RCC Fabricators, Inc. recently completed production of four flat cars for PATH. Since 1908, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson has maintained the vital fourteen mile-long rapid transit system serving commuters in Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, Hoboken and lower and midtown Manhattan. With thirteen stations and four active lines, it is the seventh busiest rapid transit system in the U.S. with an annual ridership of nearly 92 million. These cars will help PATH to maintain this system to its highest standards of safety and performance.
Each car is a low profile car with a 35-ton weight capacity. They will be used to haul large amounts of material through tight tunnel maneuvering spaces and allow workers to move freely around them while performing general maintenance, construction and repairs.
An unusually high level of coordination and teamwork was required for this design/build project and our team really went "above and beyond" normal procedures to complete the work. Each car was built from scratch to exacting specifications. In addition, the team created a detailed plan of assembly (based on the fabricated components and some trial and error) to build the cars. Some problems were dealt with "on the fly" while others were based on owner-submitted modifications to the original design.
The entire team pitched in to help keep the project moving ahead and on schedule.