INNOVATION May-June 2018

Project Highlights •

LRT TRACKWORK DESIGN The 19-kilometre Region of Waterloo rapid transit system will connect Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo, ON, when it opens in 2018. Voestalpine Nortrak Ltd. was selected to design/manufacture the special trackwork. A design challenge involved a CN freight line that crosses the new LRT line. A movable point frog (MPF) designed to handle this situation incorporated North America’s first installation of a switch machine that drives both the switch points and the MPF with one power unit (a HYDROSTAR® system). Finite element analysis was required to ensure the points on the MPF were flexible enough to be thrown, and for the first time the slide plates incorporated ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene pads to reduce friction and eliminate the need to lubricate. Project owner: Region of Waterloo. Design/build/operate/maintain: Grandlinq consortium (Plenary Group Canada, AECOM, and Peter Kiewit Infrastructure). Special trackwork: voestalpine Nortrak Ltd. under contract to Peter Kiewit Infrastructure. voestalpine Nortrak Ltd.: Tom Lee, P.Eng., Ozan Peksoy, P.Eng., Martin Webb, P.Eng., Brian Charles, P.Eng., Esmaeil Tafazzoli, EIT, Arnie Chan BIOFUEL FACILITY The Surrey Biofuel Facility was developed as a public-private partnership. In 2015, the City of Surrey selected Orgaworld Canada to design, build, operate, and maintain the facility for a 25-year period. Construction began that year, and the facility commenced operations in 2017. The Surrey Biofuel Facility can convert more than 115,000 tonnes of residential and commercial organic waste per year into renewable natural gas and compost. Over 120,000 gigajoules of RNG will be produced each year, which will be used to power the City’s natural- gas waste collection vehicles and service fleets, while reducing CO 2 emissions in Surrey by 49,000 tonnes per year. The high-quality compost product will be used in landscaping, growing food, and other agricultural applications, as well as providing a renewable fuel source for the City’s district energy system. Engineers: Orgaworld, Stantec Consulting Ltd., Waste Treatment Technologies BV, Greenlane Biogas, Sacr é -Davey Engineering

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