Essroc officially opens rail project, USA

Essroc Cement’s plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia, has celebrated the completion of a US$10m railroad spur project that is expected to help a cement producer ship thousands of tons of product each year via raill.

About 100 people attended the official opening ceremony for the 1.2-mile rail spur, which connects the Essroc cement plant to Winchester & Western Railroad just south of Martinsburg.

“It’s a day where we finally put the last pieces of a puzzle together,” said Brian Costenbader, Essroc’s senior director of logistics while speaking to local press. He said the spur is expected to carry 6,000 rail cars per year and each rail car can carry about 100t of cement.

The completion of the new rail connection follows about US$650m in upgrades that Essroc has made at the Capitol Cement Corp since purchasing it 2002, Costenbader said.

Essroc, a member of Italcementi Group, also has spent about US$25m on capital improvements at seven of 14 off-site distribution facilities in coordination with the investments made at the Martinsburg plant, Costenbader said.