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Rail ServicesQORE Property Sciences understands the industry’s need for track, bridge, and tunnel expansions/upgrades, along with the need for intermodal facilities, and we have the team and equipment to provide data for infrastructure design and development. As an Engineering News Record Top 250 design firm, our engineers and scientists bring extensive design experience related to foundations, earth retention and stabilization, rock and tunnel engineering, slope stability, environmental, and materials consulting. Our certified in-house laboratories support both our engineering and materials testing groups. Our firm owns and operates a unique fleet of hi-rail mounted drill equipment that permits us to drill and sample in multiple directions- tunnel roofs, sides and floors. We also operate electric drill equipment which can be used in confined spaces on or off rail-mounted transporters. The advantage of using QORE’s drilling services is the multi-directional drilling, ability to drill in confined spaces, and the limited amount of time needed to complete the job. With QORE, clients are partnered with one firm that provides specialized drilling coupled with years of experience supplying geotechnical and environmental engineering, construction monitoring and testing, and materials engineering consulting.
OWNER: Norfolk Southern Railway Company PROJECT COST:
$30,000,000 COMPLETION DATE:
Currently Under Construction QORE Property Sciences
was selected by the Johnson Western Gunite Company to
provide vertical core drilling services for the improvements to the Cowan
Tunnel located on the Norfolk Southern Railway Company’s Heartland
Corridor. The project required the use of an electric drill
mounted on a highrailer truck and trailer which was
capable of moving along the existing railroad track. The drill and lighting
systems were powered by a 20KW Wacker Generator.
Drilling was conducted in 10 hour shifts, Saturday through Wednesday from 10:00
a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily. These shifts were required to allow rail traffic to
move through the project site. Core drilling was required every 250 feet along the 3050
foot long tunnel in the crown of the masonry gunite
lined tunnel. Core holes were drilled 30 feet vertically into the crown of the
tunnel with cores being placed in wooden core boxes and logged by others.
QORE’s drilling crew was on site full time for 17 days of drilling. Water for
coring was extracted from an on-site deep well and supplied to the drill by
hoses placed along the tunnel wall. At the end of each shift, all rail mounted
equipment was removed from the tunnel and placed on a rail siding until the
next work shift.
OWNER: Norfolk Southern
Railway Company, Roanoke, Virginia CONTRACTOR: R.J. Corman
Railroad Construction, LLC COMPLETION DATE: 2008 The Heartland Corridor
Clearance Project will enable double-stacked international maritime and domestic
containers to be transported by rail between the Hampton Roads region of
Virginia and locations in the Midwest by increasing tunnel clearances and
modifying other overhead obstructions in western Virginia, West Virginia, and
through to Columbus, Ohio. The Heartland Corridor was designated as a Project
of National and Regional Significance under the recently enacted SAFETEA LU
legislation. The concern is this one of the major coal haul rail routes
for both domestic and international shipments. Therefore closing the
route 24/7 was not possible during construction; rather construction is being
completed in work windows. RJ Corman of Nicholasville, KY was awarded a contract by
Norfolk Southern Railway (NSR) for enlarging Hemphill 1 and Hemphill 2 in
Welch, West Virginia. These two tunnels are a portion of the 28 tunnels
along the route set to be enlarged. Overall there are approximately 6
miles of tunnels scheduled for work. Corman, a
major builder of new and rehabilitated rail in the U.S., has a contract that
includes vertical rock coring and probing of the tunnel on 250 foot spacing for
the purpose of determining new tunnel roof support. The required work had
to be completed within a 10-hour window, and any delay in clearing the tracks
totaled $100,000 per 15 minutes. Because of QORE’s previous
drilling experience at the Cowan Tunnel on this route, Corman
selected QORE for providing vertical rock coring on these tunnels. This
type of specialty drilling requires some unique approaches to coring normally
not found among most geotechnical consultants. QORE’s
approach includes:
QORE
completed the project within 11 days.
OWNER: CSX Corporation PROJECT COST:
$150,000,000 COMPLETION DATE:
July 1999 The
CSX Intermodal Facility in Fairburn, Georgia is a transfer point for loading
and unloading over the road tractor-trailers onto rail cars for
transport. The facility is located on an approximate 300-acre site and
the initial phase of development disturbed about one-third of this area.
The construction sequence involved a mass grading package of 3,000,000 cubic
yards of fill, and construction of roughly 100 acres of asphalt paving as well
as operational support facilities. QORE
Property Sciences provided geotechnical services to the project team to assist
in evaluating the overall site suitability and design services related
specifically to settlement issues, foundation, and pavement design. The
mass grading involved fills of up to 60 feet, making slope stability and fill
induced settlement items of concern. A sanitary sewer line was located
beneath the deep fill areas, therefore QORE executed a field and laboratory
testing program to predict the settlement of the line. We accurately
predicted the grade loss of the sewer line would be within tolerance for it to
remain serviceable. The
pavements were designed for traffic of 400 trucks per day, plus jockey trucks
which move the trailers around the yard, and large forklifts to load and unload
the trailers. These “pickers” generated axle loads of up to 200,000
lbs. A three-stage pavement design was selected to provide a durable and
cost effective pavement under the various traffic conditions. The
heavy-duty pavement section had to be less than 21 inches thick to allow the
site to balance at the grade necessary to match the rail. The
conventional design did not meet this criterion, but QORE designed a composite
heavy-duty section that utilized a soil cement sub-base to keep the section
within the required depth. We also implemented a field-testing program to
confirm that the in-place strength of the soil cement met project requirements.
OWNER: CSX Transportation
;
COMPLETION DATE:
2005 QORE Property Sciences was retained
by Vaughn & Melton Consulting Engineers to provide geotechnical engineering
services for a replacement bridge, Bridge 23 over Yellow Creek in Bell County,
Kentucky. The
existing bridge was a wooden trestle, simple span structure at the end of its
lifespan and needed replacement. The original piers were wooden piling
driven to refusal. These piling had deteriorated and were subject to
scouring, making it necessary for the railroad to add temporary supports
consisting of driven steel H piling to prevent the entire structure from
collapse. The new structure was a 5-span bridge replacing the older
11-span structure. The new structure used concrete piling socketed into bedrock to prevent scour. The
bridge site is located geographically in the Middlesboro Basin which is a known
meteorite impact crater. The meteorite caused large numbers of small faults and
dipping rock strata through the area. It has resulted in highly variable
geology, deeply weathered rock and shattered zones in the Middlesboro
area. To
design a foundation that accurately reflected the potentially complicated
geologic site conditions, QORE’s exploration plan was to drill directly where
the piers were going to be placed. QORE’s approach was to place a track
drill on the narrow one track trestle, drilled through the wooden deck to the
water and core competent bedrock. The exploration revealed that the bed
rock dipped in all borings. All three borings had different depths
to rock and different engineering properties, even different bearing
capacities. Therefore, it became necessary to design for different bearing
capacities and embedment. It is likely some of these critical subsurface
conditions would have been missed if the holes had been drilled adjacent to the
bridge or interpolated from the abutments. QORE’s ability to access the
tough site conditions enabled us to evaluate the actual conditions at each pier
allowing the design team to deliver the design that was most cost-effective for
the actual conditions.
CLIENT: Junction City Mining Company PROJECT COST:
$1,000,000
COMPLETION DATE:
2001 Junction City Mining Company needed
a 2.5-mile-long rail spur to connect rail facilities at a
sand and gravel quarry with the existing Central of Georgia rail
line. The quarry planned to use the rail spur to transport sand and
gravel from its mining operations. Land parcels adjacent to the rail
corridor were donated to Talbot County to create an industrial park.
Businesses within the industrial park also planned to utilize the rail for
shipments. QORE
Property Sciences was contracted by Junction City Mining Company to conduct
ecological studies and prepare a wetland permitting document to the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers for the project. Studies performed included wetland
delineation, protected species surveys, cultural resources surveys, a wetland
mitigation plan, and mitigation monitoring over a three-year period using
circular plot sampling methodology. Habitats along the corridor included
pastures, oak-hickory forests, small stream crossings,
regenerating clear-cut areas, young pine plantations, and sandhill
habitat. The
proposed rail corridor was designed to minimize the impacts to wetlands and
streams identified during wetland/stream delineations. Three
above-the-headwaters, bed-and-bank, intermittent streams occur along the
proposed rail corridor. The total amount of fill required for box
culverts at each crossing were 6.0 cubic yards at the most northern stream
crossing, 13.5 cubic yards at the larger stream, and 5.1 cubic yards at the
most southern stream crossing. Metropolitan
Atlanta Rapid Transit Aurthority (MARTA) In
1997, MARTA selected QORE Property Sciences from a group of Atlanta’s premier
geotechnical and material testing/monitoring firms as its geotechnical
consultant. This role includes providing geotechnical design recommendations
for all structures, including both rail and bus facilities, and geotechnical
construction oversight. The geotechnical construction oversight includes
pile installation, subgrade evaluations, drilled
shaft inspection, and shallow foundation assessments.
OWNER: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit
Authority
(MARTA)
COMPLETION: 2003 QORE Property Sciences performed the
subsurface exploration for MARTA’s new Rail Services Facility at Armour Drive Maintenance Facility. The purpose of the
exploration was to obtain subsurface data to evaluate general rock and
groundwater levels, excavation conditions, foundation systems, and track and
floor support at the site. This new rail service facility includes buildings
which house rail car maintenance facilities, trackage
for rail car storage and three bridges. This project included geotechnical
findings and recommendations for maintenance facility buildings and storage
track areas. The assumed maximum column loads were 500 kips and average
floor loads of 200 psf or less for the new
Maintenance and Overhaul (M&O) Building. It served as the primary
storage, maintenance and dispatching facility for new rail cars MARTA had on
order. SITE
CONDITIONS - The site is bounded by the
existing MARTA north rail line on the west, the CSX railroad on the north,
Interstate 85 on the east and southeast; and Armour Drive
on the southwest. The Armour Drive area had been
developed and redeveloped several times. Buildings shown on the 1928
topographic map no longer exist. Geologic mapping indicated that the site
is underlain by the Clairmont Formation composed of
gneiss and amphibolite. The weathering processes that
formed the overburden soils and partially weathered rock were extremely
variable. Both alluvial and fill soils were encountered in our
exploratory borings. FIELD
INSPECTION AND TESTING - Field
sampling and testing by QORE were in accordance with ASTM procedures and
established geotechnical engineering practice. Our project and principal
engineers made numerous trips to the site to observe topographic features,
building condition, and surface indications of the site geology and original
topography. Data from exploratory borings indicated that the eastern part
of the Maintenance & Overhaul (M&O) Facility, the Hazardous Waste
Storage Building, the Train Wash Facility, the Gap Breaker Building, and the
eastern part of the train storage yard, including the Cleaner Building and MOW
track enclosure, were underlain by potentially compressible old fill and
alluvial soils. QORE recommended deep foundation support for the western
part of the M&O structure as well as use of pre-load and surcharge fill to
pre-consolidate the old fill and alluvium beneath the western part of the
M&O facility and the Hazardous Waste Storage Building. QORE
recommended undercutting and replacement of loose fill soils beneath the train
wash facility and a combination of undercutting and replacement plus pre-load
and surcharge fill for the Gap Breaker Building. Other structures,
including the west side retaining wall, the eastern part of the M&O
building, Traction Power Substation, Control Tower, Cleaner Building, and MOW
track enclosure may be supported on shallow spread footings after recommended
site preparation and/or structural fill construction. LABORATORY
TESTING - In addition to split-barrel
samples, QORE obtained several relatively undisturbed thin-wall tube samples
and bulk samples of soils for laboratory testing which included moisture
content determinations and liquid and plastic limits, grain size, standard
Proctor compaction, California Bearing Ratio and consolidation tests.
OWNER:
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid transit
Authority (MARTA) PROJECT COST:
$45,000,000 COMPLETION
DATE: July 2003 The
Lindbergh Transit Oriented Development project consisted of upgrades to the
existing transit station to provide improved access to the new BellSouth City
Center and surrounding areas. The modifications included construction of
an east platform, renovation of existing platforms, and extension of roof
canopies. QORE
Property Sciences performed a subsurface exploration to evaluate footings, slab
subgrade evaluations and other field consultations
related to retaining walls and excavation conditions. We then provided
recommendations concerning relocation of station U-walls, platform support,
excavation conditions, and other geotechnical aspects of design and
construction. We were able to consolidate existing geotechnical
information with our subsurface exploration to provide cost effective and
practical solutions including the use of existing foundations.
OWNER: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) PROJECT
COST: $75,000,000 COMPLETION DATE:
Winter 2000 QORE
performed geotechnical construction monitoring for the North Springs Transit
Station, Sections F510, F520 and F530. The North Springs Transit Station
consists of a 2,500 car parking deck, an open air transit station, a flyover
from the adjacent GA 400 highway which leads directly into the parking deck and
a 70-foot-tall tie-back retaining wall leading up to the station. Work
at the station included construction monitoring of over 100 14x73 H-piles, inspection
of 7 and 8-foot diameter drilled shafts, and assessments of shallow foundations
and subgrades for retaining walls and other
miscellaneous structures. Work at the retaining wall included monitoring
slope inclination installation, obtaining readings and evaluating results;
observing the installation, stressing and load testing of tendons; obtaining
readings from load cells to evaluate long-term stress in the tendons; and
monitoring piezometer installation and evaluation of piezometer data to evaluate the effectiveness of
dewatering. With QORE’s help, the general contractor was able to finish
the foundation portions of the project on time and within budget.
OWNER:
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit
Authority (MARTA) PROJECT COST:
$75,000,000 COMPLETION DATE:
Winter 2000 QORE
performed geotechnical construction monitoring for the Sandy Springs Transit
Station. The Sandy Springs Transit Station consists of a 1,200 car parking
deck, an underground transit station, and an underground pedestrian
tunnel. Work at the station included construction monitoring of over 550
14x73 H-piles, and assessments of shallow foundations and subgrades
for retaining walls and other miscellaneous structures. With QORE’s help
the contractor was able to complete the foundation portions of the job on-time
and within budget.
CLIENT:
Florida Department of
Transportation PROJECT COST: $9,000,000 COMPLETION DATE:
1997 Polk Parkway is a 25-mile,
limited-access toll road, connecting major cities within Polk County, in addition
to Interstate 4 via a southerly route around the city of Lakeland. The Parkway
is part of the 443-mile Florida Turnpike system. QORE Property Sciences performed
Pile Dynamic Testing on over 150 test piles using Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA)
for the multiple bridge structures of this 26-mile roadway. Our services
included field testing and evaluation of PDA data for the construction of 28
bridges. In addition, our contract with the Florida Department of
Transportation included monitoring instrumentation for the surcharging of
approximately 5 miles of the roadway. The surcharging was required in the
roadway area to stabilize phosphate “slime” soils.
OWNER: Southeast Kentucky Economic Development Authority
COMPLETION
DATE: 2007 QORE
Property Sciences was retained by MSE of Kentucky, Inc., as geotechnical
engineering consultant for the investigation of sinkholes that developed during
construction of this Norfolk Southern’s Rail
Park. This project is located south of Somerset Kentucky adjacent to the
NS rail line which is a major transportation route between Atlanta, Georgia and
Chicago, Illinois. This rail park is strategically located to promote
economic development for southern Kentucky by using location combined with a
major rail line. This part of Kentucky is noted for widespread karst features of significant size, which often impact all
types of development. QORE often helps clients evaluate the hazard
potential and develop practical solutions to address these construction
challenges. QORE addressed the opening of
multiple sinkholes by digging out the soil to rock, located less than 20 feet
below the ground surface, using a 1H:1V stepped
excavation. We then lined the excavation with a geotextile,
then refilled the excavation with smaller gradations of clean to stone to
within a few feet of the surface. A geotextile
was placed over top of the graded stone and capped with native materials.
This method allowed the water entering the area to continue flowing as it had
before construction, but prevented soil mass loss into the sinkhole resulting
in a stable subgrade for pavement or the new rail
beds.
OWNER: Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet COMPLETION
DATE: 2003 QORE
Property Sciences was retained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District
4 Elizabethtown as the geotechnical engineering consultant to design a
correction for rock falling onto the highway. The highway provides a link
from Elizabethtown to Louisville, and passes through the Fort Knox Military
Reservation. The existing route is a busy 4-lane rural arterial that serves the
Army base at Fort Knox and provides accessibility to Interstate 65. This
portion of the route has little to no clear zones, un-safe highwalls,
substandard drainage and pavement, and major safety concerns with rock falling
into travel lanes and on travel way traffic. The
QORE design staff worked closely with KYTC Geotechnical Branch and District 4
staff to arrive at a workable solution to improve safety along this one mile
section of US 31 W. To solve the problem the design selected created an 18 ft.
fall bench on each side of the highway and construction of a series 15 ft. rock
benches up the 100 ft. rock face. Drilling, coring and open face logging of the
rock cut slopes identified the location for benches by locating seams of
unstable material that were eroding by freezing, thawing and ground water. Cross
drains required extensions and clean-out due to material build up. Also a
24-inch raw water main along the south bound lane was identified and protected
during construction since it is the main raw water supply main for the military
base. A
Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) plan was critical to the success of construction
since Fort Knox used the route to move personnel and equipment as necessary.
The MOT included alternate routing and viable detours, along with staged
project phasing, to allow existing traffic movement to continue with minor
inconveniences to the public and better efficiency for the contractor. Close
coordination with KYTC District 4 staff and Fort Knox personnel was kept open
and informative using several project team meetings during the course of the
project. Environmental and utility concerns, in addition to right of way
issues, were resolved at the front end of the project.
OWNER:
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
COMPLETION DATE: 2008 QORE was retained by the Kentucky Transportation
Cabinet (KYTC) Geotechnical Branch to provide engineering design services to
correct a potential rock hazard associated with a large rock overhang had been
undermined by adverse weather conditions. This potential rockfall
hazard laid adjacent to the road over Wolf Creek Dam which impounds the waters
of Lake Cumberland. This was a highly visible project to the traveling public
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The
KYTC Geotechnical Branch’s first approach was to use a GEOBRUGG SPIDER S4 mesh
material to retain the rock overhang using rock bolts, mesh and cross cables to
retain the potential rockfall. This approach
was based on KYTC’s estimate of rockfall mass based
solely on a visual estimate. Upon field review by QORE’s staff geologist and
engineer, it was determined that the potential rock hazard volume was twice the
volume originally identified with a larger number of fracture lines visible. Upon
identifying the increase of the rockfall area, QORE
sent its field survey crew to generate a 3-D map of the face of the rockfall area using a reflectorless
total station shooting 1,300 data point on the face of the rockfall
area. This field information was downloaded and modeled using InRoads computer program to generate cross sections every
five feet along the surface of the rockfall area.
This allowed the QORE team to generate the quantity of material in the hazard
zone that needed to be removed in order to meet safety requirements. Upon
completion of this design, KYTC held a meeting with QORE, KYTC Division of
Maintenance Geotechnical Branch and Central Office staff to discuss QORE’s
findings. QORE determined that the KYTC approach would not work, and in fact
would have a high likelihood of catastrophic failure. KYTC then contracted QORE
to perform the remedial design work. This is the first time anyone has used this
design technique for rock hazard mitigation. QORE presented their completed
design alternative to the Cabinet who was impressed with what QORE had
developed with this new technique. |
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