Coal Dust

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I know that coal dust lately has been a big issue in the PRB…

  1. What mitigation issues (if any) are actually being taken by the coal shippers to reduce coal dust?

  2. Does the coal dust only blow a little bit after the coal is loaded (say like on the PRB joint line) or does it blow continuously throughout the journey of the train, for example would a UP coal train in Illinois originating in PRB blow as much coal then as it would have when it was freshly loaded in the PRB?

2

The following video shows how latex can be applied to a train of coal to mitigate the dust. I would imagine it would be an expensive fix to mitigate a problem with coal dusting in the ballast of a ROW. Probably why BNSF and UPRR have not universally adapted it in PRB Coal moves --YET(?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFiV55zohC4

I think the reason you have dust in the PRB Coal is that it is mined and loaded with minimal screening in the processing. Most Eastern US coal is washed before it is shipped so dust is not quite the issue as it is in PRB.

3

CPR runs a lot of unit coal trains between the Crowsnest Pass area and the Pacific coast just south of Vancouver, BC. They also experienced coal dust issues, and now the loaded cars are sprayed with some liquid at the mine load-out. There is another spray station about half way along the route at Carlin (between Salmon Arm and Kamloops, BC) where they are sprayed a second time. Beyond Carlin, as trains approach Kamloops, track speed becomes a lot faster and there had been many complaints from the adjacent residential neighbourhoods about coal dust blowing off the cars. The faster the train, the more “wind” to start lifting the dust.

The spraying doesn’t completely eliminate blowing dust, but does reduce it significantly.

John