The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) is a North American railway industry group. It publishes recommended practices for the design, construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure, which are used in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.
Overview
AREMA is headquartered in
Lanham, Maryland
Lanham is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, it has a population of 11,282. The New Carrollton station (the terminus of the Washington Metro's O ...
, a suburb of
Washington, D.C. As stated in their mission statement, AREMA promotes "The development and advancement of both technical and practical knowledge and recommended practices pertaining to the design, construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure." AREMA recognizes outstanding achievements in railway engineering with the annual
William Walter Hay Award.
Beth Caruso was appointed as AREMA's Executive Director/CEO in September 2015. Prior to this appointment, she served as AREMA's Director of Administration. Bill Riehl is the AREMA President and Chairman of the Board of Governors for 2024-25
History
AREMA was established on October 1, 1997, by the merger of four engineering associations:
*the American Railway Engineering Association
*the American Railway Bridge and Building Association
*the Roadmasters and Maintenance of Way Association
*the Communications and Signal Division of the
Association of American Railroads
American Railway Engineering Association
Formed in 1899, it began publishing the Manual for Railway Engineering in 1905 and established many technical committees which are still functioning today in AREMA. It was headquartered in Chicago until 1979, when it moved to Washington, DC.
American Railway Bridge and Building Association
Formed in 1891 in
St. Louis, Missouri, as the American International Association of Railway Superintendents of Bridges and Buildings, the Association initially represented 40 railroads. The name was changed in 1907 to the American Railway Bridge and Building Association. The group provided a forum to exchange information and create solutions to problems that confront the railway industry.
Roadmasters and Maintenance of Way Association
The oldest of the groups was organized in 1883 by 61 roadmasters representing 24 railways. The Association provided a means for maintenance officers to meet and discuss their mutual problems.
Rail joints,
switches, frogs and
ties were among the subjects studied, leading to the standardization of maintenance practices.
Communications and Signal Division of the Association of American Railroads
In 1885, the Association of Telegraph and Telephone Superintendents was formed by the telegraph superintendents of the major railroads. In 1895, the Railway Signaling Club was organized at a meeting in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, and created a code of rules governing the operation of
interlockings. In 1919, the Signaling Club became the Signal Division of the newly created
American Railway Association (ARA) and the Telegraph Superintendents became its Telegraph and Telephone Section. The ARA became the
Association of American Railroads (AAR) in 1934; the Signal Division was renamed the Signal Section and the Telegraph and Telephone was renamed the Communications Section. The two sections merged in 1961 to become the Communications and Signal Division of the AAR, which has now been merged into AREMA.
Technical committees
AREMA has 29 technical committees, organized in six functional groups. The committees, whose volunteer members come from the railroad industry, meet on a regular basis and use their expertise to come up with the best methods to maintain a railroad.
*Structures
**Timber Structures (Committee 7)
**Concrete Structures & Foundations (Committee 8)
**Seismic Design for Railway Structures (Committee 9)
**Structures Maintenance & Construction (Committee 10)
**Steel Structures (Committee 15)
**Clearances (Committee 28)
*Passenger & Transit
**Commuter & Intercity Rail Systems (Committee 11)
**Rail Transit (Committee 12)
**High Speed Rail Systems (Committee 17)
**Electric Energy Utilization (Committee 33)
*Track
**Roadway & Ballast (Committee 1)
**Rail (Committee 4)
**Track (Committee 5)
**Maintenance of Way Work Equipment (Committee 27)
**Ties (Committee 30)
*Engineering Services
**Track Measuring and Assessment Systems (Committee 2)
**Building & Support Facilities (Committee 6)
**Environmental (Committee 13)
**Yards & Terminals (Committee 14)
**Economics of Railway Engineering & Operations (Committee 16)
**Light Density & Short Line Railways (Committee 18)
**Education & Training (Committee 24)
*Communications & Signals
**Scales (Committee 34)
**Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Warning Systems (Committee 36)
**Signal Systems (Committee 37)
**Information, Defect Detection & Energy Systems (Committee 38)
**Positive Train Control (Committee 39)
*Maintenance
**Engineering Safety Steering Team (Committee 40)
**Track Maintenance Steering Team (Committee 41)
**Signals Maintenance Steering Team (Committee 43)
Recommended practices
AREMA publishes recommended practices in nine separate documents.
Manual for Railway Engineering, Communications and Signals Manual, Practical Guide to Railway Engineering, and the Bridge inspection Handbook are four of AREMA's prime publications.
''Manual for Railway Engineering''
The AREMA ''Manual for Railway Engineering'' contains principles, data, specifications, plans and economics pertaining to the engineering, design and construction of the fixed plant of railways (except signals and communications), and allied services and facilities.
21 chapters are contained in four volumes, updated annually by the technical committees.
Consultants use the manual's recommendations as a basis for design. Many railroads use the manual as a basis for their track standards and may add to it to describe their specific needs.
''Communications & Signals Manual of Recommended Practices''
The AREMA ''Communications & Signals Manual of Recommended Practices'' contains recommended practices for railway communications and signaling.
24 sections are contained in five volumes, written and updated by the AREMA committees.
#Administrative & General
#
Railroad Signal Systems
#
Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Warning Systems
#
Yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...
Systems
#Defect Detection Systems
#
Relays
#
Signals
#
Track Circuits
#Power Supply
#
Wire
file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...
&
Electrical Cable
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
#Circuit Protection
#
Switches
#Mechanical
#Electrical Devices, Foundations, Hardware Materials
#Materials
#
Vital Circuit &
Software
Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications.
The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
Design
#
Quality Principles
#Inside Plant
#Electrical Protection
#
Inductive Interference
#
Data Transmission
Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, signal transmission, transmitted and received over a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication chann ...
#
Radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
#
Communication-based Signaling
#
Positive Train Control
These practices are required for railroads in the United States by the
Federal Railroad Administration and in Canada by
Transport Canada.
Proceedings online
An electronic version of AREMA's ''Procedures and Proceedings'' is available to members. The extensive library includes over 65 years of technical proceedings taken from the Roadmasters & Maintenance of Way Association proceedings and the American Railway Bridge and Building Association proceedings. Earlier ''Proceedings of the Annual Convention'' are available as digitized books.
References
External links
AREMA website
{{authority control
Transportation associations in the United States
Rail infrastructure in the United States
Rail infrastructure in Canada
Railway signaling in Canada
Railway signaling in the United States
Railway associations
Standards organizations in the United States
1997 establishments in Maryland
Organizations established in 1997
Organizations based in Maryland