Port Terminal Railroad Association

Port Terminal Railroad
Association
Committed to Safety and Service
Port
TerminalRailroad
Railroad History
Port
Terminal
History
The Port Terminal Railroad
Association (PTRA), formed in 1924, is
the culmination of an original
eighteen different railroads that
serviced the industries along the
Houston Ship Channel.
Original 18 Railroads
•Texas & New Orleans RR Co.
•The Houston, East & West Texas RR Co.
•Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio RR
•Houston & Texas Central RR Co.
•International Great Northern RR Co.
•St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico RR Co.
•Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western RR Co.
•Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe RR Co.
•Trinity & Brazos Valley RR Co.
•San Antonio & Aransas Pass RR Co.
•Missouri-Kansas-Texas RR. Co. of Texas
•Houston Belt & Terminal RR Co.
•Galveston Houston Electric
•Houston and Brazos Valley
•Columbia Tap Railway
•LaPorte Houston Northern Railway
•Galveston, Houston, Henderson
•Buffalo Bayou Brazos & Colorado
Port
TerminalRailroad
Railroad History
Port
Terminal
History
Through mergers and acquisitions, the PTRA today is an Association of
Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, TexMex/KCS and the Port of
Houston Authority.
What is the Difference between the PTRA
and a Class I Railroad?
Class I Railroads:
• UPRR
• 32,000
Route Miles
• 47,200
Employees
• BNSF
• 32,500
Route Miles
• 48,000
Employees
• KCS/TEXMEX
• 6,800 Route
Miles in US
and Mexico
Port Terminal Railroad Operations
PTRA straddles both sides of the Houston ship channel and proudly:
Services 115
customers from 7
serving yards.
Maintains 172 miles
of track and 20
bridges.
Handles
approximately
57,000 cars with an
average of 1,275
engine starts per
month.
Operates 24/7
363 days +/yr.
PTRA Human Capital
335 Employees
• 202 Train, Engine and
Yard
• 35 Track Maintenance
Workers
• 43 Carmen
• 25 Clerks
• 30 Managers/Officers
PTRA Infrastructure
PTRA has a total Yard
Capacity of 4,000 railcars,
and is currently operating at
70% of capacity.
On average, PTRA spots and
pulls 2,000 industry cars per
day and has 9,000 cars
spotted at industry at any
given time.
Interchange of 780 trains
per month
2014 - PTRA Commodities Handled
Ethanol
4%
Crude
4%
Coal
5%
Food
3%
Autos I'modal
2%
3%
Other
1%
Chemicals
24%
Steel
5%
Plastics
18%
Industrial
8%
Coke
11%
Grain
12%
PTRA Partners
PTRA handles its volumes with 27 locomotives maintained by
WABTEC Global.
PTRA Technology
29 AEI (Automatic Equip.
Identification) scanners
automatically place, pull,
arrive, and depart over
272,000 car movements per
month.
51 total cameras across the
PTRA provide operational
efficiencies and security.
• 27 locomotive mounted
cameras
PTRA Public Safety
• PTRA operates over a total of
• 37 Public Hwy/Rail grade crossings
• 51 Private Hwy/Rail grade
crossings
• Active Participants in the UPRR
Houston Service Unit Public Safety
Team meetings.
• PTRA Police handles all crossings
malfunction reports
• Track Inspections:
• Main running track
• Crossing surface conditions and
sight lines are routinely checked at
each crossing.
PTRA Public Safety
Crossing Maintenance
• Vegetation control is
performed twice per
year to maintain proper
sight lines at all crossings
• By contract, all active
protection highway/rail
grade crossings are
maintained by UPRR
Crossing Upgrades/Replacement
• 2014 upgraded 160 feet on 4 crossings
• 2013 upgraded 162 feet on 3 crossings
• 2012 upgraded 396 feet on 9 crossings
• 2011 upgraded 243 feet on 5 crossings
PTRA Public Safety
Operation Lifesaver, Inc.
Local and Regional Presentations:
• Elementary, Middle and High
Schools
• Industries and contractors
• Trucking Companies
• BNSF Intermodal (Quarterly)
• 8-10 Days at the HLSR OLI Booth
• School Bus Drivers
•
•
Incident Prevention Activities
45,993+ – Operation Lifesaver, Inc.
contacts
HLSR OLI Booth – Sponsored by All
Member lines
PTRA Public Safety
Operation Lifesaver, Inc.
Railroad Safety
America’s railroads today have lower employee
injury rates than most other major industries.
Source: aar.org
Railroad Haz-Mat Safety
• U.S. railroads transport approximately two million
carloads of hazardous materials each year.
– Railroads are the safest mode for transporting
hazardous materials.
• In 2014, 99.999 percent of rail hazmat shipments
reached their destination without a release
caused by a train accident.
– Rail hazmat accident rates in 2014 were down 95
percent since 1980, down 74 percent since 1990, and
down 66 percent since 2000.
Railroad Haz-Mat Safety
• Around half of all hazardous materials are
transported in tank cars.
• Tank cars built today are vastly improved over
earlier generations.
– Higher grade steel
– Better thermal protection
– Improved valves and fittings
– Often thicker tanks, and other improvements.
Railroad Haz-Mat Safety
• New rules set tougher standards for new tank
cars used to transport flammable liquids,
including crude oil and ethanol, and call for
existing cars that carry flammable liquids to be
retrofitted with enhanced safety features or, if
no upgrades are made, phased out.
• All major railroads have teams devoted to
emergency response and maintain networks of
hazmat response contractors and environmental
consultants, located throughout their service
areas, on call 24/7.
Q&A
J. Kirk Higbie
Director of Safety & Environmental, PTRA
713.393.6505 (office)
[email protected]
Houston
Ship Channel
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