Canola Crush Processing Facility — Rail Emphasis
VAA’ s multidiscipline team designed a facility capable of producing 850,000 metric tons of canola per year, including a challenging rail design that enabled trains to enter the facility at high speeds while minimizing residential highway blockage.
Alberta, Canada
Challenge
Design a conventional and specialty canola seed processing facility capable of processing 850,000 metric tons of canola per year and connect two Class 1 railways, one of which was located on the opposite side of a heavily traveled provincial highway.
Solution
Adhering to Alberta Transportation, Transport Canada and Canadian Pacific (CP) design standards, the final design of spiral curve tracks entering the facility and a super-elevated curve allows trains to enter the facility at high speeds. The design also limits the amount of time the highway is blocked, which was a major concern for area residents.
The new facility includes nearly 12 miles of track, which allows space to store three unit trains of 117 cars each on site at a time and 25 manifest cars for both the Canadian National (CN) and CP. The facility also features two completely flat tracks to integrate the use of automated railcar indexers during the loading of unrefined canola oil and pellets. VAA’s design services helped the client achieve their goals to provide local farmers a consistent and competitive point of delivery and ultimately support the strong demand for canola oil both locally and globally.
Results
- Designed processing facility capable of producing 850,000 metric tons/year
- Incorporated spiral curve tracks and super-elevated rail curve into design
- Strategically designed site to include 12 miles of track, store 3 unit trains of 117 cars at a time, and 25 manifest cars
- Integrated 2 flat tracks allowing the use of automated railcar indexers during the loading
Disciplines
Partners
- Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway
- Canadian National (CN) Railway
- Client’s Executive Design Team