I was by Midwest Railcar Repair today in Corson S.D. Check it out on Google maps. This place probably has over 1000 cars waiting to be worked on. Usually you can see a lot of damaged cars from the road that look like they came from a derailment. Right now, they must have 600-700 tank cars parked there, all seemingly undamaged. What would they be at a repair shop for?
I’m guessing is they’re stored crude oil cars.
Tank cars need requalified every 10 years, shops will check the tank car lining, valve,etc to make sure its safe to be loaded.
Some are there for cleaning and valve upgrades. Few places no longer have the environmental clearance and facilities (waste disposal clearance) to do that work. Treatment plants are expensive and hard to maintain. (Your local sewage treatment plant typically won’t allow industrial waste facilities to connect to them - they are struggling to stay compliant already)
They are going to be storing a LOT more in the next 18 months. Take a gander look at the M2 measure and the rate it is plummeting. Could be just an anomoly but if it isn’t…you’ll see a lot more stored cars in the next 12-18 months.
The powers that be have decided that our little sewage facility isn’t up to their standards - and the price tag to bring it up to their standards is in the high six figures. All for about 100 households… We’re trying to figure out where the money will come from.