Refugio Terminal Expansion Doubles SIT Capacity

On November 1, Watco moved its first railcars into a newly expanded storage-in-transit (SIT) yard in Refugio, Texas.

A recent $6.7 million track build expanded the 222-acre Refugio Transload Terminal from about 300 available railcar spots to 600 and can accommodate any type of railcar and almost any type of commodity. Watco’s Design and Development team was involved with the design, engineering, and construction management for the track expansion, which added over 20,000 linear feet of rail. In addition, more than 12,000 feet of perimeter fencing featuring state-of-the-art security equipment was installed. The SIT yard provides a safe environment, with 24/7 camera surveillance to monitor and protect customers’ railcars and commodities.

Other Watco team members also have played considerable roles. For example, as the project entered its final stages last month, safety team members coordinated an emergency-response drill with five local firstresponder organizations.

With SIT yards like Refugio, “we’re helping our customers better utilize the capacity at their own plants for production instead of railcar storage,” says Marc Massoglia, SVP of Terminals and Ports. “This is not an isolated opportunity. Watco can create SIT yards like this one at pretty much any of our short line railroads or any of the terminals and ports in our network.”

The Refugio Transload Terminal is in southern Texas, about 50 miles north of Corpus Christi, and provides easy access to the port and local industrial plants. It can accommodate any type of railcar and almost any type of commodity. While the SIT yard is comprised of oil, gas, and chemical cars, the terminal handles highway/rail transloading of wind energy components, sand and other aggregates, steel products, and agriculture products.