Pit & Quarry, February 2014

HAULING Rock by Rail Vulcan Materials new program makes rail transportation a viable way to connect quarries and plants V BY LORETTA SORENSEN ulcan Materials Co is known for implementing forward thinking strategies that deliver consistently superior quality materials and services to its customers Most recently Vulcan has begun linking its aggregates resources with processing plants using rail transport lines in Southern California one of the largest per capita aggregate consumption regions in the U S Vulcans supply demand assessment for the region revealed that major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles faced imminent aggregates shortages which could have potentially restricted the regions ability to fully realize the benefits of an economic recovery following the 2008 downturn With an understanding that the emerging demand for aggregate materials would need to come from multiple sources some of which lie beyond the metropolitan area Vulcan developed its Rock by Rail program an economically viable means of bringing aggregates by rail from its Big Rock Creek site in Antelope Valley to be processed at its Sun Valley plant just north of downtown Los Angeles For years the Sun Valley quarry produced the largest aggregate supply in the United States providing construction materials for Los Angeles as well as Ventura and Santa Barbara counties says Scott Bevan Sun Valley plant manager But those reserves were depleting and a new supply of aggregates reserves was needed in the area for the longterm Union Pacific rail lines lie adjacent to Vulcan is able to utilize a section of the Union Pacific rail lying adjacent to its quarry sites Transporting aggregates is scheduled during a period when other trains are not running on the rail By hauling 1 million tons of aggregate by rail Vulcan has reduced its truck trips by 40000 annually the Sun Valley and Big Rock Creek quarries By installing about 25 miles of rail we were able to link the rail lines and connect the two quarries Vulcan developed an agreement with Union Pacific to run multiple railcars loaded with aggregate from Big Rock Creek to Sun Valley during night hours when no other trains were scheduled to travel along Union Pacifics Los Angeles rail line We have a limited window during the night when were able to move our railcars from Big Rock Creek to Sun Valley Bevan says One of our challenges with the project was how to unload the railcars without having to stop and start each one of them because that would take too much time Automated process Vulcans in house engineering department designed the solution The railcars run continuously at approximately 05 mph over an 80 ft unloading site where aggregates drop onto a conveyor belt as the cars slowly pass over it From start to finish unloading takes a little over one hour Rail car gates that open to drop the rock are actuated by a solenoid Three conveyors coming off the unloading hopper carry rock a short distance to stockpiles Its quite a sight to watch material come out of the cars and onto the conveyor system Bevan says At Big Rock Creek two Caterpillar 992 front end loaders are used to load rail cars The loaders feature a bucket capacity of 14 to 16 cu yd Our Rock by Rail program has reduced the number of trucks needed to haul material from Big Rock to our Sun Valley plant by as many as 280 per day covering a 134 mile round trip Bevan says We calculated that by hauling 1 million tons of aggregate by rail we avoid having trucks complete 560 trips along the highway each day In one year that amounts to a reduction of 40000 truck trips Thats a lot less 50 PIT QUARRY February 2014 www pitandquarry com