Cross-country or crosstown, crossties mark the way

As old rights-of-way expand or are rehabilitated—and as new rail transit routes are created and extended—the growing demand for crossties will have to serve a more diverse marketplace.

L.B. Foster key supplier for San Francisco transit hub excavation

L.B. Foster Company has completed delivery of approximately 2,600 tons of 36-inch-diameter steel pipe to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc. for use as lateral shoring struts in the excavation of San Francisco’s new Transbay Transit Center. 

UP, L.B. Foster extend crosstie contract

L.B. Foster and Union Pacific have agreed on a multiyear extension of a contract for the supply of prestressed concrete ties from the supplier’s Tucson, Ariz., facility. The previous contract was set to expire Dec. 31.

L.B. Foster rebrands subsidiaries

L.B. Foster Co. announced Wednesday it is “changing the names of several of its subsidiary companies acquired from Portec Rail Products, Inc. to L.B. Foster Rail Technologies to more accurately brand the innovative unit and better represent its rail product development capabilities.”

Glide path to efficiency

Friction modification has morphed from art to science. Suppliers are spending a lot of time in the lab developing and testing products for proper lubricity, and that can withstand the temperatures and pressures of the wheel/rail interface.