NORTH AMERICAN track maintenance experts and suppliers will be congregating in Kansas City, Missouri, this month, for the Expo 97 show organised by the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association. Running from September 7 to 10, Expo 97 will be held in the H Roe Bartle Hall of the Kansas City Convention Centre, with shuttle buses to and from an outdoor exhibition at Norfolk Southern’s North Kansas City yard.
Most major suppliers of infrastructure maintenance and construction equipment will be present at Expo 97. Track welding specialist Holland will be presenting a computerised weld monitoring system on its stand, and its latest TrackStar track testing vehicle at the outdoor display. The Miner Enterprises stand will be featuring the remote-controlled version of the AggreGate air-actuated ballast hopper gate, with single and dual-cylinder models fitted to a ballast wagon on show at the outdoor exhibition.
Pandrol Jackson will be demonstrating its RTI-10 24-channel portable rail flaw tester, with the System 1000 rail flaw detection truck and Stoneblower ballast injection machine (p595) on show at North Kansas City. Stanley Hydraulic Tools will be complementing its indoor static display with outdoor demonstrations of its rail drills, rail saws, grinders, spike drivers and impact wrenches. Small machinery is also offered by Ballast Tools Inc.
Zeta-Tech Associates will be featuring its software for facilities management, maintenance planning and real-time data acquisition.
Track material suppliers exhibiting at Expo 97 include Pohl Corporation, displaying rail, spikes and switch stands with ’back-saver’ handles. Rail fastenings specialists A&K Railroad Materials, L B Foster and Pandrol Inc will be participating, as will switch and crossing suppliers ABC Rail Products and VAE Nortrak, and buffer stop manufacturer Western-Cullen-Hayes Inc. Level crossing manufacturers Omni Products Inc and Premier Concrete Railroad Crossings will be exhibiting, as will concrete sleeper supplier CXT Inc and Cleveland Track Material.
Amongst the contractors present, Loram Maintenance of Way will be using interactive CD-ROM kiosks to present its range of services. Other track machine specialists include Geismar - Modern Track Machinery and Chemetron True Temper.
Operations and maintenance contractor Herzog Contracting Corp will have details of its various projects, which include a contract to operate the Tri-Rail commuter service in Florida.
Conference programme
The Roadmasters & Maintenance of Way Association of America and the American Railway Bridge & Building Association are holding their annual joint technical conference in conjunction with Expo 97 .
The theme for 1997 is ’Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century’. Papers presented to the joint session on September 8 will discuss the reconstruction and reopening of BNSF’s Stampede Pass line in Washington state, the Alameda Corridor project in Los Angeles (p609) and safety improvement trends in maintenance-of-way equipment. o
For show details contact
REMSA, 210 Little Falls Street, Suite 100
Falls Church, Virginia 22046, USA
Tel: +1 703 241 8514
Fax: +1 703 241 8589
