FDCE provides comprehensive railroad bridge management services, from Bridge Management Plan preparation, updates, coordination of Federal Railroad Administration audits, and the in-house auditing of ones existing plan and practices in accordance with the Bridge Safety Standards.

Engaging our team and their broad knowledge of railroad operations, safety practices, and engineering will ensure your bridges meet all standards and general practices under the Bridge Safety Standards. We strive to be your partner in safe, economical, and efficient bridge management.

FDCE provides a top-to-bottom design tailored to the needs of each client, whether the project is a new bridge on a new or rehabilitated line, a new steel superstructure on an existing foundation, or a rehab of an existing structure.

Our team designs and repairs many different rail support structures, including locomotive/car inspection pits and slabs, wash down slabs, unloading pits, and bridge cranes.

We provide everything from surveying, subsurface explorations, necessary permits (construction, environmental, etc.), design, plans and specifications, bid phase monitoring, and construction observation in coordination with our network of subcontractors and subconsultants.

FDCE provides user-friendly load ratings of a bridge’s primary and secondary components. We prepare an executive summary detailing normal and maximum ratings at various operating speeds and include a full report of calculations and methods. We can tailor load ratings to any client’s specific equipment. If warranted, we also include a preliminary repair and cost analysis outlining the required steps to meet desired speed and capacity.

FDCE performs a variety of inspection services. We provide comprehensive inspections (meeting all federal or other regulatory requirements) conducted using visual, tactile, and auditory skills with attention to detail to detect cracks, damaged or broken components, signs of wear and tear, distress caused by overload or the misapplication of loads, changes in condition from previous inspection, or changes from the as-designed and as-built condition. FDCE has inspection experience with structures of all sizes and uses SPRAT climbing and rope access techniques when necessary.

If necessary, we also provide more detailed, comprehensive inspections of one or more members or components to identify or quantify deficiencies not normally detected during an Annual Inspection. This inspection may include the use of more advanced Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques and provides sufficient details and measurements to perform an evaluation of the depreciated load capacity of the structure or components.

When warranted we also provide comprehensive scour and/or underwater inspection services utilizing both scuba and snorkeling techniques. FDCE has two certified bridge inspection divers.

When FDCE completes a bridge inspection, our clients know exactly what repairs are required and how to safely and efficiently budget maintenance costs several years.

FDCE routinely analyzes individual structures and entire rail lines for their capability to handle excess dimension and weight movements. We coordinate with many rail partners and incorporate depreciated structural ratings of bridges and laser or field measurements for dimensional clearances.

FDCE is ideally situated, and has engineers with the experience necessary, to provide inspection assistance to law firms representing vessels, pier owners, or tug boat operators in litigation arising from damages caused during the docking and departing process.

With a combined 35+ years of inspection experience, the staff at FDCE is more than qualified to perform emergency inspections due to an incident which may have resulted in a change in condition of the structure, such as derailment, fire, flood, earthquake, or collision impact.

With the increased pressure from the Federal Railroad Administration on track owners to better maintain and document their bridges, and more specifically their defects, the next logical progression of these requirements will affect those structures that do not currently fit the definition of a bridge.

FDCE has the personnel and experience to provide an all-inclusive accounting of those structures that are <10’-0” and do not have a “deck” as defined by FRA.

Once completed this inspection and inventory can easily be monitored and re-inspected by railroad personnel in subsequent years. FDCE would only take a minimal role in the monitoring of those conditions severe enough to warrant the presence of an engineer.

When it comes to compliance with the Track Safety Standards, most railroads handle their track inspections in-house. However, when the time comes to replace ties, raise the roadbed, realign a curve, undercut a section, or any other track upgrade FDCE can provide all necessary inspection and design support services.

Marine environments are inherently hostile to the structures we build in them. Combine that with the history of most waterfront structures and the increasing cost of maintenance, repair, and replacement and you have a complex situation many owners are continuously faced with overcoming.

FDCE has experienced, scuba-certified, inspectors capable of evaluating the vast array of situations that exist both below and above the water. With that first-hand knowledge we are able to assess each situation and provide specific advice and design with regard to repair, replacement, and maintenance.