Services
Bridge Management
ARE serves as an extension of railroad staff, providing inspection, engineering and planning services to short line and regional railroads throughout the United States.
Advancing Bridge Safety
We partner with our clients to obtain a clear understanding of their present and future traffic volumes, carloads and operations, including future plans to increase volume or load capacity. We work every day to improve systems, procedures and practices related to bridge safety management. This includes making sure bridges have been inspected according to schedule, reports are reviewed and filed correctly, load rating capacity is adequate for expected traffic, and repairs are initiated and constructed as designed.
Bridge Management Plans
Our focus is railroad bridges, as railroad bridge engineer (RBE) ARE provides the necessary services to meet or exceed FRA requirements for bridge safety. This includes preparing thorough Bridge Management Plans for each railroad we manage in partnership with railroad management.
Annual/Detailed/Special Inspections
ARE’s inspectors are experienced with inspecting and preparing recommendations for timber, concrete, and steel bridges. This includes emergency response, annual planned inspections, and detailed inspections to obtain information used to support load rating calculations. ARE provides inspection coverage throughout the entire U.S. for more than 20,000 bridge spans.
Load Ratings
ARE's engineering team has rated thousands of railroad bridges throughout the country and has experience evaluating all bridge types. Our internal processes are continually assessed to improve the deliverables to our clients and the efficiencies of our team.
Complex Bridge: Climbing/Ropes Access
ARE has the capacity and capability to provide inspection via standard work procedure access, utilize drones to visually assess difficult access area, and SPRAT certified inspectors to provide hands-on access when necessary for bridges over 12 feet. We have performed dozens of special inspections and reporting of large steel trusses using specialized equipment.