HUNTER ARMY AIRFIELD, Ga. -- An upgraded rail system nearing its completion at Hunter Army Airfield ensures that some of the nation's most deployed Army units can rapidly move equipment to and from the installation in southeast Georgia or various other ports on the eastern seaboard.
A $3.4 million project being completed by a mobile off-site rail services team from McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, Oklahoma, will soon give the 3rd Infantry Division another avenue to rapidly move its equipment between Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield and throughout the world.
"As a premier heavy power projection platform, the ability to move heavy equipment by rail, including tracked vehicles, to Hunter Army Airfield and various ports of debarkation, is vital to Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield's rapid deployment mission," said Steve Hart, Hunter public affairs officer.
The mobile off-site rail services team began work on the 100 percent grade tie replacement in June 2015. But first it had to remove overgrown vegetation and small trees along a nearly one-mile stretch of the 3.1 mile project.
Once the track was cleared, the 12-man crew undertook the task of installing 10,000 environmentally-friendly composite plastic grade ties and 400 switch ties; eight new ergonomic switch stands, including new head blocks; and adding about 680 tons of railroad ballast, or crushed stone, which supports and restrains the ties while permitting proper drainage away from the track.
In September, the mobile off-site rail services team will return to complete the work, which entails running the tamping machine over the rail to work the stone beneath the ties before finishing with vertical and horizontal rail alignment.
"The job went well," said Ryan Crabtree, chief of the Railroad Maintenance Division, Directorate of Engineering and Public Works at MCAAP.
"There were relatively few issues. We worked well with the customer and will complete the job in a timely manner without negative impacts to the installation."
MCAAP officials were pleased to get the work, but more important, the project increased the operational capabilities of the 3rd Infantry Division and the Stewart/Hunter Military Complex.
"Before the McAlester crew came up here, you couldn't put an engine on our rail system. Now we have a functioning system," said James Maddox, engineering technician for the Directorate of Public Works' Operations and Maintenance Division at Hunter Army Airfield.
Maddox was pleased to award the work to another military organization because of its unique capability within the Defense Department.
"McAlester provides a best value and it's great that we still have government employees providing this service," he said.
The mobile off-site rail services team has performed railroad maintenance and support to military installations throughout the United States and overseas since 1994. It's also done work for NASA.
The HAAF project is one of six from fiscal year 2015, valued at $6.3 million dollars, or 3.4 percent of MCAAP's revenue, but it's projected to increase to $9.5 million next year, said Crabtree.
The Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield garrison command is responsible for organizing, directing, coordinating and controlling garrison support and service activities, including overall management of the garrison workforce. It is composed of numerous directorates and organizations responsible for day-to-day operations. It provides support to assigned, attached and tenant units or activities, to include on-post units and activities in the assigned geographic area.
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McAlester Army Ammunition Plant is the Department of Defense's premier bomb- and warhead-loading facility. It is vital to ammunition stockpile management and delivery to the Joint Warfighter for training and combat operations. MCAAP is one of 14 installations of the Joint Munitions Command and one of 23 organic industrial bases under the U.S. Army Materiel Command, which include arsenals, depots, activities and ammunition plants.
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