Unit train
A unit train, also called a block train, is a railway (US: railroad) train in which all the cars (non-US: wagons) making it up are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. This saves time and money, as well as the hassle, delays and confusion associated with assembling and disassembling trains at rail yards near the origin and destination. It also enables railways to compete more effectively with road and internal waterway transport systems, However, unit trains are economical only for high-volume customers. Since unit trains often carry only one commodity, cars are of all the same type, and sometimes the cars are all identical apart from possible variations in livery.
[edit] Use
Unit trains are typically used for the transportation of bulk goods such as ballast or gravel and, in the coal and steel industry for moving:
- Iron Ore from mines to ports or steel mills
- Coal from mines to power stations
- Coke from coking plants to steel mills
Bulk liquids are transported in unit trains made up of tank cars e.g.
- Crude oil from oil fields to refineries (about 60,000 barrels (9,500 m3) of oil in a unit train of 100 tank cars)[1]
- Mineral oil products from the refineries to the storage facilities
- Ethanol from ethanol plants to motor fuel blending facilities[2]
Other examples include:
- Aggregate
- Waste (garbage)
- Wheat
- Corn
- Molten sulfur (non-US:sulphur)
- Potash
- Steel
- Taconite
- Fruit juice
- Refrigerated food[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ McGurty, Janet; Adler, Lynn; Gregorio, David (2011-07-22). "Union Pacific sees rail oil shipments quadrupling". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/usrail-oilshipments-idUSN1E76L18M20110722.
- ^ Thompson, Stephen (September 2006). "Keep on Truckin’: Ethanol boom creates transportation challenges". United States Department of Agriculture. http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/sep06/keep.htm.
- ^ e.g. as distributed by the US commercial food distributor, Railex
