Conrail Pavonia Yard, Camden, New JerseyEvolution of Change

By: Kevin VossConrail, Director of Track Maintenance1000 Howard BoulevardMount Laurel, NJ 08054856-231-2055Kevin.voss@conrail.com

Kristopher KneibConrail, Assistant Engineer of Signals1000 Howard BoulevardMount Laurel, NJ 08054856-231-2029Kris.kneib@conrail.com

1,018 words

Abstract

In 1967, a Railway Age advertisement was published highlighting General Railway Signal’s new low-cost Speed Frate System for Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pavonia Yard.It was advertised as a low-cost yard system that could process 45 cars in 8 minutes.

While traffic volumes at Pavonia were nearly 1000 cars per day in the 1960’s, traffic continued to decline over the next 20-25 years, and by the mid-1990’s, these volumedeclines resulted in rationalization of many of the outlying support yards in South Jersey.

As a result of these rationalizations, how traffic was processed at Pavonia for the South Jersey area changed. Eastbound traffic was being classed over the hump and westbound traffic was flat switched in the support yard. Similar processing continues today at Pavonia.

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Read through Slide 3

Talk to the Pavonia Yard map

Describe Eastbound and Westbound operation

By 2009, continued decreasing of freight traffic in Pavonia Yard supported the cessation of humping activity which would reduce operating and maintenance costs and the avoidance of near-term capital investment.

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Newly developed technology allowed for automated flat switching and single-person remote crews to operate without any utility personnel.

The hump elimination process started with the reconstruction of the support yard leadsand ladders.

After a couple of trials, the optimum grade for leads and ladders was established at .2%, which optimized the support yard functionality.Construction allowed for a single lead with power-operated switches and the establishment of a switch kiosk for the RCL operator to establish his cut list.

Highlight the switching lead being established in the photo

Support Yard

The technology that was installed is an automated flat yard switching system. By using the program in the kiosk, the switching list routes are lined by using power-operated switch machines and protected with overlay-style track circuits for cornering and point protection. The RCL operator also has a video camera kiosk that shows multiple views of the west end of the yard. This allows the RCL operator to check for proper clearance. The operator can program his or her switching list into the kiosk. At this point the operator can use the system in two modes. The first mode is in automatic, which will advance the switching list for the RCL operator by using overlay-style track circuits over the power switch machines in each route. Once the track circuits for the next route are clear, the system will line the next route for the operator. When the route is lined for

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the RCL operator, he or she will receive a cut light. That lets the operator know the route is lined. The RCL operator can now kick the car. The second mode of operation is remote mode. The RCL operator would use this when he or she is tying down cars in the body of the tracks. In this mode the RCL operator would use the radio to advance in the list, by entering in a DTMF code into the radio. The cut light that is located at the lead switch would light when the route is lined. These are the two modes of operation that are available in the kiosk.

Classification Yard

The theory of operation is the same in the Classification Yard and the Support Yard. The Classification Yard has three groups of tracks. It has one kiosk that controls all three groups. The kiosk has two modes of operation - auto and remote. The switching list can be entered in the kiosk for all three groups at one time. The route will line for each track in each group when it is available. The switching protection is different than the Support Yard. In the Classification Yard for point protection of the switch, we are using presence detector loops. For cornering protection, we are using the same overlay-style track circuits as the Support Yard. The route advancing uses the presence detector loop and the cornering track circuit to advance the switching list. The Classification Yard has three cut lights, one for each group, located next to each lead switch. The Classification also uses DTMF to advance the switching list in remote mode. In addition, the Classification Yard has video cameras installed for protection of the west end of the yard.

Receiving Yard

In the Receiving Yard, we installed power switch machines that are operated by push buttons. There are two crossovers in the Receiving Yard that have overlay-style track circuits over them for point protection. The two crossovers are the connections to the Support Yard and the Classification Yard.

Conclusion

For the last two years, the Support Yard has been in service. The operation has been successful in both modes of use. The initial training process took approximately six months to work out the learning curve for the new technology. During this time, all system and field equipment was thoroughly monitored and tested for proper operation. With the success of the Support Yard and the drop in volume, it enabled us to eliminate a costly Hump Yard operation. Conrail was able to remove and rebuild the retarders for our Hump Yard in North Jersey. Conrail was able to re-grade the crest of the Humping Lead for the Classification Yard. We installed a similar flat switching system as the Support Yard. The Classification Yard has been in service since July 2012. It also had six months of learning curve of the technology, monitoring and testing of equipment. The Receiving Yard is a work in progress; we installed power switch machines throughout the yard. The next step will be to set up entrance exit routes for incoming and outgoing trains. We will use DTMF codes via the radio to line the route. Conrail feels the evolution of Pavonia Yard, with the help of the technology that has been installed, will allow us to handle freight volumes in the most cost effective and efficient manner.

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Pavonia Yard - 1967 The Evolution of Change

• 1967 – Over 1,000 cars per day were processed during Pennsylvania Railroad Seashore Line operation at Pavonia

• 1976 – Pavonia Yard becomes part of Conrail

• 1987 – Pavonia Yard on average handles 800 cars per day

• During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Conrail rationalizes the South Jersey cluster by retiring many outlying support yards

• Hump and Classification Yard become customer-based yard for South Jersey, warranting humping of only eastbound traffic flows

• Westbound traffic flows are flat-switched in the Support Yard

The Evolution of Change

• Post-split, Pavonia Yard handled between 600 and 750 cars per day, excluding unit train operations

• By 2009, freight traffic requiring processing over the Pavonia Hump was in the 300-350 range

• These volumes further supported the cessation of humping activity to reduce operating and maintenance expenses and the avoidance of near-term capital investment

• The introduction of recently developed technology allowed for automated flat switching and single person remote crews to operate without any utility personnel

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