How long does it take to fill a coal train?

Loading of coal and water and incidental maintenance takes a steam locomotive about 1 hour. A diesel engine can be fueled from a pump in 10 minutes or so.

How long does it take to load a coal car?

Coal loading capacity is to be at a minimum rate of 4,000 tons per hour and permit loading a train of 10,000 tons within 4 hours. 5,000 tons per hour loading capability should be considered by the origin should 15,000 ton trains be the maximum train size desired.

How long do coal trains take?

An additional 16-18 trains are expected, and each train may be over 1.5 miles long. At a speed of 50-60 mph, that would be an approximate 3-4 minute wait time at crossings. At a speed of 35 mph, there would be an approximate 6-7 minute wait time at crossings.

How is coal loaded onto trains?

Using the stacker-reclaimer method, coal is emptied out of rail cars using a rotary wagon tipper onto a belt conveyor which carries the coal to a travelling stacker, which forms high stockpiles.

How much coal does a train hold?

Nowadays, 120-car trains are normal with each car carrying roughly 120 tons. Thus the capacity of a modern unit coal train is around 15,000 tons per train.

Loading a Coal train

Do trains still run on coal?

'Fossil fuels are dead,' says CSX railroad chief: no more new trains for coal, ever. The industrial revolution that began around 1750 was powered in large part by coal, and the carbon-rich fuel had 200 good years after that.

How much does a coal train car cost?

Decades ago, the typical freight railcar had a new cost below $50,000. Today, the typical freight railcar is in the $100,000 to $150,000 range. Overall, there are six basic freight railcar types. But within each railcar type, there are multiple specific design factors.

How many coal cars can a train pull?

At any given time on Class Is' networks, trains stretching from 10,000 to 15,000 feet long are snaking their way to a destination. Pulling well more than 100 cars, the trains are much longer than — and in some cases more than double the size of — a typical 5,000- to 6,000-foot train.

How is coal unloaded from a train?

There are two basic ways to unload coal from a rail car at the power plant: rotary dump or bottom dump. (A third option, side dump, generally is applicable only for specialized short-haul situations.)

How are trains unloaded?

Pipe or rails are usually loaded and unloaded with a crane or other mechanical device, while military equipment, heavy construction equipment, and farm equipment can be driven on and off flatcars.

How much is a ton of coal worth?

In 2020, the national average sales price of coal (excluding anthracite) at coal mines was $28.88 per short ton, and the average delivered price of all coal delivered to the electric power sector was $36.14 per short ton.

How long does a freight train take to pass?

“The average freight train is about 1 to 1¼ miles in length (90 to 120 rail cars). When it's moving at 55 miles an hour, it can take a mile or more to stop after the locomotive engineer fully applies the emergency brake. An 8-car passenger train moving at 80 miles an hour needs about a mile to stop.”

How long is the average freight train?

SMART Union transportation division spokesman John Risch told top rail regulator the Surface Transportation Board (STB) at an October hearing on CSX service problems the average U.S. train is up to 1.5 miles long (2.41 km), but CSX has routinely operated trains two or even three miles long since Harrison took over.

How much does a fully loaded train weigh?

You can expect an average train weight to be about 3,000 to 18,000 tons or more depending on the load and number of cars in the train. Local trains designed for the transport of people or to carry less of a load may weigh anywhere from 1,500 to 6,000 tons or more.

What railroad carries the most coal?

Of all the class 1 railroads, BNSF, a wholly owned Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, hauls the most coal as a proportion of its overall traffic.

How much does a train engine weigh?

The average train engine or locomotive weighs around 210-220 tons or 465,000 - 480,000 lbs.

How long are CSX coal trains?

Coal cars are typically 50 to 52 feet in length, averaging the “monster train” to more than two miles from end-to-end. Each car can usually hold 100 tons of coal. According to the CSX employee, expert engineers from GE will be aboard the locomotives placed in the middle of the train.

How are coal wagons emptied?

Thousands of wagons demanded efficient loading and unloading. Hence coal would normally be loaded by pouring into the top, leaving the characteristic humped shape. Unloading was accomplished tipping the wagon using a "wagon tippler".

How much of CSX business is coal?

Of the seven Class I railroads in the US and Canada, coal as a percent of revenue is greatest for CSX and BNSF, at 18.3% and 16.8%, respectively.

Why do locomotives run back to back?

They're on those rails so the rail is the only direction of travel they can go in." Jacobs says it's actually more efficient to leave locomotives facing whatever direction they are facing because it takes a lot of energy to pick a train up and turn it around so that it would face the other way.

What is the longest train ever recorded?

The longest train ever recorded in history is the BHP Iron Ore at 7.353 km (~4.57 miles). This freight train was powered by eight powerful hybrid diesel-electric locomotives, and it traveled for roughly 275 km (~171 miles).

How many miles does a locomotive last?

We have one of the newest locomotive fleets in the industry. A typical BNSF locomotive will travel up to 4.8 million miles in its lifetime - equal to about 20 trips from the earth to the moon.

How long do train cars last?

The answer is both simple and complex: simple in that both the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) limit the revenue service lives of rail cars to 50 years; and complex because in the past, most rail cars were retired for economic reasons long before that age.

How much is a truck load of coal worth?

In 2019, the cost of transporting coal by truck amounted to around 6.2 U.S. dollars per ton.

How much oil can a train carry?

A rail tank car carries about 30,000 gallons (÷ 42 gallons/barrel = about 700 barrels). A train of 100 cars carries about 3 million gallons (70,000 barrels) and takes over 3 days to travel from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, about a million gallons per day.