Pre Made Diamonds Are UP’s Best Friend
5 Track Deval Diamond replaced in less than 2 minutes!
Well, not actually. But, is all of the work seen in this high speed clip was accomplished in less than 48 hours!
Chicago’s 5 track Deval Diamond was the seen of Union Pacific’s highly organized and well planned effort to get the job done with little down time to the Chicago METRA. With a cost $2 million dollars and precise planning, it caused a 1/2 hour delay to the METRA commuter rail.
Union Pacific worked round the clock to make it happen. In the rain, 90 employees working in 12 hour shifts ripped out and reinstalled this 100,000 pound diamond by utilizing their secret weapon…… Pre made diamonds!
The pre made diamonds used new technology and reduced the number of track bolts needed by a whopping 76! This in turn will increase the life of the new diamonds and reduce the wear and tear on the track and trains!
The different types of diamonds are:
- Level junction: at grade or on the level
- Flying junction: individual tracks rise or fall in order to pass over each other
Let us know if these are your favorite kind of diamonds!
