A 28,500-ton supply of continuous welded rail (CWR) is being delivered to the New England Central Railroad for its project to improve the track on its Vermonter network, a 600-mile network that links St. Albans, Vt., with New York City and Washington, D.C. The "Vermonter" project is an effort to improve Vermont’s state-supported Amtrack service, and is being funded in part by the Federal Railroad Administration’s High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program, through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The CWR to replace about 140 miles of track is being supplied by rail distributor L.B. Foster Co., and manufactured by Steel Dynamics Inc. at its rail mill in Columbia City, Ind. According to L.B. Foster, the new welded rail will improve the speed of intercity passenger service and add capacity for freight carloads.

Specially equipped trains will deliver eighteen trainloads of the CWR, with the final delivery set for mid-2011. The project is scheduled for completion in mid-2012.

New England Central Railroad is an operating subsidiary of RailAmerica Inc., a private holding company for various short-line railroads.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) is a mini-mill operation that through its Structural & Rail Division casts carbon and specialty steel in billets for rolling into rail products, and finishes the rails on its CWR line. The line was updated recently to allow uninterrupted operation, in which it continuously welds 240-ft rails into welded strings up to 1,600 feet long.

In October, SDI’s standard strength rail was tested and approved by the BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad, and by Amtrak. These customers certified the rails’ adherence to specifications prescribed by the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Assn. (AREMA), as well as their own testing and evaluation protocols, making Steel Dynamics an approved rail supplier to Class I railroads.