Eastern Railroad Discussion > Shell ethane cracker at Monaca, PA

Shell just announced the start-up of their new $6-billion ethane cracker at Monaca, PA. This huge plant is about 30 miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh. Google maps shows a substantial rail yard.  What railroads will service this facility, please?

qed479 Wrote:
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> Shell just announced the start-up of their new
> $6-billion ethane cracker at Monaca, PA. This huge
> plant is about 30 miles down the Ohio River from
> Pittsburgh. Google maps shows a substantial rail
> yard.  What railroads will service this facility,
> please?

Monaca is on the CSX (former P&LE) side of the Ohio River, so I would expect they're the railroad directly serving the plant. I don't think any other railroads go to Monaca.

Yes on CSX.  The plant may also use barge traffic for moving some finished products. 

NS is just across the river.  I'm not aware that Shell has asked for interline switching access from NS, but this could be an excellent test case.

The place is huge.  Saw it a few years ago when it was under construction.  https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/monaca-shell-cracker-plant-starts-operations/

Taking a cue from DJ's Trains on YouTube, I see McKee's Rocks appears to have a brand new rail yard.  Years ago this area was a mess.  Looks like it's now ready to serve the Shell Ethane plant.  Anyone know details?

We also need at least one more gasoline refinery. Every time one goes down for maintenance or there is a fire, storm, etc., the price of gasoline goes up. Or is this the way they want it? But now that Electric Vehicles are coming online that's a nonstarter?

Victor B.

There are a couple hundred new 4 bay hoppers that have been stored in the Western New York area for the past few years. Made at National Steel Car in Hamilton Ontario with SPMX as reporting marks.  Those have to be for this new facility.  Not one of them has been nailed with graffiti which in itself is amazing.

SouthBuffalo1 Wrote:
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> There are a couple hundred new 4 bay hoppers that
> have been stored in the Western New York area for
> the past few years. Made at National Steel Car in
> Hamilton Ontario with SPMX as reporting marks. 
> Those have to be for this new facility.  Not one
> of them has been nailed with graffiti which in
> itself is amazing.

Both I and a friend saw them on a recent Alco-chasing trip in western New York, especially on regionals Buffalo & Pittsburgh near Salamanca, NY, and also on the Western New York & Pennsylvania. That they were stored waiting for use for transporting plastic pellets out of Monaca when it came on line was exactly my conclusion. Buy them in advance (it takes a while to build them all), perhaps at a favorable price, and store them until needed. And then get them into service quickly and ready-to-roll as production ramps up and they are needed.

If so, it had to be a nice chunk of change for car storage charges for the B&P and WNYP. And yes, we both noticed no graffiti on any of them, a happy situation indeed. But now their time for use has come, and as they move around the nation in revenue service, their bright, clean and graffiti-free days will unfortunately probably be quickly be behind them.

MC

Anyone note the reporting marks on those brand-new covered hoppers in storage?

SPMX

Posted from Android

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> We also need at least one more gasoline refinery.
> Every time one goes down for maintenance or there
> is a fire, storm, etc., the price of gasoline goes
> up. Or is this the way they want it? But now that
> Electric Vehicles are coming online that's a
> nonstarter?
>
> Victor B.

This ethane cracker is largely driven by piped natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica gas fields. Oily liquids are fractioned out to make ethane, hexane etc based products, while the residual dry natural gas is piped out to homes and businesses.

Gasoline refineries are different in that they use crude oil as the input, and are often subject to regional rules on the blend etc. You can't ship or sell gasoline outside your approved territory. The result is a mandated monopoly of just a few refiners in each region.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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. You can't ship or
> sell gasoline outside your approved territory. The
> result is a mandated monopoly of just a few
> refiners in each region.


  Oligopoly is a more correct word.  Monopolies only have one seller.

BobE