The North American rail network is just that, a network. It’s an interconnected web of rail that runs throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. If there’s an issue in one area, it can create ripple effects that impact other railroads and customers. Roadmaster Zach Keelaghan keeps that in mind while inspecting track at Fort Saskatchewan Industrial Rail Services in Alberta, Canada.

In March of this year, Keelaghan was inspecting Watco’s outbound track. Watco owns and maintains all the track within the industrial site, but maintenance boundaries near interchanges can be harder to define. Here, that responsibility changes in the middle of a wye, on a curve between two switches.

He saw deteriorating and sunken ties, gauge deviation, and misaligned joints on the other side of the property line. He took photos and sent them, along with the track agreement, via email to his local contact. Keelaghan kept tabs on the track while awaiting a response and continued to follow up as conditions deteriorated further.

“It was great awareness from Zach,” said General Manager Rich Balsiger. “When he’s inspecting Watco track, he looks beyond just what we are responsible for. He knows that an outage not only affects Watco and our customers. It could impact the main line and their customers nearby.”

After several reminders, the track was taken out of service for repairs. Those have been made and that track is back in good condition.

“He’s diligent,” Balsiger said. “He continued to follow up, and I think he prevented a derailment, saving more costly and longer service interruptions for our customers and other companies further down the line. He saw something he thought was wrong and didn’t stop until it was addressed.”

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