L.B. Foster Innovates to Solve Global Infrastructure Challenges: Lake State Railway Partnership
- Dec 19, 2024
- Rail
L.B. Foster’s rail products and Friction Management (FM) solutions protect the assets and increase efficiency of railroads across the world. One of those railroads is Lake State Railway Company (LSRC), a short line railroad headquartered in Saginaw, Michigan.
Founded in 1992, LSRC transports more than 60,000 railcars annually and operates more than 375 miles throughout Michigan, with interchanges that provide the opportunity to ship throughout North America. The railroad transports goods such as grain, fertilizer, coal, chemicals, aggregates, cement, steel, and scrap metal. To protect these commodities, LSRC has frequently selected L.B. Foster’s rail solutions for their railway.
For the last several years, L.B. Foster has provided materials to LSRC such as continuous welded rail, turnouts, insulated joints, other track material, wayside lubricators, locomotive flange lubrication, and track mats.
FM product developments have been completed as a result of this partnership, such as the testing of locomotive hardware. L.B. Foster developed FM flange lubricators specifically for LSRC’s HTCR trucks that fit the railroad’s SD70M locomotives.
Roger Fuehring, Chief Mechanical Officer at LSRC, commented, “We collaborated with L.B. Foster to develop their flange lubricator for the HTCR trucks, which fit our SD70Ms and reduce flange wear as well as wear on the rail. This is the number one product that we use, but we also use L.B. Foster’s track mats.”
LSRC is a key customer of L.B. Foster’s Short Line market, purchasing materials such as rail, insulated joints, turnouts, and FM products. The FM products used by the railroad include wayside lubricators and consumables, track mats, locomotive hardware, and locomotive flange sticks.
Tom Klemm, Chief Engineer at LSRC, said “On the track side, we use L.B. Foster’s wayside lubricators, and we purchase rail trains, 80ft stick rail, and turnouts.”
L.B. Foster has improved the railroad’s track infrastructure by providing rail products and solutions that improve efficiency and protect assets. Tom added, “We have gone from small-jointed rail to continuous rail and L.B. Foster’s products reduce maintenance so much when they are in place. They also helped us to modernize our turnouts, which previously we were not able to get replacements for because they were old and worn-out. Now we have new assets from L.B. Foster that we can actually maintain and get parts for.”
L.B. Foster has been a key supplier of rail products for more than 15 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant programs and other initiatives throughout the United States, since 2020. Through the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the CRISI grant’s purpose is to provide funding for projects benefitting passenger and freight rail transportation systems by improving safety, efficiency, and reliability.
The railroad has benefited from federal and state grant programs such as the CRISI. Tom said, “It has taken track that is almost at its worst condition and revitalized it. At the end of next year, we will have replaced 16 miles of rail, which is probably close to 20,000 joints eliminated.”
When asked about their experiences working with L.B. Foster as a supply partner, Roger said “It has been phenomenal. When we approached L.B. Foster regarding the fact that there was no product line available for flange lubricators for the HTCR trucks, it was going to mean an increased amount of wheel turning on these locomotives and it was crucial that we limited the flange wear on them. We would go through quite a manual process in order to cut that flange, so by having them design and system that was a fit and come to our property multiple times to try different prototypes, that was a game changer for us in regards to the amount of wear and tear on our wheels, on the labor it takes to cut the wheels, and the longevity of making those wheels last longer provides huge savings for us.”
Tom commented, “My experience working with L.B. Foster has been really great. I’ve had great dialog with the sales representatives, and they’ve given me insights into where the market is and where it is heading. When we have a rail train purchase, they work to meet our needs very well; we have a short window to receive materials because we get weather a lot earlier and they work with us to get deliveries on time.”
L.B. Foster provides innovative rail solutions that improve and maintain safe and reliable operations for railroads such as Lake State Railway. Our products enable safety, improve information flow, keep things moving, monitor conditions, and enhance environments.
