Watco Brings Dedicated Freight Car Repair to Wellington, Utah

Go where the customer takes us. That’s the Watco way, and it’s our team’s go-to strategy to grow business across all of Watco’s services, including repair and maintenance.

So, when moving railcars to repair facilities became cost-prohibitive for some customers, Watco adjusted its strategy and added mobile repair teams to the mix. These teams travel to customer facilities in and around DeRidder, Louisiana; Richmond, Virginia; Paducah, Kentucky; and Houston, to inspect and repair railcar fleets.

In 2016, Watco introduced a new segment of this business: dedicated freight and tank repair locations. It started with one mechanical team on-site at a customer facility in Hondo, Texas. This customer would later add two more Watco repair teams at their facilities in Dallas and Mill Creek, Oklahoma.

As word spread about this service offering, Watco expanded its dedicated repair locations to Wisconsin, West Virginia and, most recently, Wellington, Utah.

“These teams interact with the customer in person every day,” said Bubba Lundy, director of operations for Mechanical Services. “They go to the customer’s safety briefing and review the agenda with them. They know and trust us, and they sleep well at night knowing their fleet is safer due to our team’s frequent inspections and repairs.”

To help launch operations in Utah earlier this year, four team members from Watco’s Coffeyville (KS) Repair and Maintenance Terminal traveled west to help out. They stayed for two months to start inspections and mechanical repairs for a Class I railroad customer as well as train four new team members.

Director of Mobile Repair Richardjames Drummondo said, “Thanks to the Coffeyville team, we were able to start air brake testing and repairs right away. Having boots on the ground on Day 1 was important to meet the customer’s needs without delay.”

Because the terminal is located 125 miles from Salt Lake City and 400 miles from Denver, mechanical support has previously been hard to come by. Before turning to Watco for a solution, the customer relied on its conductors and engineers to perform air brake tests and make minor repairs before railcars could leave the terminal, which often led to service delays.

That’s when they turned to Watco for a solution. Now, our team inspects between 30 and 90 railcars a day at the terminal. Additionally, they complete at least one extended haul air test a day and make repairs as needed.

Lundy said, “Like all our other mechanical services locations, the Wellington team is doing a fantastic job supporting this customer. With their help, railcars are moving on time without delays.”