(The following article was posted on the Gillette News-Record website on January 22.)
GILLETTE, Wyo. — Two rail projects with a combined tab of more than $70 million will expand capacity for coal being shipped out of the southern Powder River Basin by summer’s end.
A 19-mile track expansion project in southern Campbell County from Reno Junction to Shawnee Junction and staging yard west of Rozet at Donkey Creek are both moving forward and could be finished by the third quarter 2006, Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas said Friday.
Grading work on the $51.5 million Reno Junction project is 80 percent complete on an existing railroad right of way that will be expanded from two to three tracks, adding capacity coal companies have wanted for years.
The continuous triple track will expedite coal shipments and is intended to meet the area’s continued growth, Melonas said.
The coal industry has asked the railroads to increase capacity for several years and the projects will help mines meet demand from power utilities, said Greg Schaefer, an Arch Coal spokesman.
“It’s been in the works and it’s much needed,” he said. “Capacity is pretty constrained, it’s pretty tight right now. If capacity on the rail system improves, it will help our ability to get the coal to market.”