The loop-track/power-on grain terminals popping up throughout the Prairies are kind of like the marines — no rail car gets left behind, reports the Alberta Farmer Express.
That’s one example of how these terminals improve efficiency in Canada’s grain transportation system, said Warren Stow, president of GrainsConnect Canada, whose company is currently building two such facilities in Vegreville and Huxley and has two new, and identical, terminals in Saskatchewan.
Loop-track/power-on terminals can speed the loading and unloading process by up to 50% over conventional straight-track facilities, said Stow. Because the locomotive is never decoupled on loop tracks, the train never loses power and, in turn, braking pressure.
In the process, loop tracks remove two of the biggest inefficiencies in the grain transportation system: lengthy wait times and partial hauling.
Read the full report here.
