MAGNETATION RAILROAD LOOP TRACK
Krech Ojard was engaged to provide engineering services for modifications of the existing railroad loop track for Magnetation’s proposed pellet plant in Reynolds, Indiana.
Magnetation is a relatively new operation utilizing a magnetic separation technology to capture iron ore particles within discarded iron ore tailings left over from previous mining operations. Magnetation has quickly expanded to numerous northern Minnesota plants and is developing a pellet plant in Reynolds, Indiana. This nationally centralized plant location will be capable of serving the Great Lakes region as well as Mexico and Canada.
The new Reynolds Plant is utilizing a former ethanol plant site with extensive existing rail infrastructure, but the existing loop track needed to be re-engineered to handle multiple trains on a multi-track loop. All existing track materials were able to be salvaged for reuse. The new loop track facility will now be able to accommodate multiple unit trains (up to 7000 feet long); simultaneously loading an outbound pellet train and dumping of an inbound iron concentrate train.
Krech Ojard was responsible for the loop redesign, coordination with CSX Railway for the approval of the plans and the Private Sidetrack Agreement, all which culminated in the preparation of construction documents, plans and specifications for track and embankment construction. Krech Ojard developed 2D animated traffic flow scenarios at scale to bring the system to life and better convey different switching solutions and operating scenarios to the client.
The facility design is based on the requirement to handle up to three trains; 120 car concentrate train, 100 car pellet train, and one additional concentrate or pellet train.
To accomplish this, the facility utilizes three railroad loop tracks, each approximately 9,000 feet long. Upon arrival from the CSX mainline, a train is routed to one of the three tracks depending on the train’s commodity (concentrate or pellets) and loop availability. The two material handling facilities, one loading and one unloading, are located on parallel pocket tracks, adjacent to the loops. The loop track facility will now allow for receiving or departing train movements, while up to two trains are loading, unloading, or holding (depending on priority).
With two mainline switch connections in proximity to each other, and one alternate entrance, the timing of train movements when trains are loading and unloading can be critical. The animated train operation scenarios were utilized to better visualize and explain the complex switching and timing necessary for the daily process of concurrent train movements.
