We’re so excited to be a part of so many industry events throughout the month of June! From expos and conferences to golf tournaments, the Holland team is ready to chat with you about our railway solutions. Read more to see where our teams are headed.
Wheel Rail Interaction Conference (WRI)
June 6th- 9th | Minneapolis, MN
Learn more about our rail measurement systems and services.
Congratulations to Sabri Cakdi, Senior Director of Product Development for Holland’s Rail Measurement Systems and Services (RMSS) division, for being named one of the 2023 Progressive Railroading Rising Stars! Progressive Railroading defines a "Rising Star" as someone under 40 years of age who has made, or is making, a positive impact on his or her company, organization, department or team, and is viewed by others — peers, colleagues, supervisors, clients or associates — as an up-and-coming leader in the rail industry. Sabri has significantly contributed to researching and developing new methods and systems in track geometry that help keep railroads moving safely.
Holland has been home to Olivet Nazarene alum, with their most recent being Kevin Vroman, Mechanical Design Engineer, who interned with us in the Summer of 2022. As a recent graduate, Kevin and Eric Wright, Mechanical Design Supervisor, partnered with Olivet and three of their students for their senior design project. Around the same time that Olivet was looking to partner with a company for their senior design project, Holland was looking for a better solution for our shear dies for our flash-butt welding services. These three students worked hand in hand with our engineering team for two semesters and challenged the students on a solution to make a more easily repairable and durable shear die.
A Holland customer was sourcing rail from an off-shore supplier and utilizing their fixed welding facility to create continuous welded rail (CWR) from stick rail. The stick rail had to be transloaded from a vessel onto flat cars, travel roughly 2,500 km from the port to the weld plant, and then CWR was transported 2,500 km back to the installation site. Transport from port to CWR plant to delivery took months and required a dedicated fleet of flat cars and CWR trains.
Luckily, Holland had the solution...
Holland is a force in the industry when it comes to flash-butt welding. However, what really drives that force is the people behind what makes our technology stand apart among the competition. Nicholas Martino, Director of Weld Quality, Research and Testing, is one of those people! We're so proud to feature a recent technical paper co-written by Nicholas titled "Electric Flash Butt Rail Weld Failure Called 'Concave-Convex'".
Nicholas graduated from Marquette University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and has worked with us at Holland since 2011. Starting as a Welding and Design Engineer, he's worked his way to overseeing Holland's Weld Quality lab.
Our own Sabri Cakdi for was cited within Railway Age’s March 2023 issue on Wheel / Rail Friction! Sabri’s research at TTCI titled “Modeling of Low Rail & Wheel Rolling Contact Stresses” was featured we couldn't be prouder. This recognition highlights their expertise and dedication to the rail industry.
Sabri Cakdi is an innovative leader in the field of track geometry measurement. He has significantly contributed to researching and developing new methods and systems that help keep railroads moving safely. Sabri is a native of Turkey and attended Istanbul Technical Center, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Tasked with designing and building a fixed plant continuous rail weld line from scratch; one of Holland’s industry partners found themselves in the market for many specialized pieces of equipment.
November 8 marks National Indigenous Veterans Day, a time to honour the contributions of all First Nations, Inuit and Métis men and women who have served and continue to serve Canada.
Learn about the inspiring stories of Indigenous Veterans and their significant role in the military over the years: http://ow.ly/ec0q50LkoCg
Holland is proud to have received the 2022 Innovation Award from REMSA (Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association) for our HAMR™ service!
The Innovation Award honors organizational achievement by a REMSA member company which creates an innovative solution, product, or piece of equipment that better serves previous methods of completing a similar task within the railroad maintenance-of-way industry.
Holland is headed to Fort Worth, TX this month!
We are excited to showcase our products at the RSI Expo & Technical Conference October 11th through 13th!
RSI is the only all-inclusive trade association for railway suppliers. But what does that mean to us? Representing more than 200 companies, RSI acts on behalf of the smallest to largest suppliers to North American freight and passenger railroads and their 150,000 employees.
After a few years of delays due to COVID-19, we were so excited to participate in this year's Innotrans show in Berlin, Germany! With thousands of exhibitors from over fifty countries, this is truly the largest railway trade fair in the world.
This year alone, around 140,000 visitors attended Innotrans! Holland was proud to showcase several products and services that keep railways around the globe moving safely and efficiently. At the heart of Holland, our flash-butt welding machines and equipment provide high quality flash-butt welds in a number of configurations.
When it comes to flash-butt rail welding, Holland is a name of force throughout the railroad industry. With over 250,000 welds performed annually and fifty years of mobile flash-butt welding experience, we’re proud to have years of knowledge and experience to drive our technology forward. What truly stands us apart from the competition is our Intelliweld® Control System.
In our history of mobile welding, we’ve used at least five different welding control systems and around 2014, the third-party control system we were utilizing discontinued their system. This put us in an interesting position for us to start developing our industry leading Intelliweld® Control System.
Join our partner Cordel, for a free webinar showcasing five common business cases for LiDAR in Rail on August 16, 2022 at 11am EST. Led by railroad LiDAR and GIS expert Erik Henderson, this session will explore five everyday railroad use cases and demonstrate how to extract valuable information for each from a LiDAR point cloud.
Our Holland Rail Services Australia team has been hard at work throughout Western Australia with a number of projects. See our recent project on Claremont Station below to learn more about how HRSA was able to help with a solution.
The Situation:
The Claremont station project was part of the Public Transport Authority network on the Fremantle train line in Western Australia. This project was an important part of the Metronet package to improve passenger experience at the station, increase service frequency and allow direct access to the Forrestfield-Airport Link. New 50kg One Steel rail was required to upgrade the Up and Down main of the Fremantle train line along with the installation of two new turnback facilities.
June 5th – 7th Holland had the pleasure of exhibiting and presenting at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Rail Conference in San Diego, California.
During our exhibition time, we chatted with current and hopefully future customers on the services and value Holland brings to transit rail lines across North America. From our one-of-a-kind transit testing vehicle to our customized flash-butt rail welding solutions, we have several ways to keep transit and passenger lines moving safely and efficiently.
On May 24th, Holland's Director of Product Development, Sabri Cakdi, presented Locomotive Truck Mounted Track Measurement System at the International Crosstie and Fastening Systems Symposium at RailTEC at Illinois on the campus of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Holland's Locomotive Truck Mounted UGMS takes advantage of the locomotive’s power, tachometer, and GPS information to provide continuous testing back and forth along critical network corridor(s) and eliminating the need for track time.
At Holland, innovation and improvement are more than just buzzwords. Our North American HQ is home to a one-of-a-kind weld quality lab that’s dedicated to improving “the weld” at the core of what we do. Here we can perform weld evaluations andqualifications per AREMA and other customer specific specifications, assess weld quality issues from thefield and create a true root cause linkage to weld and process improvement outputs and create weld programs for various rail size, grade, chemistry and requirements. Learn more about Holland's Weld Quality in this Q& A with Nicholas G. Martino, Director of Weld Quality, Research and Testing.
Happy Engineers Week! This week we're highlighting a few of our engineers to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to be a part of Holland! Meet Matthew Morrone, one of our Product Engineers for Holland's Transportation Technology division. This division focuses on product securement for goods traveling on many types of rail cars. Although Matt started with us just 3 months ago, we're so happy to have him on board! Learn more about Matt and his journey to Holland below!
What did you originally want to be when you grew up?
I’ve always been interested in math and science. I have also always been good at fixing things and working with my hands. Mechanical engineering checked all those boxes.
Happy Engineers Week! This week we're highlighting a few of our engineers to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to be a part of Holland! Meet James Dourdourekas, one of our Mechanical Design Engineers for Holland's Equipment Business Unit. James started with us as an intern in 2020 and became a part of our team full-time in June of 2021. Learn more about James and his journey to Holland below!
What did you originally want to be when you grew up?
There were a lot of ideas in my young age, but most centered around science and technology. For as long as I have known what engineering meant, I knew I wanted to build my career in this field first. Originally, I wanted to design roller coasters, and while riding them is still fun for me, I am happy with the challenges I am solving.
Over the last 50 years, we are proud to have provided railways around the world with high-quality flash-butt welding services and equipment.
In March of 1972, Holland unveiled to the rail industry the first self-propelled railcar with a portable electric flash-butt welding machine in Railway Track & Structures Magazine. This allowed railways to perform flash-butt welding in track in a mobile setting.
Congratulations to Jeff Hajkowicz on his retirement from Holland!
Jeff began his career at Holland as a Fabricator in the Shop Department in May of 1979. Many have had the pleasure of working with and for Jeff over the last 42 years. He has helped Holland evolve to what it is today and been a key member of our successful mobile operations division(MOD).
Jeff got his start manufacturing and fabricating components for equipment at our Chicago Heights, Illinois facility and assisted in overhauling and building new welder heads. From there, he was promoted to the Technical Supervisor of the Welder Head Department in 1989. In the subsequent years, Jeff helped start and work on crane rail welding efforts, trained employees, established curriculums on the operation and troubleshooting of our MobileWelders, ran our Markham, Illinois fixed plant, served as Operations Director for MOD, and today is the Senior Director over MOD Equipment.
We’re starting this incredible year to come with a throwback to our original mobile welding unit. Initially debuted in Railway Track and Structures magazine in March of 1972, this unit was created from an old Pullman rail sorting car. The original use of this rail car was for sorting mail while it was moved by train from city to city. This made for faster delivery before it arrived at its next destination.
After the rail car’s legacy, it joined a new one as the first mobile welding unit in North America.
To celebrate some of our Holland family’s tremendous milestones with the company, we asked for their story of how they’ve moved throughout the company over the years.
Below is Christy’s story. Please congratulate Christy Kinney for her 15 years with Holland! What an accomplishment!
“I started my Holland career in November 2006. I was fortunate enough to be hired by Stefan Pendrick in the HED Engineering department. My first position at Holland was Engineering Manufacturing Process Controller. My duties were creating and maintaining part numbers in IFS, maintaining structures, work orders, and engineering change management.
I want to give a shout-out to Stefan Pendrick, Bob Norby, Randy Haberman, Brandon Huynh, and Tess Jordan. I enjoyed my first role here at Holland, and I was privileged to have worked with such a strong, dedicated team.
In the summer of 2008, I moved to RMSS as a Rangecam Data Analyst under Bob Madderom and Cindy Ruggles. This is where I found my true passion. In this role, I analyze track collection data collected by the TrackSTAR units. From 2008 to the present day, I have been the sole liaison data analyst for Canadian National rail-bound test cars.
To celebrate some of our Holland family’s tremendous milestones with the company, we asked for their story of how they’ve moved throughout the company over the years.
Below is Lori’s story. Please congratulate Lori Mason for her 15 years with Holland! What an accomplishment!
“Looking back at the past 15 years at Holland brings fond memories of people, experiences, and the progress made by great teams that I have been blessed to work with. Joining Holland in 2006 as the 7th employee of the "IT Department," I was assigned to develop Holland's first mobile reporting application for the Welding Division (MOD). Because this was before smartphone technology, I created an application on a non-destructible handheld computer, which we called the "Brick." And for sentimental reasons, it is still on my desk today.
To celebrate some of our Holland family’s tremendous milestones with the company, we asked for their story of how they’ve moved throughout the company over the years.
Below is Tyler’s story. Please congratulate Tyler Malkuch for his 10 years with Holland! What an accomplishment!
“During these last 10 years working for Holland, I have been able to travel over large parts of the US to see the tucked away hidden sights that this great country offers. Those that for the most part only take the time to see once they have retired. I have been blessed to see these areas while performing my job.
Holland and Cordel are proud to announce their new partnership to expand Holland’s suite of track measurement services to now include LiDAR technology.
Holland’s LiDAR powered by Cordel provides customers with a range of data applications such as track imagery, clearance validation, line of sight measurements, condition assessments and more. Using track geometry and LiDAR data applications, customers can see a digital twin of their infrastructure and make the most of their track inspections. By coupling Cordel’s LiDAR equipment with Holland’s already in-service track inspection vehicles, customers can maximize their inspection data without the need for additional track time.
To celebrate some of our Holland family’s tremendous milestones with the company, we asked for their story of how they’ve moved throughout the company over the years. To kick off this series of stories, please congratulate Kevin Cantrell for 15 years with Holland and read his story below.
“Wow 15 years! I started my Career with Holland on the M Bar D side in Locomotive Servicing. Within a few months, I moved into the Operations Manager position of the Chicagoland area. In this time, my biggest joy and privilege was my crew. The most diverse crew at Holland. Seeing all these people from vastly different backgrounds coming tougher and truly learning to become a family.
Holland is proud to announce its naming as a TTX Company SECO (Supplier Evaluation Committee) Program "Excellent Supplier" for 2020!
There are many factors that go toward awarding companies this title. The ratings assigned to each supplier by SECO represent the consensus view expressed by representatives from the TTX Fleet Management, Equipment, and Finance Departments in five categories. These categories include quality, cost, delivery, service, and financial/administration.
With our efforts throughout 2020, Holland earned an A rating!
We're proud to have our very own Sabri Cakdi give details on our newest locomotive-based autonomous system and more in the June 2021 issue of Railway Age. In the article “Precision Measuring”, Sabri described this system by saying, "We don't make any structural changes to the locomotive - there's no welding or drilling”.
This autonomous system is just one of the ways Holland is providing their customers with accessible data of their track.
To read this article and more, click the link below to access the full June issue of Railway Age.
With a worldwide pandemic happening over the past year, the Railroad industry has seen a great decline in in-person events. However, Australia has done a great job of keeping COVID cases at a minimum, and Holland was able to safely participate in the Australia Railway Association’s Heavy Haul event in Perth, Western Australia.
Runway rail replacement can be an expensive project. For any organization, there are multiple conditions that must be considered such as the impact on cranes, structures, and their operations as well as effects it may have on the product quality. Luckily, Holland offers electric flash-butt welding services for crane rail repairs for rail sizes ranging from 60 to 175 pounds per yard. Holland has been performing flash-butt welds since the mid-1980s and continues to prove that it is the most durable and reliable currently available.
We’re excited to announce that the first Holland in-track, Intelliweld® flash-butt welder has arrived at our Australian HQ in Perth! The newest and most advanced MobileWelder® in Australia, AMW 980, was built by the skilled team of engineers and machinists in our 56388m2 Lean manufacturing facility in Chicagoland and is ready for our partners at Aries Rail to complete assemble or in-track use.
We are pleased to announce that Holland’s very own General Manager of Rail Services, Rob Rosencrans, has been appointed to the REMSA Board of Directors.
REMSA is governed by a seven-member volunteer board of directors comprised of regional hospital leadership as well as other regional professionals including an attorney, a CPA, and community member. REMSA has strong oversight from the Board of Directors, the Washoe County District Board of Health, the EMS Advisory Board, and the State of Nevada EMS Division.
Holland is proud to have manufactured the latest rail train in partnership with LB Foster. This rail train is officially in service and on its way to Fort Stockton, Texas! Holland’s team of sales, purchasing, engineering, support groups and manufacturing experience designed and built this 6 tier, 60 pocket rail train.
At 1600 ft. in length, this rail train consists of a single tie down assembly, hydraulic ramp assemblies and blast doors at each end. The two-car unloading unit is capable of unloading 90-141 lb rail strings two at a time.
We’re so thrilled to announce that Holland LP has been chosen for Progressive Railroading’s Readers Choice Awards for 2020!
This program recognizes products that best meet the industry's needs as selected by subscribers of Progressive Railroading. These awards feature products, systems, and technologies in the following categories: C&S Products, Innovative Products, Mechanical Products, MOW Products, New Products, and Technology Products.
Holland is proud to have been chosen for the “New Products” category for our latest innovation, the LaserWelder.
For more information on this award as well as the other winners, click here.
Washington, DC, June 4, 2020 – The League of Railway Women (LRW) has appointed Anne Schlegel, JD, Senior Contracts Manager, Holland, L.P., to the membership chair position..Holland l.P. is an LRW Silver Corporate Partner.
As membership chair, Anne will be responsible for leading the individual and corporate partnership programs.
“We are very excited to welcome Anne ino her new role,” said LRW President Amanda Trainor Patrick. “Connecting and cultivating women in rail is our commitment to our membership and industry. We are inspired by the vision and experience these industry leaders will share with our board and we look forward to their contributions to the organization.”
Holland LP continues to break ground in Australia by completing their very first flash-butt weld.
Beginning in 2019, Holland has been making their move overseas to Australia. There have been many steps that needed to be taken to make this transition, including shipping our flash-butt welding equipment over to Australia. Last month, Holland's equipment made its move to Australia, which then needed to be unpacked and geared to start working. Now, we have completed our first flash-butt weld, which is a milestone in our move to Australia.
Exciting progress is being made in Australia as Holland's equipment makes its landing.
Holland is very excited to make their debut in Australia. Employees Kevin Piefer and Brian Boutwell have been working hard to establish grounds overseas, and now Holland's equipment has just touched down as well. Between startup procedures, equiptment verification and final shakedown (wiring checks, router installation, antenna installation, leaks and drips cleanup), the equipment is now ensured to perform with excellence and safety.
History in the making! Holland Lp has delivered, for the first time, its state-of-the-art Intelliweld Flash-Butt Welding Control System and supporting equipment to the Australian market. With the tireless effort of our engineers and technical staff as well as the help of our friends and partners at Aries Rail, our latest technology will be tested and showcased in Perth, Western Australia.
The Intelliweld Flash-Butt welding control system is new to the market, with over 250,000,000 welds per year and a 98% up time. Equipped with low consumption weld capability, real-time weld monitoring and real time automated data collection, the Intelliweld is the latest and greatest in welding technology. Holland is offering full-service Flash Butt Welding operational management and support to Australia, with best-in-class Flash Butt Welding experts set to train the Australian workforce.
We sat down with Justin Faanes, Holland's Argus Product Owner, to dive deep into his engineering background and what led him to Holland for Engineers Week 2020!
What did you originally want to be when you grew up?
A lot of things! One I distinctly remember though was an archeologist. My grandfather took me to a natural history museum growing up that really left an impression. Getting to see and feel fossils that were otherworldly and the thought that more could be right underneath my feet was really compelling!
We're so honored to have Holland's very own Taisha Poulin featured as REMSA's (Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association) December Member-of-the-Month! Taisha started with us this year, but she's not new to the industry! After spending the last 2 years at the Canadian Association of Railway Suppliers handling their Membership Services and Events, she then joined our sales team as the Key Account Manager for Eastern Canada.
In her interview with REMSA, she sys, "The Railroads may have been known to carry the 'Old Boys Club' title in the past, but I have to say it doesn’t feel that way. I work with amazing people, men and women who are hard -working, intelligent and share the love for the industry."
You can read more of Taisha's interview and subscribe to the Mainline newsletter from REMSA by visiting remsa.org
Holland’s very own Paul Lindemulder is set to present on “The Development of Manganese Steel Laser Additive Welding as a Means of Special Trackwork Repair” at this year’s AusRAIL Conference.
Paul’s topic of presentation is on one of Holland’s newest technologies – the LaserWelder™. The laser welding service includes pre-weld material removal using plasma cutting and robotically controlled hot wire laser cladding welding to build back the damaged area on a frog repair. This service is proven to be more efficient than traditional frog repairs, cutting work time nearly in half and significantly lowering the chance of repeat damages in the future.
September 22nd - 25th was filled with fun at Railway Interchange in Minneapolis, MN! The show debuted some of Holland's latest innovations as well as featured some of our very own rail experts. Our indoor booth was bustling as we shared information on our new Gage Inspector, Rail Car Products, Sparkless Carbide Saw, and Manufacturing Capabilities.
We also featured techncial sessions on various products and softwares that help our customers make the best decisions for maintenance of way projects.
We're so excited to now offer Hang-On Geometry Systems for your track testing needs. Holland's Gauge Inspector offers real-time gage measurement and is usable under any conventional hi-rail vehicle with any size trailer hitch. These are designed to be low cost, low power, and lightweight.
This product was recently unveiled at this year's Railway Interchange. You can find an interview on the Gauge Inspector with RT&S Magazine and Russ Newberg (Holland's Director of Operations for Rail Measurement Systems and Services) here.
We're so proud to announce our latest partnership with Custom Truck One Source! Holland's newest 650-series contract testing vehicle was built by Custom Truck One Source and will be featured at their outdoor booth at this year's Railway Interchange. You can view this build up close in outdoor booth # 203.
The 650 Series provides track geometry and rail profile measurement data along with track strength information from our patented lightweight load axle in a medium duty package. This versatile testing vehicle has the flexibility you need to get a comprehensive assessment of your track condition to keep your track up and running safely and efficiently
We're so proud to introduce our latest innovation to add onto our sparkless service offerings. Holland's LaserWelderTM creates a new standard for safer, longer lasting repairs.
Traditional repairs to frogs often only last weeks to six months before requiring additional maintenance. Holland's LaserWelderTM service includes pre-weld material removal using plasma cutting and robotically controlled hot wire laser cladding welding to build back the damaged area.
This process provides improved welding through lower heat input, on parent material, maintaining temperatures below 500 degrees. The resulting repair is higher quality, longer lasting and can be completed two to three times faster than a traditional repair weld. This helps reduce costs and maintenance time, keeping your track up and running.
Gauge Face Angle is becoming an increasingly important measurement in the railway industry, particularly on rail transit systems. The shutdown of a transit system in the Eastern US after a derailment in which high gauge face angle was recorded has brought the measurement to the attention of transit systems across the country
Gauge face angle (GFA) is an angle measured at the contact point of the wheel flange and the
gauge face of the rail, typically 5/8 inch below the top of rail. It is derived by fitting a straight line to
a restricted region of the gauge face of the rail. The region is bounded by two user-defined points,
one, typically about 2 mm above the gauge point and one about 2 mm below the gauge point. The
GFA is the angle in degrees that this line makes with a vertical line, defined by reference to
track level.
Committed to creating a culture of safety at Holland, we are proud to announce our latest project with the Village of Crete, IL to promote rail safety throughout our community. Painted sidewalk signs at high pedestrian traffic points now offer a permanent warning to community members who are crossing the railroad tracks by foot.
According to FRA Statistics, there were 1,050 pedestrian rail trespass casualties in 2018, and Illinois is ranked fifth with 44 last year alone. The goal of these sidewalk signs is to urge the community to cross the railroad tracks only where it is marked at a crossing and to “Stop, Look, and Listen” before crossing the tracks.
Holland is so excited to be a part of the first ever Crete Rail Safety Day!
Join us on July 12th from 1 - 3 PM to learn about trains and rail safety with special guests Operation Lifesaver and the Midwest Rail Rangers.
Holland is proud to announce that they have received the 2018 Contractor Safety Award courtesy of Railway Track and Structures and Commercial Insurance Association. Holland is so proud of this accomplishment that shows the entire company’s commitment to safety.
The award was given to Holland during the 2019 National Railroad Construction (NRC) Conference in Marco Island Florida. Mike O’Grady, Holland’s Chief Operating Officer, graciously accepted the award on behalf of Holland at the conference.
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