Crude-by-Rail: Another Rail Hub for Oil -- Zap, North Dakota -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Unit trains taking Bakken oil to Louisiana refineries and elsewhere will be filled at an oil tanker truck load out east of Zap, part of a growing trend to move oil by train to get to the best-paying market.

The deal was sealed Wednesday at a Mercer County Commission meeting in Stanton, where three commissioners split 2-1 to approve a reconfigured county road alignment that will allow 110-car trains to pull in without splitting for a road crossing.

It takes 300 tanker trucks -- the semis you see on the road pulling tanks carrying oil -- to fill one 110-tank unit train.

For more on crude-by-rail and unit trains, click on the "Rail" tag at the bottom of the blog.

It's been an observation of mine over the years that the grain farmers have historically been upset with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (and its predecessors) because it was the farmers' feeling that BNI was not adding enough rail or cars to transport grain out of North Dakota. Just noting the 2-1 split vote.