The press release, January 17, 2014, announcing the new rail terminal at South Heart, a PDF:
The story was posted earlier, back on November 28, 2013.
Read the press release carefully; it is full of incredible, staggering information:
From the press release in case the link is broken:
Watco Terminal and Port Services and Great Northern Project evelopment, L. P. announce their partnership in the development and operation of a major multi-purpose rail transload terminal and railcar maintenance shop near South Heart, North Dakota.
South Heart Rail Terminal, (SHRT), will serve the energy industry and its service providers to meet the increasing demand and development of the Bakken, Three Forks, Tyler and emerging oil and gas formations. Construction is expected to start in the first half of 2014 with operations projected to begin during the first quarter of 2015.
SHRT will be strategically located just south of Interstate 94, twelve miles west of Dickinson, ND, and will offer rail, transload, and railcar maintenance services, as well as warehousing and materials storage. The Terminal will be served with national connectivity via BNSF Railway Company and will feature two double-loop tracks and twelve manifest tracks. SHRT will accommodate multiple unit trains, manifest
business, and significant long or short term railcar storage needs.
South Heart Rail Terminal will have the capability to receive and transload dry bulk commodities such as frac sand, ceramic proppants, and cement. Tubular pipe, oil field equipment, building products and other materials will also be handled at SHRT. In addition, the Terminal will provide off-loading and storage for aggregates, asphalt, and road materials.
A full service railcar maintenance facility, operated by Watco Mechanical Services, will be located on-site to provide services to tank car owners and lessees. Based on 10 year growth projections in the crude oil sector alone, there will be a need for an additional 70,000 tank cars in the US fleet with 60% of those needed for the Bakken Shale area alone. South Heart Rail Terminal’s rail car maintenance shop will provide services to assist Customers with tank car inspections, testing, qualifications, preventive
maintenance, retrofits, paint and lining. In addition, Watco Compliance Services will provide fleet management solutions, engineering and regulatory guidance to ensure ongoing safety and mechanical integrity.
SHRT sure is a lot better sounding than riding Seattle's SLUT, South Lake Union Transit.
ReplyDeleteLOL....it could have been SLUR (South Lake Union Rail) or SLURPY (South Lake Union Rail Point for Yuppies).
DeleteNorth Dakota was very, very fortunate that "fracking" got as close to the line without going over it. As it is, "fracking" is almost too close to unprintable double entendre -- I'm thinking of my Bakken sweatshirt/pullover: "Drill 'Em, Frack "Em, Pump 'Em." Yes, it's available on-line.
If you research Great Northern, they are HUGE into coal development. Must know something about the proposed coal plant by South Heart that we don't.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you should note that. I was going to add a line about coal. The press release was most notable for what it did not mention: COAL. Most likely because right now, COAL is politically incorrect, but you can bet COAL will continue to be a major piece for BNSF.
DeleteYes, I know BNSF very, very well. I grew up with it and it was one of the first companies I ever invested in.
I was reading the book that came out recently about the big players in the oil boom and the author went over the beginnings of the word for fracking. An interesting tid-bit is that Battlestar Galactica used it as an alternative for the "F" word. Eventually when I'm bored late at night I'll send you that portion of the book in quote form. I suspect you would find it interesting.
ReplyDelete(Of course) I did not know that. That is incredible. You know how I love to connect dots. That's a great dot. Thank you.
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