Naming the Trains

Looking ahead, we would probably need four trains initially. I think it would be fun to name the Alberta Bullet Trains, so here are some names that might be appropriate:

• Prairie Schooner,
• Wild Rose Express,
• Blue Sky Bullet,
• Sod Buster,
• Western Express,
• Alberta Arrow,
• Pronghorn Express, and
• Alberta Advantage.

Looking at the oil industry for names might give us Roughneck Express or if some day the line were to be expanded to Fort McMurray we might want to add the 'Fort Mac Express' and 'Newfie Bullet'.

Ron Craik                 Nov. 15, 2007

Super Hospital for Red Deer

E-mail Excerpt

My neighbors and I were discussing how to keep the feds from making a grab for Alberta's surplus. We suggest that Alberta build a super diagnostic hospital in Red Deer and announce it as a gift by the people of Alberta to the people of Western Canada. Red Deer would be the obvious choice since it is mid way between Calgary and Edmonton and the Alberta Bullet Train is already planned.

The idea is to not only to purchase the highest of high tech hospital gear, but to attract excellent Canadian doctors back to Canada to work in such a hospital in Red Deer, which is a pretty attractive place to live. The ongoing cost of maintaining such a hospital in leaner times would be assisted by the nearby provinces sending their patients in and paying a reasonable (mustn't gouge Saskatchewan or Manitoba) fee for the service. It likely takes the population of Western Canada to justify and support such a diagnostic centre. It would also be a public relations coup.

Since this multi-province hospital would serve four provinces, the feds might even be maneuvered into contributing actual extra $$$, if not now, then later when the winds of fortune shift back to Ontario, B.C. or wherever.

Of course, we, in our neighborhood DO favor provincial and federal spending on the public health system. We do not believe that basic services are covered by the limited scope of AHIP coverage. We would like the public health system to cover things like bandages, wheelchairs, stripping veins for medical reasons, dental surgery, etc., etc.,etc. which have been shaved off over the last decade or so.

The best way to cut the cost of health care is to make much greater use of public health nurses and fully funded home care. Just sending people home from the hospital prematurely without enough advanced nursing care in the home is not helpful. We all have our stories to tell. We have also paid our dues in emergency waiting rooms hour after hour after hour.

Lois Sparling
Calgary

Oil Sands Safety and Critical Spool Tracking System

Safety

Let's look at your safety requirements for: Cranes, Chain Falls, Come alongs, Man Lifts or Area Lifting Devices (ALD's) and harness inspections, etc. You have no choice when it comes to WCB rules and currently your paper system does not work. I know this since; I spent time in Ft. McMurray and talked with your employees and employees of sub-contractors who work at all the other plants and facilities in the area. Some of the information that isn't kept up to date as the tools come out of the tool cribs are: who took it out, what location was it used in and when was it last inspected. Given a couple of days notice most of this paper work could be caught up? Maybe yes.

I am proposing a system that is: paperless, provides an audit trail, cannot be altered, easy to use, robust enough for your work conditions and your employees. It would help your people do their jobs and still meet the reporting demands. It would gain high acceptance in a relatively short time period. It is the same system that the US military uses for tracking their maintenance on their ships, tanks, rifles, etc. They attach memory storage devices (contact memory buttons) to all their equipment. Some of their applications have achieved a 40% reduction in maintenance expenses.

A Contact Memory Button (CMB) is a small armored memory chip (REF-1) about the size of a dime that can store a tremendous amount of data such as: manufacturer, S/N, part number, manufacture date, delivery date, type of steel, dimensions, pictures, last inspection, inspector, etc. The CMB's have to be touched in order to read or write to their memory. CMB's have been tested to rugged military specifications including the applicable requirements of MIL STD-810F (REF-2). Environmental test parameters include exposure to temperature extremes, shock, vibration, radiation, electrostatic discharge (ESD), electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The CMB's are available in a variety of physical sizes with memory capacities up to 1 Gigabyte. They time and date stamp when touched and associate a unique pass word or PIN to your employee. You now have control of your employee and an audit trail.

Spool Tracking ($$$)

Pipe spools (REF-3) are another area that needs to be considered. Steel pipe spools with bends and fittings have an average life span of two years in your plant. Because the sand is so abrasive they wear at the bottom. To facilitate the longest use they need to be rotated on average every 6 months. This means rotating straight spools every six months and replacing them every two years. The bends require replacement even sooner. They require inspection at least twice every year. Some spools are designated as "critical" which means severe repercussions if they fail, such as the possibility of fire or the whole plant and production being shut down (tailings pipe systems).

You may think this process is being managed efficiently currently, but again I have sat with your workers and discussed this at some length (it is not working!). They tell me there is a computer system that will track the information – if it is entered correctly and you have time to wait a couple of days or longer to request & get your information. Usually your workers don't have time, so they improvise with what they have at hand.

Here are a few of the issues: some of the spools have to be remanufactured 2 – 5 times because the wrong dimensions are used, the exact histories are not recorded. Very important information such as: which way was the spool rotated, clockwise or counterclockwise on the last service is not available. The absolute killer is the guys in the plant are recording this information in their day journals and on the back of cigarette packages. Which works out pretty good unless they are on days off or on vacation and no-one can get hold of them.

Even switching to lined pipe for slurry transport and tailings disposal still requires rotating straight spools every two years, bends every three years, with an end-for-end flip after 1½ years. More exotic metals and coatings still don't eliminate the need to rotate at set times or wear cycles. As a result, maintenance costs are high and crews are deployed to the right-of-ways more often, increasing worker safety issues. Each day of downtime resulting from this frequent maintenance-and unplanned issues, such as sandfills-reduces your production by tens of thousands of barrels.

The solution I propose will have Contact Memory Buttons (CMB's) installed on every spool. The entire history of each spool, when ordered, by whom, material used, coatings, installation dates, inspection dates, rotation direction, maintenance history, time before replacement, exact dimensions for replacement spool, etc. can be stored on each spool. That information can be up-loaded to a standalone software package and/or integrated into your main enterprise software.

Millwright and pipefitter supervisors will know in advance what their job will be for their next shift. Supervisors will take their ruggedized hand held or laptop with a USB attachment and touch the CMB on the spool. Instantly all information will be at their fingertips. They will know: who inspected and when, what direction the spool was rotated or flipped, if they have a replacement in inventory, how long it would take to re-order, what the average time is to rotate that spool, and additional comments from the last operation, etc.

Predictive maintenance will be planned with accuracy based on complete histories for each spool. This will reduce downtime and operating costs for your operation's scheduled shut-downs. With fewer unscheduled maintenance operations, your production will increase. You will save tens of millions annually and the possibility of extended periods of a total plant shut down will be greatly reduced.