Another 1.1 million sleepers for processing by Access Recycling

The Australian Rail Track Corporation will be conducting major upgrade works on the 700 kilometre section of rail track between Parkes and Broken Hill in NSW. Over a 14 month period 1.1 million timber and steel sleepers will be replaced with new heavy duty concrete sleepers.

Access Recycling in a Joint Venture with Statewide Sleepers have been awarded the contract to all redundant and re-usable sleepers from the corridor. Throughout 2011 Access will transport over 250,000 steel sleepers to various ARTC sites for re-use on branch lines, recover 15,000 tonnes of scrap for recycling and process 500,000 timber sleepers for use as domestic firewood.
This will amount to more than 25,000 tonnes of firewood! Statewide Sleepers will process 300,000 top quality landscape sleepers for various landscape markets.

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Access Recycling offers prime industrial land for sale in Beresfield (Newcastle).

Beresfield, 53 Weakleys Drive - 6 HA

This 6 hectare site is located in the rapidly growing Beresfield business district, and has a large frontage on the eastern side of Weakleys Drive. It is approximately 300 metres from the newly constructed Weakleys Interchange which connects with the New England Highway, and is about 1.5 kilometres from the F3 Freeway. The location is around 25 kilometres North West of the Newcastle CBD and port facilities

The site will be subdivided into 13 commercially zoned allotments, and Land will be available from July 2011.

Expressions of interest are being taken from parties wishing to secure their future in this prime location. Options are available prior to final subdivision which may see customized land packages made available.

For further information please contact:

Trent Robertson
Industrial Sales Director
COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL NEWCASTLE
SUITE 3, 265 WHARF ROAD
NEWCASTLE NSW 2300
Tel: 61 2 4926 4888
Fax: 61 2 4926 4555
Email: colliersnewcastle@colliers.com
www.colliers.com/newcastle

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Commissioning of scrap metal processing shear

One of the most powerful mobile shears ever used in Australia was recently supplied to Access Recycling by Embrey Attachments P/L. The LaBounty MSD 4500R hydraulic shear produces up to 2300 tonnes of cutting force at the throat of the blades. It has been fitted to a Cat 345CL excavator, which provides a stable platform with maximum operating oil pressure and flow for this size shear. The unit has an all up weight of 56 tonnes.

David Embrey from Embrey Attachments P/L, importer for Stanley - LaBounty advises that there are only 3 other MSD4500 shears in the country, one in Victoria and two in the west. These are the most powerful LaBounty shears in the country. This fourth shear will be the first located in the NSW scrap industry.

Initially the shear will be based in Newcastle, with a contract to process 4,000 tonnes of scrap steel. Beyond that it will be mobilised as required. Its ideal workload is cutting scrap railway wagons and heavy structural steel.

For further information on LaBounty shears
visit: www.embreyattachments.com.au

Access Recycling manufactures specialist rail equipment -
Hi-rail log forwarder with magnet

A log forwarder is a machine commonly used in the forestry industry. It is designed to work in extremely rough terrain. Its purpose is to collect fallen timber and remove it to accessible areas. They have a large carrying capacity, typically 20 tonnes, and a powerful crane capable of lifting logs weighing up to 3 tonnes. They are very stable on uneven ground and the large surface area of the tyres permits traction in wet conditions with minimal ground disturbance. It is common to use log forwarders for railway sleeper recovery work. They are able to access most areas of the corridor and carry large quantities of sleepers to roadside accessible points. The log grapple and crane are well suited for handling timber sleepers.

Modifications for rail work:
The purpose of the modifications we have made is to address the issue of inaccessible areas of the rail corridor. Often sleepers and jewellery are placed on the sides of steep embankments, between creeks, in cuttings and other areas where access from the side track is difficult. Our aim was to modify the log forwarder so that it could travel along the rails to recover materials from these areas.

We have made 3 key changes to the log forwarder:

• Removal of  the log bolsters and fitting of a tipping body


• Creation of a quick release system for the log grapple and fitting of an electromagnet system


• Fitting of rail guidance wheels.

The tipping body will enable safe containment of timber sleeper debris and jewellery. The electromagnet enables safe recovery of jewellery from steep embankments and other areas where conventional machinery cannot be used. The rail guidance wheels have a full air brake system. The machine has engineer certification and an ARTC TOC Waiver has been issued (No. 11147).

On 11 November, 2010, the machine was used on the line for the first time. Between Euroa and Seymour there are many areas which are inaccessible due to water courses and thick vegetation. During concrete re-sleepering a significant quantity of scrap steel jewellery was deposited at the toe of the ballast and subsequently fell down embankments and into water courses. The surrounding areas were designated bio-sites and trafficking of heavy machinery was prohibited. It was virtually impossible to recover the metal with anything other than a rail mounted machine. It was also necessary for that machine to quickly travel to level crossings and dismount and allow train traffic through. The machine has road registration and is able to carry cargoes to accessible loading points.

With ever increasing environmental restrictions in rail corridors, machines of this type will be useful for materials recovery without working in the cess.

Over 1 Million Timber Sleepers For Recycling

Access Recycling has been contracted to remove approximately 1,255,000 sleepers throughout rail corridors in NSW and Victoria.

These are the result of a major upgrade to the rail network including the replacement of timber sleepers with concrete sleepers. Many of the sleepers will be packed and shipped for re-use on railway branch lines and sidings, but the majority will be recycled for landscape purposes, furniture, building and construction materials, and those that don't make the grade will cut up for firewood or mulched.

One of the first and most important sections was from Wodonga to Seymour. 500,000 timber sleepers had to be removed from thick vegetation adjacent to the railway line. This section of the vital Sydney - Melbourne route consisted of one standard gauge and one broad gauge track. The broad gauge was decommissioned and all timber sleepers were replaced with standard gauge concrete sleepers, thus giving two standard gauge lines. Access Recycling crews were given a small window to collect the 500,000 timber sleepers that had been made redundant. In just four months over 35,000 tonnes of timber was recovered and freighted to private storage areas away from the line. This allowed the commissioning of the new standard gauge line. There were many logistical difficulties to overcome in moving a vast quantity of material from any area surrounded by sensitive environmental areas and intensive traffic flows of passenger and freight trains on the adjacent line.

The project was completed on time in December 2009. More than 40 Access Recycling staff and contractors were involved in the project. Thousands of tonnes of sleepers and scrap metal had to be recovered from virtually inaccessible areas. This required the coordination of more than 20 trucks, 8 excavators, 6 all-terrain forklifts, 6 log forwarders and dump trucks and numerous cleanup crews.

In 2010 we look forward to continuing to provide vital recycling services to the rail industry.

Watch this space for updates on: Serviceton to Maroona, Geelong, Tottenham to Somerton, Towrang to Galong and Albury to Junee

Mobile Sleeper Saw

Access Recycling have recently developed a completely unique mobile sleeper saw milling plant to produce quality firewood.

After winning several large contracts with Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) for the disposal of timber sleepers we began the process of developing a mobile sawmill to cut the sleepers for firewood.

While many of the sleepers will be recycled for use in gardens, furniture and other landscape purposes, a large proportion remains unsuitable. With more than one million timber sleepers secured, bulk firewood processing became a priority. The multi saw docking system and feed deck was designed and built by sawmilling specialists Acora Reneco of Eden. It consists of 8 skip tooth blades that simultaneously drop through a cutting chamber, docking each sleeper into nine pieces, each 300mm in length.

The saw is able to process approximately 400 sleepers per hour. A series of optical sensors and computer automation ensure smooth operation which requires no manual control or supervision. At our Barmedman workshop the saw system was fitted to a semi trailer. Imbedded in the trailer is a bi-fold conveyor and 420 horsepower generator. A rigorous program of sampling and testing was undertaken to ensure that the firewood produced is suitable for domestic use. Timber samples were tested in a NATA approved laboratory for the presence of any residual hydrocarbons, pesticides and herbicides.

The sleepers have proven to be very clean and safe. The result is that we now have large volumes of low cost redgum and ironbark firewood of uniform size. The timber is extremely clean and well seasoned.

For further enquires please contact Access Recycling's Sales Manager, Andrew Frater on (02) 6976 2000 or andrew@accessrecycling.com.au

Mobile Sleeper Grinder

Access Recycling have recently completed a unique mobile sleeper grinding machine.

The concept of an all-terrain sleeper grinder was developed to address the problem of large quantities of waste timber sleepers cluttering railway corridors. Often the sleepers are in poor condition and not worthy of recycling.
The shear bulk of the timber and difficult access in the corridor often means they cannot be economically recovered for firewood.

Built in our Barmedman workshop, the mobile sleeper grinder is cable of mulching 3 timber sleepers per minute.The machine is towed by an excavator through the rail corridor to gain access to all areas. Attached to the excavator is a plate puller, also made by Access Recycling. The plate pullers have proven successful in rapidly removing steel sleeper plates without the need to secure the sleeper.

Once removed, the sleeper plates are stored in the bin at the front of the grinder for stockpiling. The plate pullers are also able to stack reusable timber and steel sleepers as well as load the grinder. The grinders, conveyer ejects the mulch as the machine moves along the rail corridor. All necessary safety equipment has been fitted including a parking brake, fire extinguishers, isolator and emergency stops.

February 2009

Access Recycling completes scrap rail recovery project for ARTC.

Located in the rail corridor between Cootamundra and Galong was almost 1,000 tonnes of worn railway line.
The railway line was in one hundred metre lengths that had to be processed before moving.
The area was overgrown with long dry grass and during what was one of the hottest periods on record the fire danger was extreme.

We were able to purchase a unique rail breaker attachment from Embrey Manufacturing. The breaker was fitted to an 18 tonne excavator and the rail was cut to one metre lengths before being transported to Sims Metal.

This enabled the project to be completed on time and without bushfire risk.

November 2008

Access Recycling dismantles and scraps 800 tonne Marion Shovel for Xstratas Ulan Coal Mines.

Over a three month period the shovel was dismantled and lowered to the ground before being cut into heavy melting steel (1100mm x 300mm pieces).

This was done using a range of equipment including Access Recycling excavators fitted with shears and magnets. All loads were then transported to Sims Metal Newcastle. It was a complicated and difficult project with many hazards including flammable liquids.

The project was completed on time without a single incident or injury.