866-217-7794

Discuss Your Project
TGB Group

Tag: TGB

  • Survey and Design Project for Chemical Company

    Survey and Design Project for Chemical Company

    Completion of the project expected in late 2021

    TGB Group had the privilege of providing survey and design for a future chemical company facility in Houston, Texas. The survey and design project consists of three separate portions:

    • Demolition
    • Site civil
    • Rail construction

    Survey and design project specs

    The demolition portion of the project began with a pre-construction meeting between TGB Group and the selected contractor on August 3, 2021.  Demolition began on August 7.

    Now that the demolition phase is complete, the contractor is working on the site/civil and rail portion of the project, which is expected to be completed in late November or early December 2021.

    The rail portion of this survey and design project consists of rehabilitating the existing turnout and the existing 1,100 feet of lead track as well as adding more than 1,700 feet of new track and a single new turnout.

    There will be a storage track for cars to be spotted on as well as an unloading track for the chemicals to be unloaded from the rail cars for the facility to use.

    About TGB Group

    Since its inception, TGB Group has been known as a go-to choice for a wide range of survey and design project management services.  With a specialty in the rail industry, we work throughout the state of Texas and the rest of the U.S.

    Learn more about our professional engineering services for your next project by contacting TGB President Mike Murphy at (866) 217-7794.

  • Engineering & Rail Design Project

    Engineering & Rail Design Project

    Project completion expected in January 2022

    TGB Group is working with Zinc Resources LLC on an engineering and rail design project to assist a future recycling facility located at the Port of Victoria, Texas.

    Zinc Resources hired us because of our documented expertise in rail design project engineering and management.

    Rail design project specs

    The lead track for this project ties into another project that TGB Group designed: the Port of Victoria North Rail Loop. This current project consists of:

    • More than 4,300 TF of track
    • Four turnouts that lead to two unloading tracks
    • Three storage tracks for the customers’ use in their recycling operations

    Upon completion of this rail design project, Zinc Resources will have a new state-of-the-art recycling facility that recycles dust from steel production and turns it into usable zinc and iron products.

    A very positive benefit will be the addition of 60 new jobs to the Victoria, Texas, area.  Zinc Resources has estimated that the facility will have an annual payroll of $2.5 million, which is great for everyone involved.

    Zinc Resources is investing $60 million in the building of this new facility.

    Construction commenced on August 16, 2021 and is expected to be completed by the middle of January 2022.

    About Zinc Resources

    The Zinc Resources team brings more than 100 combined years of professional experience in the recycling of zinc materials.  The company encourages innovation and empowers its employees to deliver exceptional products while making positive impacts on the local community and the environment.

    Learn more about Zinc Resources

    TGB Group is excited about this new venture and the chance to help our local Texas communities grow and thrive.  If you want to know more about the Zinc Resources rail engineering project or any of our civil engineering specialties, reach out to TGB President Mike Murphy at (866) 217-7794.

    The TGB Team

  • SWARS Golfing Fundraiser in March in San Antonio

    SWARS Golfing Fundraiser in March in San Antonio

    We’ve been part of this exciting event for 15 years

    Once again, members of the TGB Group team were excited to participate in the SWARS golfing fundraiser and tournament held March 10 at the J.W. Marriott Resort in San Antonio, Texas.

    The tournament took place on two separate TPC courses: the Oaks and the Canyons.  One of the great things about golf in general and the SWARS golfing fundraiser in particular is the beauty of the courses and the enjoyment and peace you feel when you’re out there – no matter how well you can play.

    On the Oaks course, it was individual play by each golfer; on the Canyons course, it was a 4-person scramble.  Several different holes on the Canyons course had various competitions such as the longest drive, straightest drive, closest approach, longest putt, etc.

    TGB Group was proud to sponsor hole #1 on the Canyons course, which was the straightest-drive contest.

    Golfing fundraiser proceeds

    While we’re all out there having fun, we keep in mind that the proceeds from each SWARS golfing fundraiser go to benefit an important cause.  The last few events have benefitted the George Elking Jr. Scholarship Fund.

    George Elking Jr. was SWARS president in 1995.  In 1998, he served as president of the North American Association of Rail Shippers in 1998.

    Everyone at TGB Group believes strongly in education, and we’re always ready to support events that give educational opportunities to deserving people.  We’ve been involved with the SWARS golfing fundraiser for 15 years and started sponsoring holes in the tournament in 2016.

    In all, about 200 golfers from rail-industry companies take part in the SWARS golfing events.  There’s a feeling of unity and brotherhood as we go out there and make every attempt to hit the golf ball in the direction we want it to go.  We’re just a fun bunch of professionals – at railroad services, not golf.

    Learn more about the Southwest Association of Rail Shippers (SWARS).

    The TGB Team

  • Senior Fundraiser – Montgomery County Miles for Meals Fun Run Recap

    Senior Fundraiser – Montgomery County Miles for Meals Fun Run Recap

    We walked, we ran and we had fun raising money for meals

    In April, TGB Group team members got together with many others in the community to participate in the Meals on Wheels Fun Run senior fundraiser.  It was a great event, with the goal of raising money to provide meals to homebound seniors.

    TGB Group was proud to be a Bronze Sponsor for this special event to help out our area seniors who sometimes struggle to get the food they need for daily meals.

    The senior fundraiser was coordinated by Montgomery County Meals on Wheels.  In addition to healthy meals, the organization also is available to help seniors with necessary trips such as to their doctor appointments and to stores and other places.

    Senior fundraiser Fun Run events

    fundraiser for seniors photo #2

    Participants enjoyed doing either a 5K or 10K course.  Those who were in pretty good shape ran their courses.  Others just walked or jogged along at their own pace.  Entry fees for the courses went to Meals on Wheels.

    All kinds of people brought their children – many in strollers – and we saw plenty of dogs all over the place.  The dogs had fun, the babies had fun, and all of us “big kids” had a blast, too.

    What’s great about events like the Meals on Wheels senior fundraiser is that it’s always a totally supportive atmosphere.  There’s no big competition (although, winners for the events were selected, so serious runners were probably a little competitive), and everybody was simply out to enjoy the day and do something positive for our senior population.

    About Meals on Wheels

    Meals on Wheels is headquartered in Conroe, Texas, in Montgomery County.  Their focus is assisting at-risk senior who might not have an easy way to get their daily food – something we all pretty much take for granted.

    The Miles for Meals senior fundraiser is just one of many ways the organization enlists the help of the greater community to come together and give a hand to our local seniors.

    Maybe next year, you can join us at this super event.

    The TGB Team

    Photos on this page are from Jesse Juarez of Jesse Juarez Photography.  Check out his work, and give him a call when you need truly exceptional visuals for your event or business promotion.

  • TGB Group Has Made the Commtrex Rail Service Providers Top 10 List

    TGB Group Has Made the Commtrex Rail Service Providers Top 10 List

    A great marketing tool and recognition of our commitment to our clients

    TGB Group has been recognized among the Top 10 Rail Service Providers on the Commtrex Top 10 Railroad Engineering Services Companies List for March 2021.

    The Commtrex Rail Services Directory connects shippers and rail service providers across the U.S. and Canada with an interactive map, comparison features and customized details.

    Prime exposure for rail service providers

    To give easy access to the best rail industry professionals, Commtrex has developed a set of Top 10 lists based on positive user engagement in its Rail Services Directory and Railcar Storage Marketplace. Each list is routinely updated and includes the major services that shippers and railroaders use to manage their businesses.

    Commtrex CEO Martin Lew pointed out that companies advertising with Commtrex have a much greater level of exposure to customers interested in learning more about top rail service providers.

    “The Commtrex Rail Services Directory is the go-to resource for shippers and asset owners, who are at the core of our membership base and compose over 65% of the Commtrex community,” Lew said.

    He added, “Our Top 10 lists provide both members and the public with the actively engaged service providers available in our Rail Services Directory and Railcar Storage Marketplace. Shippers trust our Top l0 lists as a valuable resource when searching for rail services.”

    We’re proud to be added to this list that will be seen by scores of professionals in the rail industry and related industries. The Commtrex directory is a great marketing tool for our team, but being named to the annual Top 10 list is extra-special. It validates our commitment and willingness to “go that extra mile” for our clients.

    More about Commtrex on their website.

    To learn more about TGB Group’s work as a Texas-based rail service provider and our engineering, design and project management services, contact President Mike Murphy at (866) 217-7794.

  • Rail Spur Project in Ridgeland, MS Will Be the First of Many

    Rail Spur Project in Ridgeland, MS Will Be the First of Many

    TGB team to provide survey, consulting & design services

    TGB Group recently launched the first of what we expect to be many projects in the great state of Mississippi.  We’ll be engaged in a variety of professional services as part of a rail spur project for Flowood Developers of Ridgeland, MS.

    Rail spur project specs

    The first phase of the rail spur project involves our team providing survey and design for about 1,500 feet of track that will be used by a tenant of Flowood to offload aggregates it will use in numerous construction projects in and around the region.

    When this phase is complete, future work will include expanding the track to accommodate projected volume increases beyond the first year.

    Our engineering and consulting team will design the rail spur project to meet Canadian National Railroad and American Railway Engineering & Maintenance of Way (AREMA) standards for track construction.  In addition, we will handle all submittals to the railroad in order to gain their approval – a process we oversee for many of our rail-industry clients.

    Strategic expansion

    We’re excited about launching this new project for Flowood in Mississippi.  It’s an important move for us as a company, as we gradually and intelligently expand our service areas to help more companies achieve outstanding results in their engineering, property development and construction management projects.

    We will continue to serve clients throughout Texas, where we’re headquartered, and Kansas, where we’ve served on a wide variety of civil engineering and design projects during the past years.  We will also continue to support the rail industry at events, conferences and fundraisers to help more and more professionals make the connections and gain the critical information they need to better serve their clients and associates.

    If you’d like to learn more about this rail spur project for Flowood Developers, or if you have a project you’d like to discuss, contact TGB President Mike Murphy at mike@thetgbgroup.com or 866-217-7794.

  • TGB Group Sponsors Golf Fundraiser Event

    TGB Group Sponsors Golf Fundraiser Event

    Nearly 200 Rail Industry Golfers Participated

    For the fifth consecutive year, TGB Groups has helped to sponsor the annual golf fundraiser held by the Southwest Association of Rail Shippers (SWARS). This year’s event happened at the Trails of The Woodlands club in The Woodlands, Texas.

    The October 2, 2020 golf fundraiser event was attended by 196 golfers from companies associated with the rail industry.

    TGB group sponsored the 7th hole on the Oaks Course, one of two courses at the Trails of The Woodlands. For this hole, the winner would be the golfer who could hit the longest drive. That honor went to Mark Dearing, owner of Vertex Builders.

    Other incentives at the SWARS golf fundraiser included the longest putt, the closest approach shot and a $10,000 hole-in-one challenge.

    Golf fundraiser benefits a scholarship fund

    As in years past, the golfing event raised money for the George Elking, Jr. Scholarship Fund.

    Elking is known within the rail industry, having served as SWARS president in 1995 and then as president of the North American Association of Rail Shippers in 1998.

    TGB Group is always excited to play in the golf fundraiser event and help support the Elking scholarship. Our employs have participated for the past 15 years, and we’ve been a proud hole sponsor since 2016.

    The large turnout of nearly 200 golfers shows the unity of many companies within the rail industry. We’re like a brotherhood – and sisterhood – who have built multiple industry connections and always enjoy getting reacquainted with the folks who make railroads run.

    SWARS meetings

    The golfing event fundraisers are held twice a year, always in conjunction with official SWARS meetings. We encourage individuals and companies in the rail industry to be part of the meetings, where critical information is discussed and to get involved in the golf fundraiser as a player or sponsor, where a good time is always guaranteed.

    Here’s a recap of our last SWARS golfing event.

  • Railcar Storage Yard Development Project

    Railcar Storage Yard Development Project

    TGB providing design services to Texas Gonzales & Northern Railway

    Texas Gonzales & Northern Railway (TXGN) has again selected TGB Group for design services in support of its railcar storage yard development project that will add capacity to its already sizeable yard in Gonzales, Texas.

    We’re proud of our long-term relationship with TXGN and are honored to have been chosen to bring our cutting-edge services to this exciting railcar storage yard development effort.  Our team will provide survey, design and construction oversight activities for a new yard expansion that will give TXGN an additional 400 car spots for a new client they recently secured.

    TGB Group’s bottom-line objective here is to create greater efficiency and cost savings for TXGN.  We’re partnering with Shackelford Construction & Hauling, LLC of Yazoo City, Miss., to operate the project as a design build.

    Texas Gonzales & Northern Railway tasked TGB with providing a plan to complete the railcar storage yard development expansion in a very short window, something we’re quite familiar with.  We will be feeding up-to-date design specifications to Shackelford each week in order to speed up the process.  This will allow construction to start with minimal design work completed and continue quickly, cutting more than 45 days from a traditional timeline.

    TXGN railcar storage yard development project specs

    • More than 30,000 feet of track
    • 19 turnouts
    • Access roadways
    • Drainage for the entire site
    • Existing drainage improvements
    • Creation of a master plan for additional adjacent yard tracks that TXGN can add later

    About TXGN

    Texas Gonzales & Northern Railway has been providing rail transport, storage and operations for companies in the heartland of Texas since 1992. Located midway between Gonzales and Harwood, off U.S. 1-10, TXGN owns and/or manages 13 miles of lead track, and approximately 61 miles of storage and loop track. TXGN interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad and handles several thousand cars carrying energy-related products: grain and animal feed meals, clay/bentonite and raw and finished heavy metal products.

    To learn more about our railcar storage yard development project for TXGN, please contact:

    Mike Murphy, president, TGB Group: (866) 217-7794

  • Survey, Design and Construction for Sugar Land Rail Facility

    Survey, Design and Construction for Sugar Land Rail Facility

    TGB Instrumental in Accredo Packaging Expansion

    TGB Group provided professional survey, design and construction services for the expansion of the Accredo Packaging North American production facility in Sugar Land, Texas.  The latest in three phases of expansion was completed in the first quarter of 2020 and provided Accredo with nearly three times more operational space.

    Highlights of the survey, design and construction expansion project include:

    • Total facility space upon completion: 550,000 square feet, which is nearly almost three times the original size
    • 165,000 additional square feet of warehouse and office space
    • 35,840 square feet of new manufacturing space
    • Work included adding a 4,000-amp underground power supply
    • Two 500t air-cooled chillers were added to serve production equipment
    • Two new rail spurs
    • 1,825 additional feet of railroad track along with a crossover and drainage accommodation

    New survey, design and construction increases capacity and creates jobs

    The expansion project will give Accredo a significant capacity increase for bag and pouch making, adhesive lamination projects and flexographic printing.  Annual flexible film production was increased to 2 billion feet from 1.5 billion feet.

    Along with greater production at its Sugar Land facility, which opened in 2009, the expansion work resulted in 175 new jobs in the area, bringing the number of Accredo employees up to 525 from 350 before the project began.

    TGB Group partnered with Railworks for much of the survey, design and construction services on this project, which supported Kingham Dalton Wilson, which oversaw the design and construction of a new building located to the south of the existing facility.

    About Accredo Packaging

    With headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, Accredo Packaging brings packaging solutions that are both innovative and sustainable to a number of multinational corporations and specialty brands.  The firm is a member of the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council.

    Products produced by Accredo include wicketed bags, pouches and bundling; cotextured films; overwrap film; laminated barrier film rollstock and more.

    To learn more about TGB Group’s survey, design and construction services for the Accredo Sugar Land facility expansion, please contact:

    Mike Murphy, president, TGB Group: (866) 217-7794

  • Importance of a Feasibility Study

    Importance of a Feasibility Study

    How TGB Group helps its clients by working through all the details of a civil design/engineering project

    Of all the parts and parcels of a civil design or engineering project, the feasibility study may be the most critical.  Like the old saying, “Failure to plan is planning to fail.”  A quality feasibility study early in the planning stages allows you to address the major concerns that will be involved in doing the project and operating with it afterwards.

    When the TGB Group team performs a feasibility study for our clients, we customize each area to our clients’ and the project’s specific needs.  General areas we cover include the following.

    Feasibility study components

    Market impact

    In the very earliest stages, company leaders must forecast the viability of a project in terms of how it will be accepted in the market and the impact it will have on competitors and sales.  A detailed feasibility study covering market impact projections is critical for every new project.

    Technical assessment

    Once we determine that the business idea is sound, we want to ensure that the civil and structural engineering aspects as well as design are capable of being executed in a way that supports the project throughout all its stages.

    Management

    We evaluate project management capabilities to confirm that the project will be overseen with the expertise necessary to make it successful.

    Financial feasibility study

    Paying for the many services required to complete a project is a paramount concern.  We want to investigate and determine that the client will be able to secure the necessary funding to see the project through to completion.

    Economic concerns

    The economic part of a feasibility study looks at the potential economic benefits and losses that could result if the project is developed and completed as planned.

    Cultural impact

    Part of a quality feasibility assessment is considering the impact of the project on the local community and culture.  Many problems can be alleviated by knowing what these impacts may be during the building phase and after the project is finished.

    Safety

    Safety assessments look at the wide range of possible environmental influences the project will create.  It’s important for our clients to see the “bigger picture” in this area so alterations to certain aspects of the project, if deemed necessary, can be made early.

    Permitting

    Every project requires a number of permits, licenses and approvals.  A feasibility study should determine which of these will be required, how they will be secured and who will be responsible for securing them.

    As noted, every feasibility study is unique, so the above elements are simply a general guide.  The bottom line is we want to make your project as smooth and predictable as possible from the earliest planning stages to the day you open for business.