On March 7, 2018, 13 cars and three locomotives derailed in the mountains of Tennessee. The cars derailed on the side of a steep mountain, and the track could only be accessed from one angle. Several cars had also tumbled down into a ravine and needed to be retrieved, but there was no clear path to access the area where the cars were located. R. J. Corman Railroad Service’s experienced crews can find solutions to difficult circumstances, and they arrived on-site quickly to begin clearing the track.
Early in the morning on Friday, September 14, Hurricane Florence made landfall in South Carolina. Despite the once Category 4 storm being downgraded to a Category 1 before it struck the coast, Hurricane Florence brought winds strong enough to uproot trees and cause power outages. Then, it stalled over the Carolinas. The storm brought heavy rains that dumped up to 30 inches in some areas, and widespread flooding was seen as the storm moved inland.
R. J. Corman Railroad Services completed 17.2 miles of surfacing and performed rail adjustments on two curves during a 48-hour uninterrupted shutdown of the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) light rail system. Due to consistent, daily wear and tear, it was time to conduct scheduled maintenance and repairs on the line.
In preparation for the extension of the Green Line in Somerville, MA, Green Line Extension (GLX) construction crews needed 7,000 pre-plated ties with 115RE pandrol plates. The GLX project extended the existing Green Line north of its current terminus at Lechmere Station, and involved construction of six new stations along two branches, the Medford Branch and Union Square Branch, along with the relocation and reconstruction of Lechmere Station.
R. J. Corman Railroad Services’ construction team provided two rail gangs and a tie gang, totaling over 100 employees, to help Canadian National (CN) complete a rehab project in Wisconsin. R. J. Corman employees joined forces with CN to complete the project within a six-week window.
In December 2017, R. J. Corman Signaling shipped out the first round of PTC houses for Canadian National (CN). CN hired R. J. Corman to assist with new PTC subdivision upgrades because of R. J. Corman’s capacity to support flexible due dates, along with competitive pricing and proven high quality of service.
As the PTC mandate approached its end-of-2018 deadline, railroads began looking for companies who could complete large scale construction on tight deadlines. Norfolk Southern awarded R. J. Corman Signaling with the job of upgrading or fully installing PTC in 37 locations. The job began in November of 2017 in Montgomery, Alabama and was concluded at the end of April 2018 in Mobile.
The R. J. Corman Switching Company provides switching services for industries that ship via rail, which generally involves a work force and locomotives placed within a customer facility. The company is also equipped to inspect and maintain customer rail yards and tracks, as well as supply and build new service tracks. On April 20th, 2018, during a quarterly track inspection done by R. J. Corman, a concern arose that required the company to complete emergency track maintenance services for the switching customer.
R. J. Corman Railroad Services was awarded a job as the primary contractor for a rail relay job for Kansas City Southern in Oilton, Texas. They were tasked with relaying approximately 76,000 lineal feet of rail, and welding it across the Laredo Subdivision. The job began on January 9th, and ended on February 16th in Robstown, Texas. The goal was to get the job completed by February 27th, but the R. J. Corman Railroad Services’ crew was able to complete the job 11 days early.
Starting in June of 2016, R. J. Corman Railroad Services began construction of a new classification yard, and the expansion of the existing yard, for Kansas City Southern in the Sasol Chemical facility in Westlake, Louisiana. In total, 35 miles of new track, 132 turnouts and 136 switches were constructed. A team of 150 R. J. Corman Railroad Services employees worked for 18 months to complete the project.
The R. J. Corman Railroad Switching Company has provided switching services as well as shuttle and railcar loading for Toyota Motor Manufacturing MS in Blue Springs, MS since 2011. Their operations are focused on loading and unloading large groups of cars and fulfilling unique customer requirements. For Toyota Blue Springs, they get involved immediately after production by taking the vehicles right off the production line to the trucks or railcars and loading the vehicles for transportation. Over 600 cars were handled by R. J. Corman, daily in 2018.
R. J. Corman Signaling has met the demands placed on the railroads by providing PTC installation and support to several Class I and short line railroads in 2016 and 2017. Over 60,000 miles of rail network needed to be developed, installed and the technology tested to make rail transportation even safer than it already was by automatically stopping a train before accidents occur. Positive Train Control (PTC) became required in 2008 when Congress passed a mandate requiring privately owned railroads to have the technology installed by 2018.