heard for many kilometers. While this is rare, and usually the said locomotive gets put into the shop quickly, the noise has been compared to an air raid siren, or a very large leaf blower. It appears to be the most common on units built by EMD (Caterpillar's locomotive division) equipped with the 710 series prime mover, although any turbocharged locomotive may develop this problem.
• Electric traction motors often produce electromagnetically induced noise. This high-pitch noise depends on the speed and torque level of the machine, as well as the motor type.

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  Variable-frequency drives use pulse-width modulation, which introduces additional current harmonics and results in higher acoustic noise. The switching frequency of the PWM can be asynchronous (independent of speed) or synchronous (proportional to speed), but always results in acoustic noise varying with speed.

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Rail squeal

Rail squeal is a screeching train-track friction sound, commonly occurring on sharp curves. Squeal is caused by the flanges of the wheels scraping across the railhead. The "Howling sound" is caused by lateral sticking and slipping of the wheels across top of the railroad track. This results in vibrations in the wheel that increase until a stable amplitude is reached.[7] Lubricating the rails has limited success. Speed reduction also appears to reduce noise levels.[8]

The sticking of the rim of the wheel causes the wheel to ring like a bell, so rubber dampers or tuned absorbers are a possible solution to lower the volume. The MBTA Green Line, for example, suffers from severe rail squeal on the sharp curves within the central subway. Flange stick graphite lubricators have been installed on trains to attempt to mitigate the rail squeal issue.[9] The mechanism that causes the squealing also is the cause of wear and tear that happens in the wheel&#;rail interface.

Factors affecting rail squeal include:[10]

See also

References

Bibliography

• Thompson, D.J. (). Railway Noise and Vibration. Elsevier Science. ISBN .

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