Minnesota railway handles more carloads of propane

Northern Lines Railway, based in central Minnesota, handled more than 1,000 carloads of propane in 2014, a four-fold increase from the previous year. Northern Lines President Justin Chalich says the railway expects to handle 1,500 carloads of propane this year. Northern Lines handles about 10,000 carloads annually.

According to the Anacostia Rail Holdings website, the Wenner Gas Co. and CHS Inc. partnership to expand the Rockville propane terminal near St. Cloud, Minn., prompted the rise in propane carloads traveling on the Northern Lines. As one of the largest rail-propane transfer facilities in the United States, the Rockville site can unload 10 rail tank cars simultaneously and store 620,000 gallons of propane in 16 tanks.

Minnesota’s propane sourcing changed dramatically last winter when the 1,900-mile Cochin pipeline was reversed from bringing in propane from Canada to pumping light condensate to Alberta, Canada, to dilute oil sands bitumen.