UPRR Santa Teresa Facility

Just outside of Santa Teresa, NM, the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) constructed a new rail facility with Wilson & Company serving as the prime consultant responsible for all engineering services, including design, permitting, and construction inspection. This new rail yard consists of a run-through fueling facility, an intermodal yard, and a block swap yard. The estimated construction costs were approximately $400 million for this 11.5-mile long, 0.8-mile wide, 2,200-acre facility.

The new facility includes 23 buildings/structures, including 2 LEED silver certified office buildings, six locomotive fueling islands, an inspection pit, eight automated gate lanes, a renewable energy feature of grid-tied solar power system (approximately 135kW), two industrial waste treatment plants, and repair and maintenance pads. UPRR owned a 23 kV to 12.47 kV substation with two transformers and flexible switching to allow transformers and primary feeders to be switched to bypass failed equipment. The yard distribution consists of a 12.47 kV underground loop, with switching, splice pedestals, and a mid-yard crosstie feeder to allow failed sections of primary cable to be bypassed. The improvements include a facility-wide fire alarm system, using a dedicated fiber optic backbone for communication and a facility-wide SCADA system, using Allen-Bradley PLCs, desktop PCs running Wonderware, and a control fiber optic network for communication.