Patent ID: 7350467

Claim:
A long rail pick-up and delivery system comprising: a rail transport portion comprising at least one rail transport subset, the rail transport subset comprising a plurality of rail cars wherein each rail transport car has a rail rack system, the rail rack system having a pair of parallel rack systems, each parallel rack system comprising a plurality of rack support members rotatably attached to a central rack support and rotatably engageable with an exterior rack support, the rail rack system defining a plurality of aligned rail pockets along the length of the rail transport portion and wherein the rail transport portion has an elevated rail transport track; a work portion comprising a rail positioning car, a rail work car and a rail transition car and wherein the work portion comprises an elevated work track; and an elevated gantry system having a pair of elevated gantries, each gantry comprising a telescoping boom with a gripper assembly for grasping a length of long rail, each elevated gantry traversing the elevated rail transport track and the elevated work track so as to selectively load and unload long rail from the rail pockets.