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21 December 2006 -- AmerenUE officials announced the completion of Labadie Power Plant's "West Facing Rail Turnout" -- a rail project that makes it easier for trains to deliver low-sulfur western coal to the 2,450-MW plant.
When the Franklin County, Missouri, US, plant was built in the early 1970s, it burned mostly Illinois coal to generate electricity. As a result, its rail access faced to the east off of Union Pacific's mainline. However, to comply with the 1990 Clean Air Act's stricter regulations on sulfur dioxide emissions, the plant was converted in the mid-1990s to burn low-sulfur western coal.
As a result, each 140-car train had to go past the east-facing entrance and back up into the plant, adding about four hours to the delivery time and slowing down other rail traffic.
"This project will allow us to get our fuel to the plant in a more timely manner, ensuring the plant's competitiveness for years to come," said Labadie Plant Manager Dave Fox.
AmerenUE began acquiring property for the project about two years ago, Fox said, with construction beginning in July. The company worked with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers to lessen the environmental footprint.
The project also used 450,000 tons of compacted bottom ash -- a three- year-supply -- as structural fill to build up the 1,200-foot rail berm. Bottom ash is a byproduct of the coal combustion process, and is widely used in a variety of construction-related applications.
AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corpo. The Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
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