A program to recycle more than 100 unused railway cars got underway aboard the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station on Friday, Nov. 15, with the first railcars being transported off the base.
The program will see the recycling of over 2,500 tons of steel from 126 boxcars and flatcars that had previously been used to transport munitions around the installation. “It’s really exciting to see this project get underway,” said base Commanding Officer Capt. Jessica O’Brien. “I’m especially proud that we will be able to recycle all of the railcars, and do so at no cost to the Navy.”
“Thanks to an innovative contract arrangement through the Navy’s Qualified Recycling Program and the current market price for scrap steel, this project will easily pay for itself,” explained Public Works Officer Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Palik.
“We are currently even projecting a profit of over $50,000, which will be invested back into the recycling program,” Palik said.
The railcars will be separated from their carriage assemblies, sealed, and then both parts will be transported off base to a recycling center in the nearby city of Long Beach.
The project is currently scheduled to take several months to complete. While the rail system had been the transportation backbone of the base for over six decades, a 2008 study determined that the use of modern trucks for munitions transport was more efficient and less polluting.
The rail system aboard the base was disestablished soon after that.
