SWITCHRITE ENDORSEMENTS

•  Provides a constant visual confirmation of the switch condition ahead for both facing and reverse switching operations by providing a positive visual warning indicating that either the switch has been run thru, or needs adjustment.
• Reassures employees of their routing by simply color coding the route. (This has proven very effective for employees that have previously expressed difficulty in reading switches- see attachment).
• Performs a “switch gauge inspection” every time a hand throw switch is operated account the devices are accurate within a 1/8inch tolerance.
• Switchrite is very low maintenance, does not require any special tooling, and in cost terms of manpower maintenance time per month allocated, Switchrite has required us less than 1/2 hour collectively accounting for minor adjustments and calibrating the device(s) itself.

Switchrite has been installed in Dover for only 11 months now and although we have managed to have three run thru events occurring within the entire period of which they have been installed, this is a dramatic improvement when you consider the fact that prior to the installation, Dover had experienced approximately 2-3 run thru incidents monthly of which several run thru switches were not identified following the initial event resulting in secondary incident in terms of costly derailments, loss of rail car for service use, and even several annulled passenger trains effecting thousands of commuters along our very heavily travelled Morris and Essex Rail Line.

In the aforementioned three Run Thru Events, all three switches that were previously run thru were quickly identified, repaired and returned to service having little to no impact to our revenue passenger trains.

It is also worth mentioning that although three run thru switch events did occur, secondary incident was prevented successfully because the gapped switch points were successfully visually indicated by switchrite showing the split green/red “failed” indication.

Switchrite has been installed on only the west end of our Dover rail yard, which was identified as an area of “greater than average switch run thru frequency”, and overall a positive demonstration of how a collaboration between C3RS, Rail Management and the FRA working together can collectively present a safe, low cost working solution that is truly effective.

Regards.

Darren C. Donald

NJT Rail Operations

Superintendent