Used to fracture and hold open seams of natural gas and crude oil in shale formations, frac sand is a key ingredient in shale drilling operations. With the growing demand for domestically produced energy in the U.S., CSX has worked closely with frac sand producers and their customers to find creative solutions to serve this dynamic market.

With reserves of the highest quality northern white sand in North America originating on our network, CSX provides customers with ready access to one of the most essential resources in unconventional drilling in a timely and efficient manner. CSX serves many of the nation’s largest frac sand producers and owns a fleet of small cube-covered hoppers used for shipping frac sand in bulk.  To improve speed to market and reduce customer costs, CSX now originates unit trains carrying multiple grades of northern white frac sand from several of the largest frac sand producers.

CSX also works with TRANSFLO to provide transloading solutions to transfer frac sand from rail to truck, rail to silo/building, and silo/building to truck. TRANSFLO is a subsidiary of CSX and an experienced transloader of both unit trains and single railcar business. Through their dedicated Operations, Engineering, and HSE&Q (Health, Safety, Environment, and Quality) staff, TRANSFLO offers a wide array of services to facilitate the transloading of frac sand.

As the energy markets continue to evolve over time, CSX will remain a long-term partner providing efficient and cost competitive transportation solutions to serve shale customers working in basins across North America. To learn more about how we can help with your frac sand supply chain, contact our frac sand market experts.