Industrial | Civil Smith LLC

Mining Materials by Rail – South Carolina

by Robert Maner | Jan 17, 2023 | Industrial

Northeastern South Carolina

To meet the needs of transporting large volumes of raw materials from a nearby quarry, this new mining operation required significant capacity for loading out rail cars for transportation to various processing facilities across the US. This long-neglected brownfield site formerly served by CSX was selected and developed to loadout as many as 20 rail cars per day.

CivilSmith worked closely with the industry to develop initial track layout concepts and ultimately developed detailed track plans that were reviewed and approved by CSX’s Design & Construction department. CivilSmith worked closely with the industry’s engineering team to develop plans that included a unique layout for efficient use of limited trackage for both the industry’s loading operation as well as CSX’s operation for quick setoff/pickup operations along this mainline corridor.

CivilSmith provided track construction specifications, assisted with the bidding process, and provided valuable track construction phase services to include material inspections, responses to RFIs, and construction observation visits with detailed reports.

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Aggregate Distribution Yard – South Carolina

by civilsmith | Jan 17, 2023 | Industrial

Mt. Holly, South Carolina

To meet the demand for high-quality aggregate products in this coastal region, Vulcan Materials chose this greenfield site just north of Charleston, SC along CSXT’s service corridor for their new regional distribution yard. CivilSmith and Creative Rail Solutions teamed up to assist HGB and their client Vulcan Materials with all phases of design and construction for this new aggregate unit train unloading operation. Preliminary planning and design included several operational considerations for bi-directional service from the north or south while allowing the unit train to be pulled into the site without stopping in order to quickly clear this busy rail corridor. Constraints at each end of the project required some creative designs to include the use of a double crossover configuration as well as incorporating an existing industrial neighbor’s switch into the new staging siding.

CivilSmith and Creative Rail Solutions coordinated with Vulcan Materials, HGB, and CSX throughout the duration of the project to develop rail designs that met the rail operational and capacity needs for the new unit train aggregate unloading operation. Track construction specifications and quantities were provided to Vulcan for their use in their bidding process. Periodic construction observation site visits were provided by Creative Rail Solutions to assist Vulcan with track material and installation quality control. The project included detailed coordination and design efforts with CSX in consideration of CSX’s installation of power-assist turnouts with signalization at both ends of staging sidings.

Project Highlights:

8,000+ Track Feet of Sidings and UnloadingTracks
2 Industrial No.10 Crossovers
4 Industrial Turnouts
2 Mainline Power-Assist Turnouts with DSP Derails by CSX
High-Volume Aggregate Pit by Vulcan

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Ethanol Transload Facility – Alabama

by civilsmith | Jan 16, 2023 | Industrial

Southern Alabama
A regional fuel supplier’s expansion of their distribution facility included adding a new rail facility to be constructed on a greenfield site. The new inbound commodity required the construction of a new rail yard with an 80-tank car unit train capacity. The site is served by CSX and the operational requirements included bi-directional switching for inbound and outbound rail movements.

CivilSmith teamed up with Creative Rail Solutions to assist POND Engineering handle all aspects of the rail design, CSX approval, track specifications, and construction phase services. Coordination and assistance was given to POND during the grading and drainage design phase to confirm that track roadbed grading and culvert crossings met CSX’s specifications for industrial tracks.

Bi-directional service to the site was accomplished by the use of wye tracks springing from two separate mainline turnouts in CSX’s mainline track. Access to the site required creative alignment design that met CSX’s specifications, provided adequate rail car capacity, and avoided adjacent properties by others.

Civil/Site Design: POND Engineering

Track Construction: Trac-Works

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Firestone Building Products – Alabama

by civilsmith | Jan 15, 2023 | Industrial

Tuscumbia, Alabama
Firestone Building Products doubled their rail capacity for receiving a new bulk commodity by rail . This facility has received plastic resin by rail for two decades and this rail expansion represents significant new rail traffic to their Tuscumbia, Alabama facility. This project would include detailed coordination with Firestone’s mechanical engineering consultant, Quad Plus, as they managed the project to include manifold piping design along and over the proposed new tracks.

The CivilSmith team managed all aspects of the rail portion of the rail expansion project to include surveying, geotechnical exploration, detailed track and track roadbed grading design and approval, permitting, project specifications development, bidding services, and construction phase services. CivilSmith worked closely with Firestone’s project management consultant Quad Plus. Project construction phasing plans and scheduling were required during the final stages of construction to insure that Firestone would have a sufficient of raw materials to supply their operation.

CivilSmith coordinated all efforts between the industry and other stakeholders to include the adjacent landfill, Norfolk Southern, mechanical design team, and others as needed. Geotechnical exploration revealed a suspected old sink hole area that required remediation prior to preparating of the track roadbed. CivilSmith coordinated with S&ME to include their recommendations into the overall project bid documents and specifications. The project also included the design and specifications for a new at-grade industrial drive crossing for adjacent landfill usage with heavy-duty dump trucks.

Track Contruction: Shelton’s Railroad Construction
Surveying Services: LandPro Surveying
Geotechnical Services: S&ME
Mechanical Engineering & Project Management: Quad Plus

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Plastic Resin by Rail – North Carolina

by civilsmith | Jan 14, 2023 | Industrial

Weldon, North Carolina
JBB Packaging selected this existing rail-served facility for their new plastic film product manufacturing facility. Halifax County EDC secured grant funding from NCRR and NCDOT to fund the rail infrastructure upgrades and new track construction. As many as 8 covered hoppers of inbound plastic resin of varying types and grades are required for the various products that JBB produces. The existing facility required significant renovations and expansion to the building as well as rehabilitation of existing track and the construction of two new rail spurs.

CivilSmith, PLLC worked closely with JBB Packaging, Halifax County EDC, and CSX Railroad to develop detailed plans and track construction specifications for the rehabilitation of existing track and the construction of two spurs with a turnout to provide reliable rail service to this facility. CivilSmith specified high-quality materials and construction requirements for this project to provide JBB Packaging with a low maintenance rail solution as well as making the most responsible and effective use of grant funding.

CivilSmith developed bidding and contract documents for this grant-funded project and provided bid phase services for this publicly bid project. CivilSmith also provided construction phase services to include construction observations with reports, contract administration services, and final closeout documentation.

Track Construction: STX Corporation

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JIT Warehousing & Logistics – Georgia

by Robert Maner | Jan 11, 2023 | Industrial

Savannah, Georgia

With strong warehousing and logistics demands to support the Port of Savannah, JIT developed this greenfield site for a new bulk warehousing facility adjacent to Norfolk Southern’s main track corridor. The project included rail access to a covered rail dock area to provide flexible options for loading/unloading commodities to include raw paper products. To maximize flexibility for other possible rail loading/unloading opportunities, the track plans also included trackage along a paved pad for possible transloading or finished lumber product unloading.

CivilSmith assisted the Coleman Company engineering team to develop rail plans for this particular site twice. Once for a metals recycling prospect, and then later for the eventual JIT facility. CivilSmith’s efforts included working with the Owner’s development team to work through the details of meeting NS’s clearance requirements for the rail dock as well as overhead clearances for the dock canopy.

Civil/Site Design: Coleman Company

Track Construction: Adams Warnock, Inc.