One of our building materials wholesale vendors is putting in a rail siding. Since they don’t sell lumber products, it appears to me,at least, that this would be a pretty iffy investment. Not counting the real estate costs, what does a rail siding cost? Does the railroad involved (in this case BNSF) do the building, or is something like this usually contracted out?
Thanks
A few years ago I was involved in putting in a rail siding at work. It was done by a RR contractor. Using 2nd hand RR stone, rails, and ties it cost about $100 per linear foot … if I remember correctrly. Probably up to $200 per foot nowadays.
Depends where it is and what track the industrial rail spur comes out of.
BNSF will only operate on the track and pick-up/deliver only if the track meets minimum spec.s…
Depending on where the incoming BULK loads come from to be broken-up and distributed to the local users, the addition af an industrial track make sense. (Especially makes sense with rising fuel costs)…
(Cost of an industrial track coming straight out of a signalized main line is considerably more than a track coming out of a backtrack somewhere. Union work rules and who owns the land underneath also come into play. )
Depending where you are these days, contractor basis still $98 to $112 a track foot in shotgon estimates. Add about 35% for railroad basis. … and these figures are not that reliable anymore because of the 286-315K requirements and the issues of what the spur is to be used for now are not as universal as they once were.