Central Maine & Quebec subsidiary opens tank-car service plant

Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQ) subsidiary Katahdin Railcar Services LLC has opened a new tank car facility in Derby, Maine.

The 24,000-square-foot building will be used for the cleaning, repair and fleet management of railroad tank cars. The building is part of the railroad's 110-acre facility in Derby, CMQ officials said in a press release.

The new facility enables Katahdin Railcar to provide full tank-car cleaning with the ability to repair, replace and qualify all tank-car valves using a trained and certified staff. In addition, CMQ and Katahdin will provide options for end of lease inspections and storage capabilities.

Katahdin Railcar is located at the historic former shops of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, which operated the complex for nearly a century. Other work performed at the site by CMQ includes locomotive and freight-car repair.

"We're proud of the fact we can take an existing building that's more than 100 years old, rehab it completely and continue to invest in the community by using local contractors," said CMQ Vice President of Operations Chad Mowery.

To clean tank cars, Katahdin Railcar installed an automatic, internal cleaning system that uses a high-pressure water jet designed to use less water than previous systems. An onsite wastewater treatment system was built to support the process.