Industrial | Civil Smith LLC

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

Interactive Aerial Imagery (Google Earth)

Project Photo Gallery

CSX Mainline & Greenfield Site Before Construction - South End

CSX Mainline & Existing Industry Switch Before Construction - NorthEnd

CSX Mainline Power Turnout Completed - South End

CSX Mainline Power Turnout Completed - North End

Double Crossovers

Industrial Turnouts

Pit Track

Rail Car Unloading Pit

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

Interactive Aerial Imagery (Google Earth)

Project Photo Gallery

Greenfield Site Before Construction

Switching Lead

CSX Mainline Turnout for Wye Track

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

Interactive Aerial Imagery (Google Earth)

Project Photo Gallery

Before Construction

Construction Phase

Industrial At-Grade Crossing for Adjacent Landfill Use

Completed Rail Yard Expansion

Completed and Operational

Plastic Resin by Rail – North Carolina

by civilsmith | Jan 13, 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

Interactive Aerial Imagery (Google Earth)

Project Photo Gallery

Before Rehabilitation and New Construction

After Rehabiliation and New Construction

Completed and Operational

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.

Interactive Aerial Imagery (Google Earth)

Project Photo Gallery

Project Site Before Construction

Completed Project Site

NS Mainline Turnout

Rail Dock Area

Optional Rail Unloading Pad

Direct Service by NS

Cement Terminal Expansion – Georgia

by civilsmith | Jan 9, 2023 | Industrial

Buford, Georgia
With the higher demand for cement in the northeast Georgia region, Cemex contracted with CivilSmith, LLC to provide rail design services to assist them with their plans to expand their existing rail to truck transload facility. The existing facility included two spur tracks with a very short tail track past the unloading pit. This expansion would created additional rail car storage space as well as much more flexible rail car switching capabilities.

CivilSmith, LLC worked closely with Cemex and Norfolk Southern to develop preliminary plans and operating ideas to maximize the capacity for both parties. Detailed plans, NS review and approval, and track construction specifications followed for the construction of a new spur track, tail track, and three turnouts. The CivilSmith team included services by others for surveying, geotechnical, and land disturbance permitting.

CivilSmith assisted Cemex with bidding out the project to multiple rail contractors to include job showing, RFI phase, and bid review and bid tabulation. CivilSmith also provided construction phase services to include construction observations with reports and a final punch list for all track roadbed grading and track construction phases.

Track Construction: Trac-Work, Inc.