Successful Installation of the Second Life System (SLS)

Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group (RSRG) has successfully completed its next SLS project in Canada. Following earlier installations in New Westminster on a swing bridge near Vancouver, BC (2022) and a frog alignment in a turnout in Prescott, Ontario (2021), the innovative Second Life System (SLS®) has now been successfully installed in timber ties on a 100-meter steel truss bridge  for a Class 1 client.

The SLS is a patented system that extends the service life of wooden ties. By restoring the tight fit of tie screws and resetting track alignment and gauge, the system helps to reduce maintenance costs, avoids additional closures, and can extend the lifetime of track sections and switches by up to five to ten years – all while rail traffic can continue to operate.

For this project, the RSRG partner REMCAN Projects carried out the installation work. The task involved rehabilitating the bridge deck ties, which had suffered lag lifting of 10–12 mm after more than a decade of heavy freight traffic with 36-ton axle loads. The one-directional operated track over bridge, part of the Yale Subdivision, is amongst the busiest in Canada with over 125 MGT (million gross tons) per year and is shared by, the two largest Class 1 network owners in Canada.

Despite challenging conditions of short work windows, the newly trained REMCAN crew quickly mastered the SLS process and installation. In total, 220 ties, 440 6-hole plates totaling in 2,640 lag holes were successfully retrofitted.

A job well done – and another strong reference for the SLS system in North America.