A new Heavy Track, dedicated to downloading and uploading tracked military vehicles, is now in service for Railway Operations, on the Yermo Annex aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif.
“The new track and ramp are made of typical construction materials, such as gravel, ties, plates, rail and ballast rock, made to endure years of use with heavy tracked equipment,” said Chad Hildebrandt, RailOps supervisor. “The track, originally built by the Rail Operations crew in 2009, was recently refinished in accordance with the Railroad Design and Rehabilitation manual UFC 4-860-01. The recent work was conducted by a contract through Naval Facilities Engineering South West.”
The Department of Defense uses Unified Facilities Criteria documents to provide consistent planning, design, construction, criteria. This recent phase of reconstruction began in late Fall 2018 and was completed on January 24.
“The throughput capability for heavy tracked equipment was one of our only weak points at MCLB Barstow,” Hildebrandt explained. “Before the finalization of this track, we only had the capability to place 32 railcars in position for active loading of heavy tracked equipment at one time. With the construction of the loading ramp and refinishing of the track, we are now capable of placing 53 railcars in active loading position at one time dedicated to heavy tracked equipment, greatly increasing our throughput capabilities.”
The additional ramp and rail allows for quicker upload and offload of armored vehicles and helps reduce costs and time that a unit has to spend on MCLB Barstow for their embarkation and debarkation mission.
“We have seen an increase in operational flow of 253 percent since 2013,” Hildebrandt said. “This large increase has placed significant strains on our infrastructure capabilities. This new track, while only a small portion of what is needed, provides some much-needed capacity and relief to this ever-increasing traffic flow.”
“This new track is an exact replica of the two existing heavy tracks we already have,” said Master Sgt. Patrick Grabowski, Railway Operations chief. “The largest impact we will see here at MCLB Barstow will be the reduction in time a unit needs to spend here for embarkation and debarkation missions. This has a ripple effect also as the reduced time will help reduce life support costs for the using units. For instance, the costs of using barracks, feeding personnel and providing for their other needs while on our base. The overall goal is to save DoD money.”
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