aqaba railway corporation - Jordan

http://www.arc.gov.jo/intro.htm

INTRODUCTION

ARC is solely a mining railway, operates 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year and transports phosphate rocks from the three phosphate mines (El-Hasa, Al-Abyadh and Shidyia) to Aqaba port for export purposes. ARC utilizes a single line system with 18 crossing stations. The only customer for ARC is Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. (JPMC).
Trains operated by ARC consist of 30 wagon attached via automatic couplers and powered by two locomotives (multiunit system). Pay load of each train is 1278 tons.
Train round trip from El-Hasa and Al-Abyadh is around 24 hrs. Whereas this round trip is nearly 12 hrs from Shidyia.
ARC plans to transport 3 million tons of phosphate this year.

LEGAL STATUS OF ARC

In 1972,Act No. 22 declares the establishment of Aqaba Railway Corporation as a financially and administratively independent entity.
ARC was given the legal authority and responsibility to construct, operate and maintain a railway system for passengers and goods transport purposes.

MANAGEMENT OF ARC

- The Board Of Directors (BOD) is the highest body of ARC’s management system. It is chaired by the minister of transport and consists of seven members, five are governmental officials and two represent the private sector. BOD is formed by a cabinet decree upon the recommendations of the chairman.
-    Director General (DG) is appointed by the BOD
-    Directors of operational and administrative depts. Are appointed by the DG.

INFTRASTRUCTURE

-    Permanent Ways (PW)
To make use of the section of  the old Hidjaz Railway track, from El-Hasa to Baten El-Ghoul (168.9 km), ARC decided in 1974 to rehabilitate this section using the same track parameters including the gauge (1050 mm). A new track of the same specification was constructed from Baten El-Ghoul to Aqaba port. Phosphate unloading and storage facilities were also constructed.
A track renewal and upgrading program was launched in 1990 using S49 rails on concrete sleepers and Pand-roll fasteners.
Due to the heavy maintenance requirements, ARC uses high-tech PW machines, including a state of the art flash butt-welding machine, a ballast cleaning machine, an ultrasonic inspection trolley, a track parameters recording machine and a number of tapping machines.

TRACK DESIGN PARAMETERS

Total length of main lines            293.7 km
Gauge                        1050 mm
Max. gradient                    2.7 %
Length of stations’ spur lines            450 m

MAJOR MAINTENANCE DIFFICULTIES

-    Rail corrugation: few sections has recently started to show medium and long wave rail corrugations. The phenomenon is being dealt with by rail replacement since ARC does not have a rail grinding machine
-    Moving sand: the section south to Baten El-Ghoul suffers from moving sand. Sand fills the cavities between ballast gravels causing higher stiffness of the track structure. Continuous ballast cleaning adds to the maintenance direct and indirect cost.

ROLLING STOCK

-Locomotives: the table below shows the numbers, types and specifications of the locomotive fleet used in ARC. All are diesel-electric, made by General Electric/ USA.
Type    Qty    Weight    Year        B. hp
U17    10    94.3        1974        1825
U18    3    94.3        1977        1825
U20    12    103        1980        2050  
Average availability for the locomotive fleet is 81%.
-    Wagons: ARC uses Hopper Type wagons on self-steering cross braced bogies. Numbers and technical specifications of the wagon fleet are tabulated below:
Make     Year    Body material   Mass (tons empty)      Payload (tons)
Bre-Metro1974    Steel            …..        ……..
Gregg    1977    Steel       
F. G    19…    Aluminum   
Samsung         Aluminum

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SIGNALLING

ARC utilizes the colored light manual token-less block system. Stations are equipped with route relay interlocking devices, operated and monitored via a display panel. Block signaling uses UHF radio with fail safe frequency division multiplexer.
VHF communication is used between trains and stations .