Union Pacific Railroad Crossing Lift Realignment and Soil Stabilization

A Union Pacific Railroad Crossing at the entrance of the Mountain Cement plant located in Laramie Wyoming, had experienced settlement of the precast panels beneath the track.

A soft spot beneath the panels and the presence of water had exacerbated settlement and caused the crossing panels to become misaligned.
Ed Hinker, Union Pacific Track Maintenance Manager, contacted CST to analyze and create a repair plan to provide in situ stabilization and realignment of the crossing.

Due to the location of the crossing, it was imperative that repairs be made quickly, without a lot of disruption to both truck and train traffic utilizing the crossing.

CST partnered with UP maintenance personnel and designed a site specific injection plan to stabilize the soft soils, lift, and realign the precast crossing panels, as well as beneath additional areas of track.

A thorough site investigation was first conducted to identify areas and depths for repair.

CST’s technicians placed injection probes into predetermined locations and depths, installing a high density, expanding structural polymer to stabilize the soft spots in the soil, and lift to realign the settled crossing panels.

Additional areas of subgrade soil were also treated in adjacent track sections leading up to and away from the crossing. The railroad crossing precast panels were lifted, realigned, and stabilized in a matter of hours. The subgrade soils beneath the panels and areas of track were stabilized to mitigate against additional settlement.

Repairs were made with zero excavation and very little disruption to vehicles accessing the cement plant, or trains utilizing this section of track.

All areas were immediately available for use following the repair.

CST’s soil stabilization and concrete lifting technologies are an efficient and effective way to provide long term, precision repairs without the added expense of lengthy downtime or costly tear out and replace alternatives.