Railcar Sand Unloading
The place where railcar sand unloading is most frequently done is a transloading station. This is very frequently associated with the energy exploration and recovery fields. Frac sand is used in their hydrofracking process to release more of the trapped energy reserves from the rock beds below the surface.
The unloading of a rail car that is filled with sand might sound like an easy task, but that is only so because of the equipment that is used. These are portable conveyor belts that can be easily positioned under the railcar to catch the frac sand as it falls from the bottom chute.
In most instances, the other end of the conveyor is over a tractor trailer so it can complete its travels to its final destination. Whether it is frac sand or some other bulk material, the transloading station is just a transfer point most of the time. This is done on purpose because of the limited space at the transloading stations and the amount of work it would take to offload material, move it to storage, then move it back out for loading. Essentially, that would double the workload of the workers and the equipment.
Efficiency and speed are the trademarks of the transloading stations that have been around for years serving the business community that relies on railcars for bulk transport. This efficiency would be compromised if storage of the material was to be done at the transloading stations. This is also how this type of business keeps its prices low and delivery of the goods that travel through their stations on their way to the final destination.
The railcar sand unloading is just one of the many types of bulk material transferring done at the transloading station. This is their core business, which they do very efficiently.
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