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NEW RAIL FACILITY AT THE PORT
In 2014, the Port’s Board of Commissioners approved
a 50-year lease with Union Pacific Railroad for a new
rail welding facility. This $18 million facility will be
completed in spring 2015 and occupy 38 acres on
the western end of the Port’s West Complex. Once
developed, it will consist of a 90,000 square foot rail
storage structure with a 200-foot span overhead
crane, an 18,000 square foot welding and inspection
building and 17,000 feet of new rail. The project will
generate approximately $2 million a year in revenue
for the Port, including maritime service fees, land
lease rents and electric utility charges.
The manufacturing process is fascinating, the facility
will allow Union Pacific to bring steel rail by ship from
Japan to the Port in 480-foot lengths, equaling
120,000 tons or five to seven ships per year. Rail is
transported from the dock by rail car to the storage
structure equipped with an overhead crane system for
loading and unloading of rail cars. Rails then move to
the facility where three 480-foot segments are welded
to create one 1,440-foot rail length and later shipped
to various project sites across the west and mid-
western United States. The quarter-mile rail segments
are then welded on-site into continuous “ribbon rail”
for new and replacement Union Pacific rail projects.
The facility will provide a more cost e ective means
for the processing of steel rail.
Specifically for this project, the Sumitomo Corporation
constructed the world’s first long-rail transport ship,
the M/V Pacific Spike. This custom-built ship will
shuttle back and forth across the Pacific Ocean,
carrying rail from Japan. The ship is 623 feet long
Operational E ciency
with a 92-foot beam and a dead weight of 30,000
tons, and designed to carry rails at their original 480-
foot length. Since the longer continuous rail lengths
have minimal joints, they provide the railroad with
easier maintenance, better e ciency and increased
safety over shorter traditional rail. In the past, railroads
were made of 80-foot long rail segments secured
together with steel bars bolted onto the ends of
adjoining rails. These recurrent breaks cause the
“clickety-clack” sound that is common with most
of today’s train travel. Continuous ribbon rail is more
secure, requires less maintenance and decreases the
chance of derailment.
Port o cials welcomed the inaugural arrival of the
Pacific Spike on December 10, 2014, and are pleased
with the new line of business. With the incorporation
of the facility, the Port is currently the only port in the
world receiving 480-foot rail. Additionally, as is true
of all new Port businesses, the facility has the potential
to provide additional benefits to the greater Stockton
community by way of job generation. The Union
Pacific facility will create up to 10 permanent jobs
at an average annual salary of $50,000 and help
generate another 30 indirect jobs and 75 temporary
construction jobs for the region.
STEVE ESCOBAR
Deputy Port Director
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