About the firm
Three generations.
Sixty years.
One standard.
The Polivka family has been in railroad track since the 1940s. The inspectors who walk your track came off the Class I side of the industry and hold it to the standard they operated under.
A family built on the railroad
The trade came over
in a suitcase.
The Polivka family left the Carpathian Rusyn region and settled in Pittsburgh, bringing the only two things that travel well — a willingness to work and a refusal to do it badly. Basil Sr. put both into the railroad, and three generations have kept them there.
The inspectors who walk your track came off the Class I side of the industry. They hold current FRA Part 213 certification, and most of them spent their careers as railroad inspectors before they arrived here — which means they know what a track department expects, because they used to be the ones expecting it.
Plate II Rail section
Sixty years
Roots in Pittsburgh,
track in the Southeast.
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1940s
Pittsburgh
The Polivka family settles in Pittsburgh, carrying Old World craftsmanship into American industry.
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1960s
Ohio
Basil Sr. founds a railroad contracting business, performing track maintenance for regional carriers.
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1980s
Polivka International
The firm grows into a national contractor, eventually holding work with all seven Class I railroads.
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2000s
Southeast
Focus narrows to inspection and maintenance for industrial facilities and short-line operators.
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Today
Doerr Street Rail Co
Sixty years of institutional knowledge, working out of Weddington, North Carolina.
What we hold to
Four things,
none of them negotiable.
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One
Safety first
Track safety is not graded on a curve. Your plant lead is held to the standard we operated under on Class I track.
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Two
Integrity
Every defect goes in the report, including the ones that are awkward and the ones nobody asked about.
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Three
Experience
Inspectors average fifteen years and more of Class I background. Nobody learns on your track.
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Four
Commitment
The job is not finished at the report. It is finished when the remediation is done and re-inspected.
Credentials
FRA Part 213,
Classes I through VI.
Every inspector maintains current FRA Part 213 certification across track Classes I to VI, with extensive Class I and industrial track experience behind it. Reports are third party, dated, and signed by the inspector who walked the track.
| Excepted | 10 mph | No passengers, five cars of hazmat maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | 10 mph | Where most plant leads and private sidings sit |
| Class 2 | 25 mph | Busier industrial track and short-line branches |
| Class 3 | 40 mph | Short-line main |
| Class 4 | 60 mph | Main line |
| Class 5 | 80 mph | Main line |
The three highlighted rows are where industrial track almost always falls. The class your track is held to sets the tolerance for gauge, surface and alignment — and therefore what counts as a defect.