New tank car builder coming on line

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief

West Brookfield, Mass.-based freight car lessor Boxcar Services LLC has 
merged with Vertex Rail Technologies LLC to form Vertex Rail
 Manufacturing. Beginning in second-quarter 2014, Vertex Rail will
 manufacture tank cars, boxcars, and covered hoppers at facilities located
 in Worcester, Mass., and Wilmington, N.C. 





 Vertex Rail member Daniel Bigda says Vertex Rail will offer 
31,800NCNI*-gallon, 29,000CI**-gallon, 25,500CI-gallon, and 23,500CI-gallon
 tank cars built to AAR CPC-1232 standards for crude oil and ethanol, as
 well as a 33,500-gallon pressure tank car. The Worcester facility has the 
capacity to produce up to 18 tank cars per week; the Wilmington plant is
 large enough to support production of up to 50 tank cars per week, plus,
 with new designs, Plate F 286K GRL boxcars, and covered hoppers of 3,300-
and 5,000-cubic-foot capacity.





 Bigda says the company has orders to take production out to mid-2015. “Our
 plans are to expand rapidly in late 2014 so that by the beginning of 2015
 we will have significantly more capacity to offer,” he says. “We have
 completed design drawings and are now developing our pilot line production 
facility that will, starting in Q2 2014, manufacture oil tank cars and
 will bring some much needed capacity to the market. As well, cars built 
prior to July 1974 that do not have AAR Interchange Rule 88 Rebuild or
 Extended Life Status will be retired.”



 Vertex Rail’s founders “are industry innovators in both the rail and
 vessel manufacturing industries that bring more than 100 years of combined 
industry, fabrication, design, and manufacturing experience to the 
company,” says Bigda.


* non-coiled, non-insulated

** coiled, insulated

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