Feb 14 2013
AXION International Holdings, Inc., a leader in recycled plastic and plastic composite technologies used to produce ECOTRAX™ rail products and STRUXURE™ building products, announced today the continued advancement of product and performance standards for its ECOTRAX™ composite rail ties and sleepers. This developmental progression is yielding consistently higher performance results which meet and exceed domestic and international standards for rail ties and rail sleepers*.
Throughout its years of development, assisted by strong working relationships with various rail lines worldwide, AXION has targeted and achieved improved mechanical properties for its ECOTRAX™ products. Railways, that are eager to adopt 100% recycled composite rail ties, are working cooperatively with the Company to increase performance levels beyond what both AXION and these railways believe had been previously possible for composite rail ties and rail sleepers. In targeting and achieving new standards, AXION has worked to strengthen its product to meet the increased weights and speeds our customers are running. Railroads are now running faster and heavier than they have ever before in history. More and more ECOTRAX™ customers are pushing into the 60-100 million gross tons per year zone and AXION is increasing its standards to meet this demand.
"We believe that our achievements in composite rail tie and rail sleeper quality, performance, and consistency are at levels never before seen in the industry. We are very proud of this achievement. It's a milestone for AXION and we believe it creates a serious barrier to entry as we set ourselves on a pace for continuous improvements that exceed customer expectations for performance and value," stated AXION President and CEO Steve Silverman. "This will be the first of many advancements in our technology as AXION continuously strives to be the leader in composite infrastructure products."
AXION continually evaluates and improves its raw material streams -- tightening and raising standards -- its manufacturing processes and its quality control standards. These improvements have led to increasingly higher performance achievements that are consistent batch-to-batch, day-to-day across multiple different manufacturing facilities.
AXION's ECOTRAX™ technology is currently in use throughout the world in standard, tangent track, switch sets and turnouts, as well as road crossings. ECOTRAX™ products have been produced in various sizes and in lengths up to 31'. The products offer great longevity, serve as a green and sustainable component to any railroad, and are often used in sections of track that present difficulties to historical tie materials.
"As a technology company, we are seeing continuous advancements in materials science and processing that are driving ongoing improvements in our products, not unlike many other high-tech industries where both product performance and value increase over time. The science behind our technologies enables us to deliver a level of consistency that is highly valued and sought by customers. We believe that by setting the bar high for ourselves, we are presenting standards of achievement that may be adopted as the required norm in markets around the world," stated AXION Chief Technology Officer Jim Kerstein.
Based on the results documented by independent testing facilities and confirmed by the Company's regular quality testing, ECOTRAX™ ties perform at an average 50% above American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way (AREMA) standards for measures including modulus of elasticity (MOE) and flexural strength.
AREMA is an industry organization whose mission is the development and advancement of both technical and practical knowledge and recommended practices pertaining to the design, construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure in the United States. Rail tie purchasers look to AREMA standards when evaluating rail tie quality and performance as a major factor in purchasing decisions.
*Rail ties are referred to rail sleepers in Europe and Australia.