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4/26/2024
Union Pacific Railroad and wind turbine manufacturer Vestas have collaborated to ship the company's V163-4.5 MW wind turbine blades across the country by rail.
The planning of the move began in 2022, when Vestas introduced its new high-capacity wind turbine, UP reported on its Inside Track blog.
The wind turbine blades made their seven-day journey — including traveling in part on two short lines and another Class I — situated on 72 rail cars moving from Colorado to the Port of Brownsville, Texas.
The V163-4.5 blade measures 264 feet, just shy of the length of a football field, and is the longest wind turbine blade transported across major rail service networks in the United States, UP reported. A typical blade that UP transports is 177 feet long.
UP was the first to ship wind components via rail nearly 20 years ago and participated in the design of the first specialized wind flat car.