150-car train delivers sand to oil and gas hub in New Mexico

LOVING, N.M. (AP) - A 150-car freight train recently delivered 16,500 tons of sand for oil and gas fracking to a facility in southeastern New Mexico.

Rangeland Energy said the unit train powered by five locomotives started its journey in Ottawa, Illinois, arriving Oct. 2 in Loving. The train was operated by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and finished its journey on Southwestern Railroad.

Rangeland said the train's 150 cars were the most carried by a major U.S. railroad on a unit train carrying fracking sand. The previous longest was a 140-car Unimin Energy train hauled by Union Pacific in July.

The Clovis News Journal (http://goo.gl/AhtVCC ) reports that Rangeland's facility in Loving is the center of rail transportation for outbound crude oil and condensate and inbound sand for use in hydraulic fracturing in the area.