Railroad
National and regional railroads throughout the world have a significant inventory of bridges. Many of these structures were constructed decades ago and have reached or exceeded their original service life. The remote location of these structures that is often hard to access make repairs with conventional materials such as concrete and steel very difficult and costly. QuakeWrap’s Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) products can offer an economical solution to many such repair projects. Whether it is for corrosion repair of concrete and steel beams and columns, strengthening of deteriorated timber beams and piles, increased live load capacity, or seismic upgrade, FRP offers fast, economical and long lasting solutions compared to conventional repairs with steel and concrete.
Our engineered FRP solutions ensure the project is completed on time, within budget and with minimum disruption of service. In some cases, we can train the railroad’s maintenance crew so they can maintain their bridges when their workload is light to allow such tasks. QuakeWrap® FRP systems have been extensively tested by several state departments of transportation and their effectiveness on strengthening of piles and columns has been well documented.
Some of the repair and strengthening projects in railroad industry that can benefit from QuakeWrap® engineered FRP solutions are:
- Repair and strengthening of corrosion damaged concrete decks, beams and girders for both flexure and shear
- Repair and strengthening of corrosion damaged concrete or steel columns and piling using the PileMedic® system
- Repair and strengthening of rotted timber piles in river beds with PileMedic® while keeping the cross sectional size of the pile virtually unchanged
- Repair and strengthening of corroded corrugated metal pipe (CMP) culverts busing StifPipe®
- Strengthening rectangular culverts with wet layup FRP to increase their live load capacity
- Strengthening of floor decks, beams and columns for larger live loads and increased rating of the bridge
- Seismic strengthening of railroad bridges for enhanced resiliency in case a major earthquake occurs
- Strengthening of corrosion-damaged submerged piles and pier walls with PileMedic®
- Repair of existing and construction of new pipelines that carry water or other fluids across a bridge using the InfinitPipe® technology
- Repair of corrosion-damaged abutments, seawalls, sheet piles, etc. with SPiRe® system
In most cases, QuakeWrap engineers can provide a complete “turnkey” design-build solution that includes sealed engineering drawings by our in-house engineers, all of the materials needed, and installation by one of our approved and certified installers or our construction company. This unique turnkey design-build approach results in significant efficiency, time and cost-savings, and minimizes the potential errors and delays that can result when multiple groups are involved in one project.
QuakeWrap® also welcomes the opportunity to partner with owners, architects, engineers and contractors by providing any single aspect of the project, i.e., design, materials, or installation for a specific project in any bridge project.