Ground hazard risk management
I've built the same program at three firms: inventory the slopes, cuts, fills, and drainage along a network, rate each site by likelihood and consequence, and turn that into a capital program a railroad can act on.
About me
Dan Colwell
Civil & Geotechnical Engineer · Raleigh, NC
For more than 30 years I've worked out what the ground under railroads, highways, and buildings is going to do, and what to do about it.
Career log
Drawn like a boring log: most recent at the surface, each layer sized to the years spent there.
Benesch
Jan 2021 – present · RemoteSenior Manager, Special Geotechnical Projects
Formalized the firm's Ground Hazard Risk Management program and added a likelihood × consequence risk-rating framework. Proposals, client meetings, subsurface and groundwater investigations, borrow sites, foundation and earthwork testing.
Loose to medium dense, still accumulating.
Atlas Technical Consultants
Jan – Nov 2020 · Highland, INBranch Manager / Senior Geotechnical Engineer
Ran a 12-person branch: geotechnical, materials lab, construction inspection, budgets, safety audits.
Wood
Jun 2018 – Jan 2020 · Nashville, TNSenior Geotechnical Engineer, Rail Engineering & Construction
Ground hazard and geotechnical engineering for five Class I railroads: CN, CSXT, NS, BNSF, and UP.
Canadian National Railway
Jul 2007 – May 2018 · Memphis · Joliet · Homewood, ILAssistant Project Manager, then Senior Geotechnical Engineer
Built CN's ground hazard risk management program from the ground up. Led geotechnical scope on the Harrison Yard reconstruction, and standardized engineering risk practice across the EJ&E network after CN acquired it.
Stiff, thick, well-consolidated. Foundation layer.
Burns Cooley Dennis
Aug 2006 – Jul 2007 · Memphis, TNGeotechnical Engineer
Tennessee DOT
Jun 2005 – Sep 2006 · Memphis, TNOperations Specialist
John D. Hynes & Associates
Jul 2002 – Feb 2005 · Salisbury, MDStaff Engineer
Second stint on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Continental Engineering
Aug 1998 – Jul 2002 · Memphis, TNCivil Design Engineer
John D. Hynes & Associates
Apr 1996 – Jul 1998 · Salisbury, MDStaff Engineer
Anderson Consulting Engineers
Sep 1994 – Apr 1996 · Little Rock, ARProject Engineer
Construction Quality Consultants
Sep 1993 – Sep 1994 · Memphis, TNTechnician
Memphis Light, Gas & Water
Jan 1990 – May 1993 · Memphis, TNGIS Operator
B.S. in Civil Engineering, Christian Brothers University, 1992.
End of boring at 1990. Groundwater not encountered.
What I work on
The four kinds of work I'm most often called in for.
Rail roadbed & embankments
Subgrade and embankment stability, washout and derailment response, yard reconstruction. Done with track time and train schedules in mind.
Subsurface investigation
Borings, groundwater studies, borrow-site evaluation, GPR interpretation, and the analysis and reports that follow (Settle3, LPile, PCASE).
Project & team management
Proposals, budgets, client relationships, field crews, and a full branch office. I can run the project, not just the analysis.
Background
Education, certification, and committee work.
- B.S., Civil Engineering · Christian Brothers University1992
- Engineer Intern (EI/EIT)Certified
- AREMA Committee 1, RoadbedMember
- AREMA Committee 8, Concrete Structures & FoundationsMember
- TTCI (Transportation Technology Center, Inc.)Chair, 2017–18
- Class I railroads worked with5