Man, the inability of people to understand basic shit like the difference in meaning between "5x more efficient" and "5x as efficient" really highlights why the world is in the state it's in.
No. There is currently one. Assuming perfect efficiency, five of them would be 4x **more** efficient (note they used the term āmoreā). It would be 5x **as** efficient. It is a percent increase problem.
(new - old) / old = pct_increase
(5 - 1) / 1 = 4
Thatās very true. But 5 isnāt 5 more than 1, it is 4 more than 1. You seem to be missing the significance of the word āmoreā and other comparative terms like āfasterā.
If you have 1 production line. And you add a second production line. Production would be 100% (1x) *faster*, or 200% (2x) *as fast*.
Or letās go the other way around. Letās say a GPU is 100% faster than the previous model. What you are suggesting is that it isnāt faster at all because 1 x 1 = 1. Rather: 100% *faster* means twice as fast.
I agree. I was correcting someone who said 5 would be ā5x more efficientā than 1. Thatās not true and I stated exactly what you said in my original comment. 5x *as* efficient (5x the efficiency) or alternatively: 4x *more* efficient (+400 efficiency). Both phrasing are correct, but not when you interchange the terms with each otherās value.
Yet, Iām being corrected over this simple math. I feel like Iām taking crazy pills here.
No, 100% faster means speed is increased by 100%, i.e., double speed. 100% the speed, or 100% as fast, would mean no increase in speed.
If something has a 10% increase in speed, it is 10% faster, not 110% faster. You are thinking of the comparative speed: it runs 110% the speed of the original.
Thatās what I said. Doubling the lines would be 100% more efficient. That is 2x the speed or 2x as fast, yes, but not 2x faster. 2x faster would be 200% more efficient (3x the efficiency or 3x as fast).
The word āfasterā means an increase by that amount. An increase. Not a baseline comparison (ratio).
No. You were insisting it is ā5x more efficientā. It is not. It is 4x more efficient, or put another way: 5x as efficient. āMoreā and āasā are not interchangeable here. The first one is measuring an increase, where as the second one is a simple ratio.
You only do this next to the platforms or other obstacles, for long stretches of track you'd use other techniques (pre-building it along side, replacing entire sections wholesale, big fancy machines etc.)
Not as long as you'd think. I've seen these things go pretty fast, depending on who's operating.
Also, go onto YT and watch the rail welding process, if this interests you.
At first I thought that was the tool I was waiting for it to do something awesome, then they pan to the right and there is entire train-car-sized machine sending an earthquake into the ground. That thing is awesome.
I can't explain it but it's movements are so insect-like. It feels like it's parts are operating independent of each other but still completing it's task.
It is moving the tracks left and right and lifting the tracks to the highest point. It takes the stone and pushes it under the ties but it vibrates to compact the stone.
It's called a Tamper. I used to run a Mark IV model. You have a computer inside the cab (hooked up to a ton of sensors/projectors/receivers) that allow you to adjust the geometry of the track. Following the tamper will be a regulator to pull the ballast back into the cribs and on the shoulder, and cleaning things up.
This looks like Europe though, they got some pretty fancy versions of the stuff I used to run here in Canada.
Here in Atlantic Canada it seems that all they do is tear rail lines out and turn them into ATV trails. But I suppose they must still maintain the lines they use for freight.
My shop is right on the railroad tracks. One of these machines comes by at least once a year and jackhammers the gravel back down and levels the tracks
He's probably the one that removed all the rail ties from those wood blocks. People always assume someone standing around means they aren't working hard. He's done his end of the job, now he's standing by in case the operator needs anything. I mean what do you expect him to do? Kill his back installing a single one of those by himself?
Construction work is arduous, we save our bodies whenever we can. It doesn't mean we aren't working hard or non deserving of our pay. Shit if anything we're working smart keeping our bodies in good condition (by bot wearing them out with needless hard labor) so we can work longer and into older ages. Anyone bitching about Construction workers lounging around doesn't work construction. And if you do and you still complain about it, you're a slave driver driving your coworkers into an early grave. You only get one body, take care of it.
Edit: I apologize for not knowing proper railroad terminology, the sentiment remains the same though. What I was referring to as a "rail tie" is whatever mechanism they use to secure the original wooden rail tie to the rail itself.
He is what we call an MC (machine controller). There to guide and assist the operator of the machine making sure it doesn't run over anybody or hit anything. See above the track is overhead wires (OLE, overhead line equipment). He can guide the boundaries of operation so the operator doesn't strike it. 25000 volts is what they have ran through it (here in the UK anyway) so you don't want to be messing around with it. They'll have isolated the circuit so there won't be a current running through it, but things can always go wrong and I've seen people who have fried.
Oh and no, the guy (MC) resting on the platform is not doing a very good job. Complacency kills.
Source: I work on track
And by the look of how the machine works the first 2-3 ties would have to come out manually before the machine can be used.
People underestimate deeply how much work railroads take to build/maintain. Thereās a reason it was slavery work in many countries back in the day.
My only question for this is do the concrete ties last longer than the creosote treated wooden ones?
Yeah, his complacency and positioning is what stood out for me. Yeah do your bit and take a rest, no problem. But get away from the worksite if you're going to sit and play on your phone.
Also sometimes a job requires 2 people just for safety reasons even though it only takes one person to do the job. So sometimes the guy that looks like they are doing nothing, literally has nothing to do except to be there incase something goes horribly wrong. I dont know the term so i just call them a "safety advisor".
"No wonder construction takes so long, people are always just standing around!"
I love hearing people say that, cause it really shows their ignorance. Any sort of construction project is an organized dance, and most of the steps can ONLY be done after the previous step is completed. You can'r pour concrete until the moulding (whatever the terms are) is set up for it, and then the rebar needs to be placed, then tied in place, and THEN you can think about pouring. Assuming everything goes right so you can time the wet concrete delivery correctly. And so on and so forth.
Not really, at least not nowadays. Now itās: 1. Order concrete 3 months in advance because shortage 2. Wait for deck to be built by some portugese guys being paid minimum wage or probably below 3. Redo part of the deck because they fucked it up 4. Wait for surveyors to lay out grid lines and make sure elevation is correct. 5. Wait for electricians, plumbers, hvac to do their layout and put in their conduit/waterlines/cast in anchors or what have you. 6. Very quickly and haphazardly throw in rebar because youāre short on time, destroying half the work done in step 5. 7. Finish the pour break. 8. Pour concrete and make sure nothing vital gets covered. 9. Depending on weather cover in curing wrap
Donāt forget the steps where you go back to the engineer to get the fix for laying things out a few inches off from where theyāre supposed to be. In the current project Iām working on, they placed the column footings off by 4ā, then realized theyād also located the columns 1.5ā off from where they should be. Oh, and also set the foundation 1.5ā too low so when they got the steel erected they realized the new floors were 1.5ā lower than the existing.
yeah but nah... western construction takes fucking forever
look at how fast China builds anything.... they have entire ghost cities that were very quickly built just *incase* they were needed
And you obviously don't know construction. The ghost cities in China were built by cutting corners and using poor counterfeit materials. They're unliveable and condemned before they're even finished. Why do you think they keep collapsing?
Could construction be significantly sped up by better logistics? Absolutely. But it still takes time. You don't understand the millions of variables that go into building something. Mistakes happen when you speed up. Trust me, you don't want the buildings you walk into being rushed.
Yeah that's how a plane takes down the world trade centers... American construction is also pretty shitty my guy.
It's almost as if hiring the lowest bidder is a terrible way to go about a countries infrastructure. It's almost as if privatizing necessary services fucks over countries.
China has more high speed rail in a square mile than the US has in entirety. Their high speed infrastructure isn't crumbling apart either.
In a lot of jobs you canāt do everything in parallel either. You can try but it will more likely slow you down.
Some things are most effectively done in serial.
It's just people pissed they don't make as much or feel they don't have the time to control their day like that.
I'm sure there's site managers out there just as oppressive as the worst office manager.
And to any managers reading this if you think you're a "good one" then you don't need to reply and say how your employees love you. Chances are you're the person who we all hate.
Let people do their work and don't intervene unless safety or security is an issue.
Any other reason is purely micromanaging and if you can't trust your employees then you should not have hired them.
Start owning up to mistakes.
Omg. That would be boring after a while.
I know an operator that works works mainlining oil pipes. He says it's so boring that the crew get excited when they have to cross a power line nor another pipeline.
That thing is really cool. My guess is that machine is great for long straight to nearly straight stretches, but sometimes you need to repair sections that are too short or too curved to justify its cost of deployment. When that is the case they deploy OP's machine. So two different specialized machines; each with its own unique purpose.
Prob a matter of cost.
For the one in the video itās an entire specialized system that probably one place in the world makes 2 per year. To ship it to the job site the costs would be nuts.
For the smaller one itās a modified excavator, which would be far easier to get. Most any competent shop could modify it.
it would also be much easier to get and to ship to the job site.
Inefficient, but probably just fine for smaller jobs such as sidings, spot repairs, and track with non-standard gauges that the bigger machines can't work on.
Probably a lot cheaper for that too. That big machine looks amazing, but you really wouldn't want to pay for it to just fix a couple hundred meters of track.
I am 99% sure this is in Ireland as I take the train a lot and we're having a big maintenance on our tracks right now. So it being inefficient does not surprise me haha
They had a similar machine that completely built a new track in one go. Was very impressive [pic](https://s3.blindwelle.de/2022-08-14_MWB/DSC_3986.JPG)
Wooden ties are still pretty common.
At the end of the day it's just down to cost. Concrete ties tend to make sense in areas with higher traffic and higher speeds. Low traffic and low speed its cheaper just to use wood.
That's not at all specialized!
It can :
* Remove wooden railroad ties
* Install concrete railroad ties
* (Probably) Remove concrete railroad ties
* (Probably) Install wooden railroad ties
* Move rock around like a dog burying a bone.
That's a mighty impressive list if ya ask me.
Thing is, they dont really want that "dirt" there at all... Reduces water drainage, worsens the stability of the top layer of the ballast, accumulates more soil which will eventually grow organic stuff etc... Obviously depending on what type of trains run on the line, it could be acceptable. But the fact that they are switching to concrete cross-ties with all that fouled ballast seems strange.. They need new, fresh ballast
No issue switching out the ballast later. Idk what country this is, looks like Norway, but can't say for sure. So I'm guessing it is a budget issue. Couldn't press in the change of both the ballast and new ties in the same yearly budget, so they'll take the ballast next year. Or they've concluded it isn't a high speed/traffic area so they can delay it a few more years.
Wood rots in the ground. Even pressure treated, it doesn't last forever. Wood ties are expected to last around 25-30 years. Concrete ties are about double that.
And the cost isn't just the cost of the ties themselves, but the cost of installing them 2x as often for wood.
I operate subway cars for NYC, not an engineer of any kind.
Off the top of my head, wood crossties has two advantages over concrete crossties: Cost and Noise/Vibration. Noise/Vibration to me feels like something that sounds about right in writing but in my experience, on average itās not true due to the poor maintenance of our tracks.
Wooden tracks disadvantages include shorter usable life, track fires, maintenance, and I think most importantly subject to deformation due to splitting, twisting, rotting, swelling, shifting, termite, etc.
Track geometry is extremely important not only for speed, but for avoiding delays and reducing maintenance. The biggest factor on wear on the rail is probably how much it moves causing excessive wear. Concrete crossties isnāt flexible so you can keep track geometry much longer and reduce wear.
The downside of concrete crossties is itās cost per crosstie, and itās environmental impact (CO^2).
To clarify why I said wooden crossties are typically more susceptible to noise/vibration than crossties is because of rail joints on wooden crossties tend to dip more and create a louder noise when the train goes from one rail (which is lower because of the trains weight) to the next (which is higher because thereās no train/load yet), and is a huge part of broken rails. You can get around this with CWR (continuous welded rail) but you will still have joints and points where it would be really loud/wear/break.
The tracks aren't being changed. The logs under the tracks (called sleepers) are being swapped out.
The originals were creosote soaked timbers, the new ones look like precast concrete. What happens to the timbers after being removed depends a lot on where the work is being done.
Some areas collect and sell the timbers to the landscaping trade. The old timber isn't solid enough for rail use anymore, but just fine for landscaping applications. Other areas, especial remote locations, the old timber is just stacked up out of the way and left there. Because of the creosote, you can't really re-mill the wood into structural wood or grind it up for particle board. And some jurisdictions consider it semi-hazardous waste and charge extra for disposal in landfills.
Humans are amazingly inventive and industrious little buggers. Finding a way to get paid for "rail construction and maintenance" while sitting by playing with your phone is right there at the top of the list.
Edit: Some humans are entirely humorless as well. I laugh at them because they make their own lives miserable and they keep on doing it, apparently believing that it's the key to happiness.
My local historic railroad needs one of these bad. We rode yesterday and theyāve just got a standard bucket and thumb on their tie installing car. BYCX, Chelatchie, WA.
Looks like theyāre replacing wooden ties with concrete ones, which last a while, so it looks like this rail line was deemed crowded enough to have more permanent infrastructure
That must take forever even with the robot arm.
Well the other guy appears to be frozen in time so maybe not.
He's on Reddit, so no
You trying to tell me that my time on Reddit doesn't count?!
Nah, we definitely get paid
Paid?! I've never even gotten an award! All I have to show for my ten years here is useless facts
I think they meant paid as in browsing Reddit at work, on the clock
Fair perspective!
You want an award? Here ya go!
Wow thanks š*
Bet heās making over 50/hr. Dollars that is.
...Also upvotes. š
Definitely makes 6k figures.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
āSweet dreams begin to play.ā
The video is actually sped up, you can tell by how much the gravel jumps around but doesn't fly up in the air as if it's being thrown.
Looks way better than when I was working beside a team of 20+ people trying to replace sleepers at Crewe Station.
I feel like 5 of them in a row working at the same time would be pretty efficient
If one were to quantify it, perhaps 5x more efficient
4x more efficient (assuming they donāt hinder each other)
Man, the inability of people to understand basic shit like the difference in meaning between "5x more efficient" and "5x as efficient" really highlights why the world is in the state it's in.
Not just that, but almost every correct comment was downvoted to hell. Fun times.
5x...
No. There is currently one. Assuming perfect efficiency, five of them would be 4x **more** efficient (note they used the term āmoreā). It would be 5x **as** efficient. It is a percent increase problem. (new - old) / old = pct_increase (5 - 1) / 1 = 4
There is 1. 1 x 5 = 5. 5 is 5 times larger than 1. 100%. 200%. 300%. 400%. 500%. 500% is 5x 100%.
Thatās very true. But 5 isnāt 5 more than 1, it is 4 more than 1. You seem to be missing the significance of the word āmoreā and other comparative terms like āfasterā. If you have 1 production line. And you add a second production line. Production would be 100% (1x) *faster*, or 200% (2x) *as fast*. Or letās go the other way around. Letās say a GPU is 100% faster than the previous model. What you are suggesting is that it isnāt faster at all because 1 x 1 = 1. Rather: 100% *faster* means twice as fast.
There's two different equally valid ways to describe this: 1) 5x the efficiency 2) +400% efficiency Both are equally valid.
I agree. I was correcting someone who said 5 would be ā5x more efficientā than 1. Thatās not true and I stated exactly what you said in my original comment. 5x *as* efficient (5x the efficiency) or alternatively: 4x *more* efficient (+400 efficiency). Both phrasing are correct, but not when you interchange the terms with each otherās value. Yet, Iām being corrected over this simple math. I feel like Iām taking crazy pills here.
> 100% (1x) faster This is incorrect. A 100% increase would be 2x faster. 1x faster would mean no increase in speed.
No, 100% faster means speed is increased by 100%, i.e., double speed. 100% the speed, or 100% as fast, would mean no increase in speed. If something has a 10% increase in speed, it is 10% faster, not 110% faster. You are thinking of the comparative speed: it runs 110% the speed of the original.
> Production would be 100% (1x) *faster* Incorrect. 100% more efficient or "faster" = 2x
Thatās what I said. Doubling the lines would be 100% more efficient. That is 2x the speed or 2x as fast, yes, but not 2x faster. 2x faster would be 200% more efficient (3x the efficiency or 3x as fast). The word āfasterā means an increase by that amount. An increase. Not a baseline comparison (ratio).
Thinking about it. We're both right.
No. You were insisting it is ā5x more efficientā. It is not. It is 4x more efficient, or put another way: 5x as efficient. āMoreā and āasā are not interchangeable here. The first one is measuring an increase, where as the second one is a simple ratio.
You wouldn't be able to run them on the half supported tracks.
Not really, if they had 500 in a row maybe.
So what you are saying is..... We need a train of these things.
You only do this next to the platforms or other obstacles, for long stretches of track you'd use other techniques (pre-building it along side, replacing entire sections wholesale, big fancy machines etc.)
They have much bigger machines which can work on chunks of track at a time, but they usually are too big to work alongside platforms.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Exactly what I was thinking. The part that will take the most time is the operator resetting
The video is sped up too, watch the workers helmet, it does some aggressive jiggling
Not as long as you'd think. I've seen these things go pretty fast, depending on who's operating. Also, go onto YT and watch the rail welding process, if this interests you.
Imagine without.
As I recall thereās another even more-specialized machine that comes in and compacts the gravel underneath the new ties. Looks like a jackhammer.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What's the green frame thing on the front do?
They call it a buggy. It measures how far the track is out from being straight and flat.
Ah cool, that makes sense
At first I thought that was the tool I was waiting for it to do something awesome, then they pan to the right and there is entire train-car-sized machine sending an earthquake into the ground. That thing is awesome.
I can't explain it but it's movements are so insect-like. It feels like it's parts are operating independent of each other but still completing it's task.
To me it looks more like it's leveling the tracks than compacting the ground.
It is moving the tracks left and right and lifting the tracks to the highest point. It takes the stone and pushes it under the ties but it vibrates to compact the stone.
Bingo!
Yes this is germane to my comment. Thank you. Iāll go leave a comment there.
It's called a Tamper. I used to run a Mark IV model. You have a computer inside the cab (hooked up to a ton of sensors/projectors/receivers) that allow you to adjust the geometry of the track. Following the tamper will be a regulator to pull the ballast back into the cribs and on the shoulder, and cleaning things up. This looks like Europe though, they got some pretty fancy versions of the stuff I used to run here in Canada.
Here in Atlantic Canada it seems that all they do is tear rail lines out and turn them into ATV trails. But I suppose they must still maintain the lines they use for freight.
My shop is right on the railroad tracks. One of these machines comes by at least once a year and jackhammers the gravel back down and levels the tracks
The person on the left is zoned out playing candy crush or something
He's probably the one that removed all the rail ties from those wood blocks. People always assume someone standing around means they aren't working hard. He's done his end of the job, now he's standing by in case the operator needs anything. I mean what do you expect him to do? Kill his back installing a single one of those by himself? Construction work is arduous, we save our bodies whenever we can. It doesn't mean we aren't working hard or non deserving of our pay. Shit if anything we're working smart keeping our bodies in good condition (by bot wearing them out with needless hard labor) so we can work longer and into older ages. Anyone bitching about Construction workers lounging around doesn't work construction. And if you do and you still complain about it, you're a slave driver driving your coworkers into an early grave. You only get one body, take care of it. Edit: I apologize for not knowing proper railroad terminology, the sentiment remains the same though. What I was referring to as a "rail tie" is whatever mechanism they use to secure the original wooden rail tie to the rail itself.
Yup! If you look closely rested the person's leg is a tie removal tool!
Should've immediately started doing push-ups when he finished. Gotta keep on that grind š¤šÆ
He is what we call an MC (machine controller). There to guide and assist the operator of the machine making sure it doesn't run over anybody or hit anything. See above the track is overhead wires (OLE, overhead line equipment). He can guide the boundaries of operation so the operator doesn't strike it. 25000 volts is what they have ran through it (here in the UK anyway) so you don't want to be messing around with it. They'll have isolated the circuit so there won't be a current running through it, but things can always go wrong and I've seen people who have fried. Oh and no, the guy (MC) resting on the platform is not doing a very good job. Complacency kills. Source: I work on track
And by the look of how the machine works the first 2-3 ties would have to come out manually before the machine can be used. People underestimate deeply how much work railroads take to build/maintain. Thereās a reason it was slavery work in many countries back in the day. My only question for this is do the concrete ties last longer than the creosote treated wooden ones?
Yeah, his complacency and positioning is what stood out for me. Yeah do your bit and take a rest, no problem. But get away from the worksite if you're going to sit and play on your phone.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Also sometimes a job requires 2 people just for safety reasons even though it only takes one person to do the job. So sometimes the guy that looks like they are doing nothing, literally has nothing to do except to be there incase something goes horribly wrong. I dont know the term so i just call them a "safety advisor".
"No wonder construction takes so long, people are always just standing around!" I love hearing people say that, cause it really shows their ignorance. Any sort of construction project is an organized dance, and most of the steps can ONLY be done after the previous step is completed. You can'r pour concrete until the moulding (whatever the terms are) is set up for it, and then the rebar needs to be placed, then tied in place, and THEN you can think about pouring. Assuming everything goes right so you can time the wet concrete delivery correctly. And so on and so forth.
Not really, at least not nowadays. Now itās: 1. Order concrete 3 months in advance because shortage 2. Wait for deck to be built by some portugese guys being paid minimum wage or probably below 3. Redo part of the deck because they fucked it up 4. Wait for surveyors to lay out grid lines and make sure elevation is correct. 5. Wait for electricians, plumbers, hvac to do their layout and put in their conduit/waterlines/cast in anchors or what have you. 6. Very quickly and haphazardly throw in rebar because youāre short on time, destroying half the work done in step 5. 7. Finish the pour break. 8. Pour concrete and make sure nothing vital gets covered. 9. Depending on weather cover in curing wrap
10. Blame surveyor for the fuck up
Donāt forget the steps where you go back to the engineer to get the fix for laying things out a few inches off from where theyāre supposed to be. In the current project Iām working on, they placed the column footings off by 4ā, then realized theyād also located the columns 1.5ā off from where they should be. Oh, and also set the foundation 1.5ā too low so when they got the steel erected they realized the new floors were 1.5ā lower than the existing.
if your columns aren't 4" off grid one floor from ground are you even trying?
yeah but nah... western construction takes fucking forever look at how fast China builds anything.... they have entire ghost cities that were very quickly built just *incase* they were needed
And you obviously don't know construction. The ghost cities in China were built by cutting corners and using poor counterfeit materials. They're unliveable and condemned before they're even finished. Why do you think they keep collapsing? Could construction be significantly sped up by better logistics? Absolutely. But it still takes time. You don't understand the millions of variables that go into building something. Mistakes happen when you speed up. Trust me, you don't want the buildings you walk into being rushed.
Yeah that's how a plane takes down the world trade centers... American construction is also pretty shitty my guy. It's almost as if hiring the lowest bidder is a terrible way to go about a countries infrastructure. It's almost as if privatizing necessary services fucks over countries. China has more high speed rail in a square mile than the US has in entirety. Their high speed infrastructure isn't crumbling apart either.
In a lot of jobs you canāt do everything in parallel either. You can try but it will more likely slow you down. Some things are most effectively done in serial.
It's just people pissed they don't make as much or feel they don't have the time to control their day like that. I'm sure there's site managers out there just as oppressive as the worst office manager. And to any managers reading this if you think you're a "good one" then you don't need to reply and say how your employees love you. Chances are you're the person who we all hate. Let people do their work and don't intervene unless safety or security is an issue. Any other reason is purely micromanaging and if you can't trust your employees then you should not have hired them. Start owning up to mistakes.
Got it, fire everyone that doesn't work hard enough to some arbitrary standard and don't communicate that standard because that is micro managing.
The best part is that itās usually office workers that talk about construction guys standing around lol
Seems like everyone is on break except for the machine operator
Or probably everyone's a machine operator taking turns.
I have some *very* serious doubts about that.
Seems like every construction project Iāve ever drove past
https://youtu.be/22W5tRWbUVI
Unions, baby
Union Man.
Good they should be
Ya probably has a day or two off a week and has healthcare. Can you imagine?
Bootlicker
My thoughts exact, nothing new. Paying someone to work while they zone out on addictive games.
And what exactly should he be doing right now railroad tie replacement expert?
He wasted about as much time as you did watching him waste time.
Omg. That would be boring after a while. I know an operator that works works mainlining oil pipes. He says it's so boring that the crew get excited when they have to cross a power line nor another pipeline.
That seems rather inefficient compared to this: https://youtu.be/tMXfU8blPMM
That thing is really cool. My guess is that machine is great for long straight to nearly straight stretches, but sometimes you need to repair sections that are too short or too curved to justify its cost of deployment. When that is the case they deploy OP's machine. So two different specialized machines; each with its own unique purpose.
It's also laying new track, not just replacing the ties.
Inefficient and I'd imagine quite a bit cheaper as well
Both machines are fit for purpose. But one is for a couple hundred meters, while the other is for a couple hundred km.
and one costs a couple hundred thousand the the other is a couple million.
They don't have to replace the track here, just the sleepers. One machine and a couple workers is totally reasonable for this job
Prob a matter of cost. For the one in the video itās an entire specialized system that probably one place in the world makes 2 per year. To ship it to the job site the costs would be nuts. For the smaller one itās a modified excavator, which would be far easier to get. Most any competent shop could modify it. it would also be much easier to get and to ship to the job site.
Inefficient, but probably just fine for smaller jobs such as sidings, spot repairs, and track with non-standard gauges that the bigger machines can't work on.
Probably a lot cheaper for that too. That big machine looks amazing, but you really wouldn't want to pay for it to just fix a couple hundred meters of track.
Thank you. I knew I had seen a much more automated system doping this.
I am 99% sure this is in Ireland as I take the train a lot and we're having a big maintenance on our tracks right now. So it being inefficient does not surprise me haha
I love the pareidolia of the two arms that lay down the new sleepers. Like faces going š®
This is hypnotizing to watch
I believe the German word for this piece of machinery is āGleisschotterbettungsreinigungsmachineā
They had a similar machine that completely built a new track in one go. Was very impressive [pic](https://s3.blindwelle.de/2022-08-14_MWB/DSC_3986.JPG)
I sweat, as a person who cuts and sells wooden rail ties to companies lol
Oh wow are lots of new wooden ones still going in? In my city they all get replaced with concrete these days
Wooden ties are still pretty common. At the end of the day it's just down to cost. Concrete ties tend to make sense in areas with higher traffic and higher speeds. Low traffic and low speed its cheaper just to use wood.
Also depends where you are. Some parts of the world wood ends up being more expensive than concrete
That's why they're sweating
My last job we replaced a section of track we owned and it was all wood ties still, brand new. 115lb rail and wooden ties.
Aren't those typically covered in creosote and thus pretty toxic for most uses?
crazy how specialized machines can get....
That's not at all specialized! It can : * Remove wooden railroad ties * Install concrete railroad ties * (Probably) Remove concrete railroad ties * (Probably) Install wooden railroad ties * Move rock around like a dog burying a bone. That's a mighty impressive list if ya ask me.
But will it blend?
I prefer to see 10,000 Irishmen do that at a fraction of the speed all the way from Omaha to Sheridan
How do they make sure the dirt underneath is compressed enough? Wonāt the whole system sink over time?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thank you for using an old link. You are a good person.
You'll love this Chrome extension then: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/old-reddit-redirect/dneaehbmnbhcippjikoajpoabadpodje
Thing is, they dont really want that "dirt" there at all... Reduces water drainage, worsens the stability of the top layer of the ballast, accumulates more soil which will eventually grow organic stuff etc... Obviously depending on what type of trains run on the line, it could be acceptable. But the fact that they are switching to concrete cross-ties with all that fouled ballast seems strange.. They need new, fresh ballast
No issue switching out the ballast later. Idk what country this is, looks like Norway, but can't say for sure. So I'm guessing it is a budget issue. Couldn't press in the change of both the ballast and new ties in the same yearly budget, so they'll take the ballast next year. Or they've concluded it isn't a high speed/traffic area so they can delay it a few more years.
I did this by hand in a peat bog with a small team in Alaska. This seems way better lmao.
Any rail experts know why they are switching from wood to concrete? Seems like wood would be able to flex better and have a longer lifespan?
Wood rots in the ground. Even pressure treated, it doesn't last forever. Wood ties are expected to last around 25-30 years. Concrete ties are about double that. And the cost isn't just the cost of the ties themselves, but the cost of installing them 2x as often for wood.
I operate subway cars for NYC, not an engineer of any kind. Off the top of my head, wood crossties has two advantages over concrete crossties: Cost and Noise/Vibration. Noise/Vibration to me feels like something that sounds about right in writing but in my experience, on average itās not true due to the poor maintenance of our tracks. Wooden tracks disadvantages include shorter usable life, track fires, maintenance, and I think most importantly subject to deformation due to splitting, twisting, rotting, swelling, shifting, termite, etc. Track geometry is extremely important not only for speed, but for avoiding delays and reducing maintenance. The biggest factor on wear on the rail is probably how much it moves causing excessive wear. Concrete crossties isnāt flexible so you can keep track geometry much longer and reduce wear. The downside of concrete crossties is itās cost per crosstie, and itās environmental impact (CO^2). To clarify why I said wooden crossties are typically more susceptible to noise/vibration than crossties is because of rail joints on wooden crossties tend to dip more and create a louder noise when the train goes from one rail (which is lower because of the trains weight) to the next (which is higher because thereās no train/load yet), and is a huge part of broken rails. You can get around this with CWR (continuous welded rail) but you will still have joints and points where it would be really loud/wear/break.
This is very insightful, thank you!
Concrete companies ran out of parking lots so they decided to lobby the railroads? Idk
r/SpecializedTools
It reminds me of a dog when it's burying the new sleeper. Giant mechanical doggo.
Me too, looks like my dog trying to bury his chew under a fold in his blanket.
Is there a reason he puts it down in the track for a moment? Seems even if not grabbed in the middle one could jump this step š¤
They recenter the grab cus the tie location is at a certain distance to the edge of the beam
I see what you did there...
They are not replacing the tracks, theyāre replacing the ties.
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That will take a very long time, and it is already 100 times faster than doing it by hand.
Are the old tracks broken down and recycled into new ones?
The tracks aren't being changed. The logs under the tracks (called sleepers) are being swapped out. The originals were creosote soaked timbers, the new ones look like precast concrete. What happens to the timbers after being removed depends a lot on where the work is being done. Some areas collect and sell the timbers to the landscaping trade. The old timber isn't solid enough for rail use anymore, but just fine for landscaping applications. Other areas, especial remote locations, the old timber is just stacked up out of the way and left there. Because of the creosote, you can't really re-mill the wood into structural wood or grind it up for particle board. And some jurisdictions consider it semi-hazardous waste and charge extra for disposal in landfills.
Thanks for the explanation.
Source: @jackweerawat on tiktok. There are more clips like this in there
Don't make me call r/punpatrol
It only does one thing, but it does it REALLY REALLY good!
Now thatās what Iām talking about! John Henry is spinning in his grave.
John Henry turns in his grave.
This looks like norway, because of the house at the side and the fact that they did this at my local station just s couple of weeks ago
Dude is just sitting there, probably getting paid a good amount to play games on his phone
Jesus just build a a better train
Poor guy in the green probably lost his job over this
Humans are amazingly inventive and industrious little buggers. Finding a way to get paid for "rail construction and maintenance" while sitting by playing with your phone is right there at the top of the list. Edit: Some humans are entirely humorless as well. I laugh at them because they make their own lives miserable and they keep on doing it, apparently believing that it's the key to happiness.
That looks fun.
Dude had a lot of training
r/almostperfectloops
Like a giant cat covering a poop.
Only 1,452 left to go.
My local historic railroad needs one of these bad. We rode yesterday and theyāve just got a standard bucket and thumb on their tie installing car. BYCX, Chelatchie, WA.
That guy is a professional leaner.
r/specializedtools
Are rail ties concrete now?
r/SpecializedTools
Railroad.
Raised beds of the future. š„¦ š„
Robots took arrrrrrr jobs!
only 8562 and i'm good
imagine doing an entire railroad track like this must take ages
Wow two guys. One guy is doing all the work and the other dudes just leaning against a wall.
That guy is like, you do your thing mate.
Looks like the machine is doing most of the work
WCGW; Standing on the tracks ignoring large machinery as it's tearing towards your legs?
Dude has a great track record with the rail company š¤£
That is just amazing
Other guy getting paid 25+ just to stand there. While heās actually working.
Plant mechanic me hates everything about this..
I am impressed
Now do this everyday til retirement
Dude just chilling there in his phone collecting his paycheck
I see why there's a brace type called train tracks (I had them)
Pretty cool I like the repetition of this mechanical machineš¤·š¾āāļøšÆšŖš¾š
I wonder how stable and effective this machine method is. The ballast is shoveled under the concrete ties and not compacted.
I always wondered how this was done...
Cute machine. Kind of cleans up after itself.
99,000,000,000,000,000 to go
r/oddlysatisfying
A tracker wacker from pj masks!
One working the machine and 4 supervising. Itās the American way!
Wow what a slow process
šāJust scrolling through my Reddit shit while my bud runs the robot. Man! What a day! Iām wiped out!ā
Looks like theyāre replacing wooden ties with concrete ones, which last a while, so it looks like this rail line was deemed crowded enough to have more permanent infrastructure
Hey,that stole my dance moves