Osborn was selected by the Great Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) to perform a comprehensive inspection of the entire existing catenary system for all rail lines and each catenary support structure. The objective of the program was to update existing records, upgrade the system to a state of good repair to comply with safety regulations, and enable the GCRTA to develop a continued in-house maintenance program. The total mainline track under wire is approximately 60 miles and contains roughly 3,000 support structures. The inspection included all mainlines, Central Rail, Brookpark and “Quonset Hut” yards, Tower City, and the Kingsbury Loop.

 

In conjunction with the GCRTA, Osborn developed a series of inspection forms to facilitate inputting of the catenary asset information into the GCRTA Ultramain database. The forms were tailored to meet the specific requirements of GCRTA for all components of the catenary system, including all catenary support structures.

 

Ground inspection of the catenary system included, but was not limited to, the support poles, foundations, guy structures, signage, grounding connections, disconnect switches, and balance weight assemblies. Aerial inspections were performed using the hi-rail bucket truck or line car to visually inspect all catenary system components, assemblies and sub-assemblies, lighting/surge arrestors, insulators, and support bracket assemblies, etc. All of our team members were trained in accordance with GCRTA safety procedures.

 

At the conclusion of our field inspection, we developed a State of Good Repair Estimate and Final Inspection Report of our findings as part of our deliverables. Osborn worked closely with GCRTA to ensure the field inspection work was able to take advantage of the regularly scheduled track outages to help reduce cost and increase our efficiency in completing the inspections.