TranSystems has served the freight rail industry since our inception more than 40 years ago. Our breadth and depth of experience allows us to consistently provide a superior quality of work that is cost-effective to our clients. Our inspection teams follow strict safety rules. All of TranSystems’ inspectors are e-rail, lone worker and maintenance-of-way operating rules certified. Prior to entering railroad right-of-way, inspectors are equipped with track charts and time tables and attend or perform onsite safety briefing prior to beginning work. TranSystems’ processes for tie inspections are visual. These inspections follow the guidelines of the railroad’s criteria combined with a level of knowledge developed over time. Using a Recon PDA to record data, the inspector will record the location of the inspection division, subdivision, line segment, track and milepost, class of track, track type and type of tie. Once the visual inspection is completed, a grade is assigned to the tie. This process is performed to each tie in a given mile, with tie numbers written on the web of the rail every 200 ties. Characteristics such as turnouts, bridges, crossing, and curvature of the track are all recorded. At the end of each day, the files are electronically transferred to the railroad. Audit procedures are in place to ensure accuracy of the inspection. The tie inspectors also immediately call in track defects including broken rails and other unsafe track conditions to the train dispatcher. Together, these services are essential to maintaining safe and efficient freight transportation on our nation’s rail networks.