Refurbishment of Railroad Crossties - A Technical and Economic Analysis.

摘要

An analysis of the principal modes of failure for wooden railroad crossties was conducted and an evaluation of the technical and economic feasibility of refurbishing these ties was conducted. Among the principal modes of structural deterioration,only spike-killed tie repair was identified as practically feasible for in-situ treatment. However,once ties were removed from track the feasiblity of an in-plant repair of selected ties was found to be technically feasible for plate-cut and spike-killed ties. Such a repair operation could result in cost savings of 19-50% over the cost of new tie insertion,depending on the nature of the process selected and the assumed salvage value of a 'spent'tie. Candidate process plant flow descriptions have been developed and the initial (capital) costs and annual operating costs evaluated. Recommendations for process evaluation are included as a starting point for continued investigations of crosstie reuse.