UP's long rail, 480' strands of rail in a ship

I wonder that as well, and they had to build a special ship to transport it and new facilities to receive it.

The article did say they considered US steel manufacturers, but the one in Japan was the only one that could meet all their requirements for manufacturing the rail. They could be paying more for all of their requirements to be met, I didn't see costs mentioned? I also don't think Japan offers any low cost manufacturing anymore like some of the other less developed Asian countries currently do.

With the costs of a new ship and transporting the rail, one would think that at least one US manufacturer could have upgraded one of their plants to meet UP's requirements? I guess the US steel manufacturers have fallen behind in technology as well as other things during their quests for cheaper labor and reducing costs?

What do you suppose the minimum radius of those cars is when loaded up with the rail?  They must need really wide curves!

480'?  Big deal.  The railroads have been transporting continuous welded rail that's over 1300' long since the 1960's.

Rail is surprisingly flexible when it's that long.

Rusty

Continuously welded rail  has been around longer than many of us realize.  Here is a Ron Nixon photo of ribbon rail going into Bozeman Tunnel in 1936.  That is a mallet pushing in the background.

I am still amazed that it is cheaper to ship scrap steel/iron to Japan and make the product and ship it back than it is to make it a mill in the states.

Did the article say that US scrap was used?  If so, I missed it.

As the article does mention, rail from Japan has been popular on the west coast since the 1980s.  That is for two reasons.  First, water shipment from Japan to the west coast makes imported rail price competitive with rail shipped by train from the eastern US.  Second, the rail from Japan has a hardened rail head that makes it very wear resistant.  The competitive price plus longer life often means that rail from Japan offers the best value for busy western railroads.

The former Colorado Fuel & Iron plant in Pueblo, now foreign owned, is the only source of rail in the western US.  They have invested in improved equipment to offer products with harder rail heads and in longer lengths to compete with imported rail.

http://www.evrazna.com/Locatio...tabid/72/Default.asp

Not really. They will negotiate just about any really sharp curve, since that is how the rail gang has to "layout" the new rail anyway. Look at all the "sharp curves" on the mountain rail lines out west alone. They sure didn't bring that CWR in by helicopter. 

You would really be surprised how flexible the rail really is. Having loaded and unloaded many a rail train, it was fun to watch people look at it in disbelief of the rail. We carried and moved rail that is 1440' lengths and up to 50 ribbons per train.

 If the article is correct, the 5 rail rails that the cranes were unloading would be 54.4 tons, not 10.

Rail is fairly rigid up and down but very flexible sideways.