How do you survey something in a railroad r.o.w. if the railroad refuses to acknowledge your emails?
reflectorless?
what is it you need to locate? why do you need to locate it and what railroad?
I'd shoot the inside of the rails reflectorless and calculate the centerline. More of a PITA, but doable without permission and indenture into the railroad.
Visit them in person. Do NOT work in the ROW without their knowledge and permission unless you are up to facing heavy fines and possible incarceration. The federal government mandated fines are serious...
It has taken me as long as 5 months to get BNSF to respond.
> How do you survey something in a railroad r.o.w. if the railroad refuses to acknowledge your emails?
What railroad company is it and where are you located?
I had a contact with Amtrak many years ago, but he has moved on to a different industry and I don't have his contact info. However there may be people on this board who know RR officials and can get you a name to help fast track the process.
FYI, reflectorless is pretty much impossible in this situation.
> Visit them in person. Do NOT work in the ROW without their knowledge and permission unless you are up to facing heavy fines and possible incarceration. The federal government mandated fines are serious...
Ah, so the federal government is responsible for all this nonsense. I should have known.
Yeah - some group called OSHA...
here in San Antonio - we contact the local office (union pacific) - they have us scheduled for a "flag man" within a few days after obtaining the permit to work withing the ROW - at about $700 per day:-S
I'm sorry, but if you are stupid enough to get run over by a train, you are improving the gene pool.
> I'm sorry, but if you are stupid enough to get run over by a train, you are improving the gene pool.
I knew a surveyor who was killed 25 feet off the tracks when a piece of metal banding holding materials came loose from a flatbed car. Pretty sure his wife and kids didn't feel that his leaving the gene pool was an improvement.
my dad's uncle was killed by a train. work for southern railway for 26 years, everyday on the tracks. working on a coupling on a car when another car got loose in the yard and crushed him between the two right at waist level. he didn't die immediately, spent about 20 excruciating minutes trying to get the cars uncoupled before he passed.
think about that before you go bopping around the tracks without the right knowledge.
there are a bunch of us here who work for and know people in the different railroads. a little more info on your problem and you might be able to find some help.
Ok, my statement was a little harsh, but you can't make freak occurances illegal. Most of the people you hear of that die because they were run over by a train happen at railroad crossings. Are there any stats showing how many people, on foot, have been killed by trains over the years?
Wow - it's a good thing you don't work for me, because if you said that to me I'd fire you immediately. That is one of the stupidest statements I've ever heard!
The center line of the rails is not necessarily the center line of the right of way and should not be used to determine the location thereof.
Have you or your crew members recieved any "safety training"? Late last year I went for Conrail's contractor safety training. Without it you cannot get anywhere near the tracks. You would also need a flag man at about $1200/day.
Violations for trespass onto rrr ROW's are mandated by the Feds due to Conrail and other rr companies lobbying.
Conrail now condisers anything within 15 feet of the centerline of the tracks as "fouling" and it will get you thrown off their ROW.
He you ever taken a Railroad Safety class? The instructor at one class I went to said that the general public never hears about all of the accidents that happen in Railroad Right of Way.
[flash width=640 height=360] http://www.youtube.com/v/rLxKMea5l7g?version=3&feature=player_detailpage [/flash]
Heavy equipment, like trains, on a deteriorating infrastructure, are unforgiving, when it comes to flesh and bones....
We were locating wetland flags in the right of way on a remote section of track, which ran along the Puget Sound. We hiked in, about 2 miles and were hiking out with our "flagger". A train was coming at us at 60 miles an hour and we didn't see it or hear it until it was about 2 seconds away. That's not much time to get out of the way.
Please be safe out there...
Dugger
A couple years ago I did the staking for improvements to an old RR depot building. It was BNSF main track line, with an Amtrak passenger stop. Thus the improvements to the old train depot. Cool job.
I had to take an online course from the RR to get the permit to work on the property. Pretty basic stuff & mostly common sense, but I still needed to get their permit, and wear the badge whilst on site.
www.contractororientation.com
www.railroadeducation.com
www.intermodalorientation.com
www.railroadsecurityawareness.com
There are some other websites linked to it with more rules, etc. Which you may need to look into.
I think it cost around $50 (which I included on invoice as "reimbursable expenses), and took a couple hours (billed as "project training").
Like I would work for some pansy that can't tie his shoes without asking OSHA first.
chuck - I will have to follow up with your question - to my knowledge, the crew did not have to take any class safety training - I was actually on the site with the crew and met the RR's flag man who stayed on site with the crew while they were working adjacent to the RR ROW and crossing.