savage workers

Essential Railroad Jobs Keep Business Moving

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we engage with the world. People changed how they worked, how they shopped, and even how they spent time with one another.

In many ways, the hope of an easy transition depended on companies — both their products and services. Businesses that incorporated transportation into their infrastructure were especially important. Food and parcel delivery, including commodity transloading, became more important than ever.

As a transportation and logistics expert, Savage works to promote a healthy global supply chain. We do this, in part, by hiring experienced people to work at our railyards, dockyards, and truck depots. This industrial work — especially our railroad jobs — helps the country’s most important materials moving forward.

Transloading – the glue of the global supply chain

In many ways, transloading, or the process of switching products from one mode of transportation to another, is at the heart of the supply chain process. This is because transloading allows companies like Savage to optimize how goods are moved over large distances.

How does it all work? Let’s take a closer look at the journey of an essential commodity. We pull it from the earth, load it on different types of trains, and take it to its final destination.

A now-inactive mine in Montana once produced many tons of soil tailings. This dirt is rich in sulphur and other precious metals. After the tailings get collected, they are recycled into a fuel that can power different types of trains and operations.

  1. First, a facility at the mine filters the tailings pond, removing as much copper as possible.
  2. The leftover soil is then taken by Savage. It will undergo transportation and transloading to another refinement facility in Nevada.
  3. Once there, our Team Members put the dirt into an industrial press to extract any water and turn it into a sulphur-dense alternative fuel.
  4. This product becomes a cheaper, more environmentally responsible alternative to traditional crude fuel. As it burns, it leaves behind trace amounts of pyrite, gold, and silver which is then gathered and stored. This precious metal byproduct – even the Fool’s Gold – can be extremely valuable.

Any material that didn’t get filtered out or become part of the fuel is now free of its valuable minerals. This clean soil is taken by rail back to the mine in Montana and returned to the earth (a process known as backfill). Delivering these products in safety and timeliness is Savage’s top priority. This requires our Team Members to work with efficiency and wisdom in all their railroad jobs.

Railroad Jobs that Keep Business Moving

When a Customer needs all the services of intermodal transloading, the crews that work at these terminals get the products where they need to go.

At Savage, we work with all of the major North American railroad companies. Our Team Members have performed many of the most essential railroad jobs, including:

  • Dispatch: Coordinating rail traffic, including monitoring the line for accidents and delays
  • Railcar switching: Fitting various railcars to different types of trains
  • Cleaning and repair: We use special tools to maintain the look and operation of the railcars
  • Track maintenance: Upholding the structural integrity of the track
  • Railyard expansion: Design and build railyard additions alongside an experienced team of engineers
  • Systems architecture: Working to expand the efficiency of a terminal’s processes and tools

The people working in these railyard jobs work together to optimize the supply chain model.

Different Types of Trains, Same Benefits of Service

Transporting goods by rail can be quite beneficial. Regardless of the types of trains Savage may use, rail helps to achieve a new level of efficiency. Typically, an industrial train car holds about four times the volume of a semi-trailer. Emissions are also significantly reduced. Savage uses many different types of railcar to accommodate our Customers, including:

  • Boxcar: The preferred method of transporting palletized or boxed goods
  • Centerbeam: Ideal for hauling building materials like lumber
  • Hopper: Both the covered and uncovered cars haul dry bulk products
  • Flatcar: Used for large cargo such as steel and wide-load vehicles
  • Tank Car: These cylindrical cars transport liquid bulk products and byproducts

Transporting and transloading commodities across the continent is a big task, requiring deep pools of experience and the right type of equipment. Savage maintains both of these by hiring the right people for our railroad jobs, and diversifying the types of trains we use. By holding true to these two principles, we do more than simply move the materials that matter — we uphold our purpose to Feed the World, Power Our Lives, and Sustain the Planet.

Working with Savage

Savage offers a variety of positions in the rail and transloading industry. For more information, visit savageservices.com/careers.