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By E. P. Evert

Profitable marketing of most minerals is dependent upon the total delivered cost to the user. Transportation costs are often greater than the value of the mineral f.o.b. the mine or processing facility. In some cases, transportation costs are three to five times the mineral cost. For many years, transportation costs were controlled by a complex system involving the transportation companies and supervised by regulatory agencies. This paper will deal with the effects of deregulation on rail costs and outline the major changes in transportation economics.

Jan 1, 1985

By Henry E. Keniston

In every business today costs come under almost microscopic scrutiny. It's hard to conceive that less than 30 years ago there was no such cost consciousness apparent in overall industry. Railroads, through their almost absolute monopoly on freight handling, were one of the industries where little thought was given to overall costs. True regulation kept rates in line, but railroads did very little in the area of supplying equipment intended to help the shipper minimize his costs and at the same time result in savings to the rail carrier. During this period, except for isolated cases, railroads placed standard cars for loading. Most railroad car fleets consisted of box cars, hopper cars, flat cars and low side gondola cars certain roads having unique movements developed special cars to accommodate the particular product, but seldom did these cars move in general interchange service. Most of you are aware that several large companies built railroads of their own as an integral part of raw materials handling from remote sources to production plants located near concentrations of usage. On these railroads special cars were built with little thought to inter-change service. Examples of such railroads are the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range, the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern, the Union Railroad, the Bessemer and Lake Erie and the Birmingham Southern.

Jan 1, 1972

By Raymond S. Shrode

Transportation is one of several important increments in the total market cost of most commodities. On a national average it has been reported that transportation accounts for about 25% of the total cost of a product at the market place. And industrial minerals are no exception. In fact, the proportionate cost frequently exceeds the 25% average. Further, it may actually determine the economic value of a deposit. Transportation may possibly be thought of as a specialized subject of concern only to a traffic manager and of only nominal interest to the mining engineer, the geologist or other technically oriented member of mineral producers' staff. However, in the industrial minerals field, interest is not commonly confined to exploration, development, production or marketing, but is in contrast an overlapping one. In a very real sense this broad area of interest in the total economics of the business is the specialty of the industrial minerals man. And transportation is a vital part of the total picture. Comments in this paper deal with rail transportation.

Jan 1, 1969

By Ernest E. Thurlow

Introduction Today, more than 50% of rail-carried commodities are mineral industry related, with coal being the most important single commodity moved by rail. In 1980, coal accounted for more than 5.7 million of the total 22.6 million carloads moved by rail. Metallic ores were third behind grain, with more than 1.4 million carloads. Crushed stone, gravel, sand, and other non-metallic minerals totaled almost 2.3 million carloads. Chemicals and allied products, including fertilizer and coke, added another 1.7 million cars, with petroleum and petroleum products totaling 300,000 carloads. Coal Several things happened in the 1970s that gave rise to increased consumption of coal-particularly western coal-and to its dominant position among rail-carried commodities. First, the Clean Air Act of 1970 required generating plants to make significant reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions. To comply, utilities could either invest in scrubbers or switch to low-sulfur western coal. Many opted for the latter. By 1972, increasing demands by the utility companies halted what had been a 25-year decline in national coal consumption. Second, the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 put an end to cheap oil and gas, limiting their future as fuels for electric generating purposes and increasing the potential for coal. Third, in 1977, President Carter announced an energy program with coal as its cornerstone, calling for an annual two-thirds increase in national coal production by 1985. He also called for conversion to coal by utilities and large industrial users. Finally, he proposed a 10-year, $10 billion program to encourage domestic coal production and stimulate development of export markets. Coal bounded into world prominence. Foreign demand for steam and metallurgical coal increased tremendously, while US demand for western coal also shot up. This meant greater demands on the transportation sectors that traditionally carried coal to market. Many railroads began programs to serve the coal industry. One example is Burlington Northern's commitment to handle increased western coal tonnages. The company spent more than $1 billion in recent years to develop a system capable of moving more than 91 Mt (100 million st) of coal each year. Other leaders in this renewal were Norfolk and Western, Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific railways. The importance of the rapid growth of coal traffic to the railroads is shown in the accompanying table, which gives percentages of total tonnages hauled and revenues attributed to coal. With coal providing the railroad industry with a substantial share of its revenues, there is keen competition among the rail companies themselves and among railroads and other transportation sectors for coal haulage. But there is also cooperation when more than one railroad is involved in delivering the coal from mine to market or when a combination of transportation modes is more economical. The latter is represented by Conrail's interest in working with the port authorities of New York and New Jersey to establish a new coal port that would serve not only export markets, but also utilities and industries in the northeast. Iron Ore Next to coal, iron ore (taconite) is the most important single mineral commodity handled by railroads. In Minnesota, where most iron ore is produced, rail transportation is primarily by Burlington Northern and the Duluth, Missabe, & Iron Range Railway Co. (DM&IR). The DM&IR, owned by US Steel, serves several producers on the Mesabi Iron Range. Two of the larger producers, Erie Mining Co. and Reserve Mining Co., also own railroads that operate between the mines and the ports of Silver Bay and Taconite Harbor on Lake Superior. Several iron mines and taconite plants in Michigan are served by the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Soo Line. Total 1981 shipments of taconite and iron ore are estimated at 55.9 Mt (55 million It), compared with about 61 Mt (60 million It) in 1979 the most ever shipped in one year. Still, with annual production capacity of the eight Mesabi Range

Jan 10, 1982

By Richard P. Reiff

"The Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) program has been involved in numerous rail wear tests since its inception in 1976. A number of specialized tools have been developed to aid in assessing specific performance parameters including gauge face wear, head height loss, metal flow, head area loss, hardness, and welded rail end batter. The layout of a test site, including position in curve, number of measurements per rail, and train operation must be properly controlled/monitored to provide valid wear comparisons.This paper will provide an overview of the above-mentioned tools and techniques. In addition, a summary of recent test results from FAST, including information on head hardened rail investigations, will be provided. A set of guidelines for establishing a revenue service field test site will also be provided to aid users in performing evaluations of their own.IntroductionBackground of Rail Wear Testing at FASTThe Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) located at the Transportation Test Center, (TIC), Pueblo, Colorado has been involved with testing of rail since program initiation in 1976. A huge data base of rail wear information has been gathered from FAST operations under a variety of rail metallurgies, lubrication conditions, and measurement techniques. Attempts at obtaining meaningful rail wear information from early (1976-1978) FAST rail wear data was hampered by two main factors: (I) measurement techniques were insufficiently accurate for the amounts of wear being experienced, and (2) the lubrication was not sufficiently controlled to obtain uniform conditions for a sufficient measurement time period.Subsequent test periods were operated with improved measurement techniques and controls that ensured statistically valid data. The policies and conditions that permit accurate rail wear assessment will be reviewed and outlined in this paper, along with some specific TIC and field examples that will allow the user to improve the accuracy of a field rail test on their own operating property."

Jan 1, 1988

By Patrick Fantin

Mining ? The Past Safety Not a priority; Health Not a priority; Energy Manual Labour; Horsepower? Literally. Financially Robust For the Owner?s; Mining ? The Future Safety Zero Harm Health Understanding and elimination of Industrial Disease Energy Efficient use of energy through technology. Full value of renewable energy. Financially Robust Continually build shareholder value through optimum CAPEX/OPEX.

May 1, 2013

By John W. Brauns, David H. Orr

9.1-1. Description and Basic Function. A conventional railroad haulage system for a surface mine performs the function of transporting the ore and/or waste out of the pit to a crushing plant or dump. Trains consisting of a locomotive and gondola or side-dump care suitable for loading by power shovels are used. Gondola cars are restricted to hauling ore as a rotary dumper is required to unload them. Side-dump cars are more versa- tile, being satisfactory for carrying both ore and waste; but because of their additional dumping mechanism they are likely to be more expensive to maintain (12). Also they weigh up to two times as much as a flat-bottom car of the same capacity, and, therefore, fewer cars can be hauled per train. Standard-gauge track is most commonly used. Track systems incorporate temporary track of low quality in areas where moves are frequent and permanent track of high quality on main lines. Rail haulage enabled open pit mining to establish its reputation, for efficiency. Prior to World War II it was the principal type of transportation used in large pits. Other successful surface mine haulage methods have been developed since that time. These have served to supplement railroad transportation, permitting selection of a method that is best adapted to the peculiar requirements of each mining project. 9.1-2. General Applicability and Controlling Physical Conditions. For handling rough rock, the shovel-train system is unexcelled (6). The ideal application is in a physically large, but not excessively deep, open pit mine from which the coarsely blasted ore and waste must be transported distances in excess of three miles. If, in addition, a high production rate is to be maintained, railroad haulage will probably afford a lower cost per ton transported than will any other haulage method. Relatively gentle

Jan 1, 1968

By Moi Arzamendi, Jose Ramirez, Kenneth Kniss, Sunil Arora, James Gingery

Construction of a new approach embankment for a railroad bridge over a river in Southern California required placing up to 12 ft of fill over soft to medium stiff silts and clays along an approximate 1,500-ft long stretch. The embankment, situated within a narrow railroad right-of-way between an existing live track and existing buildings, would have been susceptible to excessive settlement that could damage existing buildings and numerous underground utilities if regular weight soil fill had been placed over the unimproved ground. To limit total and differential static settlements to tolerable levels, a design was developed using a combination of mechanically stabilized earth wall with lightweight cellular concrete fill and rigid inclusions ground improvement. This paper describes the design of the ground improvement system, construction methods used, and challenges of working next to live railroad traffic. Ground improvement quality control and assurance measures, and verification of performance by settlement monitoring are also addressed. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND The 0.9-mile San Diego River Double Track (SDRDT) project is located on the Los Angeles-San Diego- San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Corridor in San Diego, California. The project includes the replacement of the existing 900-ft long single track railroad bridge over the San Diego River with twin double track structures. Construction of the project is phased and closely coordinated with the associated Mid-Coast light rail project (San Diego Trolley Blue Line Extension). The new bridge is a 7-span, twin steel, through girder structure supported by six cast-in-place reinforced concrete pier caps and two abutments. The large diameter cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) foundations are up to 9 ft in diameter, with upper portions encased in a 1.5-in.-thick permanent steel casing. The north abutment approach embankment includes a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall up to approximately 10 ft high and 1,520 ft long. This paper focuses on the design and construction of the north approach embankment. The project site is characterized by challenging geotechnical and seismic conditions. The site contains liquefiable soils interbedded with soft cohesive soils, underlain by competent layers of sand/gravel/cobble and other sedimentary formations. Static settlement of the new railroad, crossing utilities and adjacent buildings was a primary design concern for the north approach embankment.

Jan 1, 2018

By Armand Bur, W. R. Reichenstein

Since coal is one of the largest cost items in the production of electricity, its analysis for heat value and composition has been the subject of intensive study. Sampling started with crude hand methods, out of the railroad car or barge or from moving conveyor discharge, and progressed to reliable mechanical in-plant sampling systems. The mechanical system takes its sample from a falling stream of coal such as a conveyor discharge or crusher discharge hopper. But this has a disadvantage in that the identity of the coal is lost. Coal is shipped to the user in train-loads, often made up of shipments from various mines. When the cars are dumped into hoppers and the coal conveyed to the power station, the various shipments become mixed because residual coal remains in hoppers and chutes.

Jan 5, 1959

By Keith Schaeffer

This paper presents a history of the planning, engineering and construction completed for the railroad tunnel crossing part of the West Elizabeth Avenue Storm Drainage Project, undertaken to relieve flooding within the West Elizabeth Avenue area in Linden, NJ. The Railroad Crossing Contract is part of the larger Linden Drainage Improvements Project consisting of a new gravity storm sewer system. The improvements are required to provide additional storm drainage for the City of Linden and the Merck Pharmaceuticals manufacturing facilities in the City of Linden.

Jan 1, 2008

By completing a double-track railroad cut-off, involving a large volume of cut and fill, in addition to a half-mile bridge spanning an important French river, engineers in the zone of the Services of Supply have opened up a route by means of which hours of valuable time are being saved in transporting men and materials to combat areas. Its most valuable feature is that it provides a means for by-passing a certain city where several, French railroad lines converge and where, consequently, congestion of traffic has been responsible for delayed train movements. To avoid a double-track turnout, which would have involved a cross-over cutting one of the French tracks, the two track connections of the cut-off are taken off from opposite sides of the French right-of-way. This involved running one of the new lines of the cut-off out from the main line track on a fill to a point where it could be brought back and over the French track on a steel girder bridge. Beyond this bridge the two tracks of the cut-off converge and straighten out in the standard type of double-track construction. The new cut-off is about 5 3/4 mi. (9 km.) long and has required 160,000 cu. yd. of cut (122,329 cu. m.) and 414,000 cu. yd. (316,527 cu. m.) of fill. In the biggest continuous fill a-yardage of 180,000 has been placed; the road-bed in this section-being-about 40-ft. (12 m.) above the original ground surface. The bridge portion of the cut-off, 2190 ft. (667.5 in.) long, is made up of ninety-nine 14-ft. (4.3 m.) timber spans and sixteen 50-ft. (15.3 m.) steel girder spans. This is the longest bridge which engineers of the American Expeditionary Forces have built in France. The timber spans are supported by pile trestle bents, while the longer steel girders rest on clusters of 43 piles. Two pile drivers of the steam-hammer type worked from each -end of the bridge toward the center of the river, while a drop hammer worked westward from the shore end. In this structure nearly two thousand piles 50 ft. or so in length had to be driven.

Jan 12, 1918

By Michael A. Piepenburg

The East Side Access (ESA) Project will extend Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) into midtown Manhattan via 11 km of tunnels, a new terminal station and associated support facilities. In addition to the hard-rock tunneling currently underway in Manhattan, soft-ground tunnels in Queens will traverse beneath Amtrak?s Sunnyside Yard and Harold Interlocking, the busiest rail interlocking in North America. This paper details ESA?s coordinated approach to interfacing with both Amtrak and LIRR with regard to the planned tunnels, shafts and related construction beneath or adjacent to the operating railroads. This interface includes integration of railroad staff, extensive presentations, reviews and agreements with the railroads regarding settlement mitigation, real-time automated geo-instrumentation monitoring, ground improvement, and geotechnical/environmental controls.

By R. Luhrman, E. Christ, B. Gores, S. Fischer, E. Johanning

North American railroad locomotive operators (engineers and conductors) are exposed to multi-axis vibration and shocks (1, 2). A recent epidemiological survey showed a prevalence of serious type of neck and lower back disorders nearly double that of a control group (3). Ergonomic working conditions are important co-factors in a vibration and shock exposure risk assessment (4, 5). The goal of this study is to illustrate typical work stations (cabs and seats) in US/Canadian type locomotives and assess shock related exposure risk by calculations of the new proposed shock risk indicators according to the new ISO 2631-5 (2004) (6). Methods Locomotive cab and seat inspections were conducted and operators’ activities were assessed by a trained observer. Field measurements (n=50) were obtained during normal revue service following generally accepted guidelines (ISO 2631 (1)). A sub-sample of n=20 locomotives were selected for the calculation of proposed shock indicators (ISO 2631 (5)). Results There has been little change in basic locomotive cab and seat design in the U.S.. Two locomotive cab design concepts are used: the Association of American Railroad (AAR) Control Stand and in newer series wide-body locomotives the “Control Consol” (Figures 1-2), with varying seating conditions, but frequently subjecting the operator to an awkward body posture in addition to the vibration and shock exposure. [ ]

Jan 6, 2006

By AIME AIME

A COMMITTEE of the American Railroad Association, consisting of Samuel Rea, president of the Pennsylvania System, Chairman; F. D. Underwood, president of the Erie Railroad; A. T. Dice, president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad; E. J. Pearson, president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad; and C. H. Markham, president of the Illinois Railroad (who was represented at the meeting by J. F. Porterfield of his system), met at the headquarters of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, New York, on April 6 to assist in the Coal and Coke Committee's attempt to solve the bituminous coal problem. There was a full discussion of the questions of seasonal freight rates and the purchase by the railroads during the slack months of their winter's supply of coal. As the question of fuel supply for the railroads is in the hands of the Railroad Association, as well as the coal operators, it was vital that it should be represented at this important conference. The situation from the point of view of the mine operators was presented very thoroughly. No seasonal rates were considered necessary for the year 1920, and, as this matter requires considerable thought, it will be given thorough study and worked out in detail at a subsequent meeting.

Jan 1, 1920

The past decade has seen remarkable progress by the railroads both in equipment and concepts in the handling of dry bulk. materials. While such shipments have always been an important part of the traffic handled by the railroads I little was done to improve the efficiency of handling or toward attempted optimization of equipment design before 1960. Several developments at about that time turned attention to this important segment of railroad traffic. One was the construction of a successful coal slurry pipe-line. Another was the promise of substantial economy in electric power transmission by ultrahigh voltage systems and finally, came the growing technological and economic feasibility of nuclear fuel electric generating plants. Each of these developments was a threat to the coal traffic of the railroads --the most important single commodity they handled in terms of revenue and tonnage. By the mid-1950's I Southern Railway management had become most concerned with its growing investment in freight car equipment and the declining revenue productivity of the capital employed. Additionally I there was substantial concern with the loss of business and potential losses in the area of the railroad's greatest economic advantage --bulk commodity movements. In 1958 a small team was established to study this problem. They arrived at two conclusions. The first conclusion was that within limits of maximum gross allowable weight on rail the lowest unit net capacity cost of investment came at maximum allowable gross weight per car unit. The second conclusion was that with a high degree of utilization costs per weight unit transported could be reduced to the pOint where

Jan 1, 1971

In the last decade the railroads have been making tremendous strides in the development of services for the handling of bulk materials, the equipment for handling them, and the efficiency of handling, which resulted in lower costs to shippers. Pressure differential cars, giant tank cars and covered hopper cars, high capacity transloaders, and unit trains have led to substantial advances in expeditious, efficient, and economic handling of bulk materials.

Jan 1, 1973

By William M. Gray

[The products of mites hive historically beet a very large and important segment of total shipment transported by American Railroads. Much as the Mining transportation Executives right have wished for coal and other mineral deposits to be found along navigable rivers, where railroads have for years been competing with the very aggressive Army Corps of Engineers and the inland waterway operators, the mineable reserves are more often that not located in the arid west far from these "free" waterways. The rivers cannot go to the mines but the railroads could, did, and continue to invest it new lines to reach new mines. The mining industry and the railroad industry have good reason to rely upon each other. The former Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway merged in 1970 to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, with Lou Menk as its first President. As unofficial spokesman for the industry, be had, for years, conducted a tireless effort to educate shippers, lawmakers and the general public of the single most critical problem confronting the railroad industry, the strangle bold of government regulator.]

Jan 1, 1985

"The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific railway extends from Butte to Anaconda. The electrification comprises 30 miles of main line single track, and includes sidings, yard and smelter tracks. When complete the electrified trackage will total about 90 miles on a single track basis.The traffic conditions are unusually severe as they consist principally of hauling copper ore from the Butte mines to the smelters at Anaconda, as well as hauling all the mine supplies, lumber, etc., in both directions; this traffic amounts to approximately 5,000,000 tons of freight per year. The maximum grade against the load is .3 per cent and the maximum train consists of 50 loaded steel ore cars, weighing 3,400 tons. .The locomotive units, two of which will be used for freight trains, weigh approximately 80 tons each. In addition to the freight business, there will be a certain amount of passenger traffic.The power for operating the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific railway is generated by, the Great Falls Power company, and is transmitted to the sub-stations at 100,000 volts. The synchronous motors are supplied with power at a potential of 2,300 volts, 60 cycles, 3-phase. Voltage regulators are installed in each sub¬station to secure the benefit of synchronous condenser effect of the motors.The passenger and freight locomotives are exactly similar, with the exception of the gearing.The roller pantograph mounted on the top of the cab is operated by air from the engineers position.The adoption of the 2,400-volt apparatus for so important a system, where the conditions of operation are so severe, is interesting of itself, as indicating the trend that future electrifications of importance may follow. A trolley potential of 2,400 volts was only adopted after a thorough investigation of other systems already in operation."

Jan 1, 1913

"Coulter's Rainbow and Crooked Falls are situated about five miles below the City of Great Falls. Coulter's, the first of the series in the course of the river, is unimportant and has been submerged by the Rainbow dam. Next below Coulter's is the Rainbow Falls, 47 feet in height. Following Rainbow Falls is the Crooked Falls, 21 feet in height. The power developed at this point is such that the one clam, power house and tail-race utilize the power from all three of the above falls.The development at Rainbow was started October, 1908, and completed July, 1910. It has a total capacity of 21,000 k-w. in generators, and 36,000 h-p. in waterwheels, and operates at 105 foot head. The general scheme of development is typical of what may be called standard practice in the west for plants of medium head, and consists of a low diverting clam, a double pipe line feeding into a balancing reservoir near the plant, and individual pen-stocks supplying the turbines from this reservoir.The dam is a rock-filled crib structure 1,146 feet long and 29 feet high, the up-stream side of which slopes at such an angle that the stability of the clam is assured even under the greatest floods, the weight of the water acting to hold it down, so that the higher the flood the greater the stability. The down-stream side is also sloping and tapers off into a long apron so designed as to take care of any overflow which may occur without shock or commotion. The clam is founded on solid rock throughout its entire length."

Jan 1, 1913

"The 100,000 volt sub-station at Butte is located near the center of the district in which the power is distributed. The sub-station building is 150 feet by 50 feet in plan and 50 feet high. It is a brick walled, steel framed structure with concrete floors and roof.There are installed at present four banks of single-phase transformers, rated at 3,600 k-w. per bank and connected in delta on both high and low tension sides. They step the voltage down from 102,000 to 2,500, at which voltage it is distributed to customers. The transformers are installed in fireproof compartments, entirely shut off from the rest of the building by brick walls and opening only out of doors. The transformers are mounted on wheels and can readily be run out onto a flat car, which stands on a track running parallel with the building in front of the row of transformer compartments. This arrangement furnishes a convenient method of handling the transformers, both at the time of installation and afterward, in case it is necessary to make repairs."

Jan 1, 1913